A Happy and Prosperous New Year

To All Readers of

The Land of Lost Content

Some Significant (and less so) Composer Anniversaries for 2025:

 Bi-Centenaries:

William Baly

Mary Gabriel

Kate Loder

Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley

150 Years:

Samuel Coleridge Taylor

Albert Ketèlbey

Sydney H Nicholson

Norman O’Neill

Cyril Rootham

Martin Shaw

Donald Tovey

William Gillies Whittaker

Centenaries:

Tristram Cary

Ronald [Ron] Goodwin

Anthony Milner

Daphne Oram

 Continental Composers Anniversaries

Johann II Strauss (200)

Reinhold Glière (150)

Reynaldo Hahn (150)

Maurice Ravel (150)

Pierre Boulez (100)

Luciano Berio (100)

Gunther Alexander Schuller (100)

Looking at the above list of British composer anniversaries, the only one that will resonate with concertgoers is Samuel Coleridge Taylor (1875-1912). Already reasonably well represented on CD and regularly heard on Classic FM, this year could be a good opportunity to get to know his music better. Surely at least one performance of the epic The Song of Hiawatha will be given a concert performance. Other works that may be heard are the Christmas Overture, the Petite Suite de Concert, and his Nonet in F minor. I wonder if there will be a place for the Symphony in A minor or the Violin Concerto in G minor at this year’s Proms?

Albert Ketelbey’s (1875-1959) short pieces of light music have clung on over the years. I guess that In a Persian Market, Bells Across the Meadow or In a Chinese Temple Garden may be heard over the coming weeks. Perhaps the Cockney Suite may be revived?

Sir Sydney Hugo Nicholson (1875-1947) was an influential English choir director, organist, and composer. He founded the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) and compiled The Parish Psalter. Educated at New College, Oxford, and the Royal College of Music, he served as organist at Westminster Abbey and edited the Hymns Ancient and Modern supplement. Nicholson's hymn tunes, like "Crucifer" for "Lift High the Cross", remain popular in Anglican churches. It is unlikely that his choral ballets Ivry and The Luck of Edenhall will be resurrected.

It would be good if one or two of Norman O’Neill’s (1875-1934) numerous suites of incidental music were to be rediscovered. I am thinking of the score written for J.M. Barrie’s play Mary Rose. But he also wrote much chamber music, some of which has been recorded. And then there is the Overture: In the Springtime and A Scotch Rhapsody.

Cyril Rootham (1875-1938) was an English composer, educator, and organist. He was a Fellow and organist at St John's College, Cambridge, where he significantly influenced English music through his innovative programming with the Cambridge University Musical Society. Rootham composed two symphonies, much chamber music, choral works, and an opera, The Two Sisters. His contributions to music education and his revival of neglected works left a deep legacy in British music. His gorgeous setting of W.B. Yeats’s The Stolen Child or his choral City in the West [Bristol] could be revived.

Martin Shaw (1875-1958) was an English composer, conductor, and theatre producer. He is remembered for his contributions to church music, including editing Songs of Praise and The Oxford Book of Carols. Shaw composed over three hundred works, including hymns, carols, oratorios, and instrumental pieces. Hus work significantly influenced the revival of traditional English church music.

Best known for his seminal volumes of Essays in Musical Analysis, which set a high standard for music criticism, Sir Donald Francis Tovey (1875-1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer, composer, conductor, and pianist. Tovey made significant contributions to music education as Reid Professor of Music at the University of Edinburgh, where he founded the Reid Symphony Orchestra. His editions of works by Bach and Beethoven remain influential. Sadly, his compositions are precious few, though several have been recorded in recent times. This includes his Cello Concerto, Piano Concerto and Symphony in D major. Will he be recalled in concerts given this year by the prestigious Scottish Orchestras? I am not holding my breath…

William Gillies Whittaker (1876-1944) was a prominent English composer, pedagogue, conductor, musicologist, Bach scholar, publisher, and writer. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he initially studied science but later pursued music. Whittaker made significant contributions to British music, particularly through his work with the Newcastle Bach Choir and the Scottish National Academy of Music. He was best known for his arrangements of northern folk songs and his efforts to elevate music education. Whittaker's legacy includes his role as General Editor for Oxford University Press's Educational Music Department. He was also a friend and correspondent with Gustav Holst.

Works that could be revived in this his sesquicentennial year could include the remarkable Among the Northumbrian Hill for piano and string quartet (1922), his A Lyke-Wake Dirge for chorus and orchestra (1925).

Going back in time, I doubt there will be major celebrations for William Baly (1825-91). Born in Warwick he studied at the Royal Academy of Music with William Sterndale Bennett and Cipriani Potter. According to the British Music Society Composer Profiles (third edition, 2012) he composed a symphony, a string quartet, piano pieces, and part-songs.

Mary Gabriel (1825-77) is not a name known to listeners. In her day, she was famous for her many songs of which she composed more than three hundred. Her catalogue also included cantatas, and seven operettas, some with intriguing titles: Widows Bewitched, The Lion’s Mouth, Lost and Found, The Shepherd of Cornouailles and Who’s the Heir. Perhaps her Glamis Castle Waltz could be resurrected by an enterprising pianist. It might be a bit naïve, but it would make a good encore.

Kate Loder (1825-1904) was an English composer and pianist. Born in Bath, she was the daughter of flautist George Loder and piano teacher Frances Kirkham. Loder studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where she became the first female professor of harmony. She composed piano music, songs, and choral works. Loder married surgeon Henry Thompson in 1851 and gradually shifted from performing to composing and teaching. Her students included notable musicians, and her contributions to music education were significant.

Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley (1825-1889) was an English composer, organist, musicologist, and priest. He showed musical talent from an early age, composing an opera aged eight. He studied at Christ Church, Oxford, and was ordained in 1849. Ouseley founded St Michael's College in Tenbury Wells in 1856 designed to elevate Anglican church music standards. He served as Heather Professor of Music at Oxford and Precentor of Hereford Cathedral. His works include oratorios, anthems, and hymns, and he contributed to the revival of church music in England. I guess that the odd anthem at one of the Three Choir Cathedrals would be welcome.

I would be surprised if there is a big splash of events commemorating the centenaries of Tristram Cary (1925-2008) or Daphne Oram (1925-2003). Which is a pity, as both participated in the development of electronic music in the UK. Cary is best recalled for his film score to The Ladykillers, starring Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, and for his music for Doctor Who’s Dalek films. Oram was a co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Ron Goodwin (1925-2003) is remembered for his film scores, especially the Miss Marple films featuring Margaret Rutherford, Where Eagles Dare and Force Ten from Navarone. But his greatest success was 633 Squadron, based on a fictional WW2 bomber squadron.

Bristol-born Anthony Milner (1925-2002) was a British composer, teacher, and conductor. He studied at the Royal College of Music, Herbert Fryer for piano and music theory with R. O. Morris. Milner’s compositions evolved from early influences by Michael Tippett, eventually finding his own voice within an essentially tonal style. His choral works, often with religious texts, stand out, and he also wrote orchestral and chamber music. It would be splendid to hear one of his choral works, such as Roman Spring, or his Symphony No.1.

Finally, I think that there may be celebrations here and abroad for Maurice Ravel. To what extent the centenaries of Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio and Gunther Alexander Schuller will be honoured in the UK is anyone’s guess.