fbpx
Wikipedia

Edward German

October 14, 2023

Sir Edward German (17 February 1862 – 11 November 1936) was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera. Some of his light operas, especially Merrie England, are still performed.

Sir Edward German

As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra of Whitchurch, Shropshire. He also began to compose music. While performing and teaching violin at the Royal Academy of Music, German began to build a career as a composer in the mid-1880s, writing serious music as well as light opera. In 1888, he became music director of the Globe Theatre in London. He provided popular incidental music for many productions at the Globe and other London theatres, including Richard III (1889), Henry VIII (1892) and Nell Gwynn (1900). He also wrote symphonies, orchestral suites, symphonic poems and other works.[1] He also wrote a considerable body of songs,[2] piano music, and symphonic suites and other concert music, of which his Welsh Rhapsody (1904) is perhaps best known.

German was engaged to finish The Emerald Isle after the death of Arthur Sullivan in 1900, the success of which led to more comic operas, including Merrie England (1902) and Tom Jones (1907). He also wrote the Just So Song Book in 1903 to Rudyard Kipling's texts and continued to write orchestral music. German wrote little new music of his own after 1912, but he continued to conduct until 1928, the year in which he was knighted.

Life and career Edit

German was born German Edward Jones in Whitchurch, Shropshire, the second of five children and the elder of two sons of John David Jones, a liquor merchant, brewer, church organist and lay preacher at the local Congregational chapel, and Elizabeth (Betsy) Cox (died 1901), a teacher of Bible classes for young women. His first name was an anglicised form of the Welsh name "Garmon."[3] His parents called him Jim.[4] He began to study piano and organ with his father at the age of five. At the age of six, he formed a boys' concert band to perform locally, teaching himself the violin, composition, and music arrangement in the process. He later sang alto in the church choir and participated in family entertainments above his uncle's grocery shop, often playing piano duets and performing comic sketches with his elder sister, Ruth, who died when he was 15.[5] He also wrote comic poems. His younger sisters were named Mabel and Rachel.[4]

In his mid-teens, German's parents attempted to apprentice him to a shipbuilding firm, as they believed their son had an aptitude for engineering. His studies at a boarding-school in Chester had been delayed by a serious illness, however, and so he was turned away as too old to begin an apprenticeship. In his teens he formed a second band, a quintette, including himself on the violin, his sister on the pianoforte or the bass, and three friends of the family. He prepared the orchestrations for this band. He also led the town orchestra, did some amateur acting, and sang comic songs in local village halls.[5]

The Royal Academy Edit

At the age of 18, he studied privately with Walter Cecil Hay, the conductor of the Whitchurch choral society and director of music at St Chad's, Shrewsbury.[6][7] German entered the Royal Academy of Music, where he eventually changed his name to J. E. German (and later simply Edward German) to avoid confusion with another student named Edward Jones. He continued his studies of violin and organ, also beginning a more formal study of composition under Ebenezer Prout.[8] Many of German's student works were played at Academy concerts.[9]

In 1884, the Academy appointed German a sub-professor of the violin. During his time as an instructor, he was well regarded and won several medals and prizes, such as the Tubbs Bow for his skill with the violin. In 1885, he won the Charles Lucas Medal for his Te Deum for soloists, choir and organ, leading him to change his focus from violin to composition. He soon wrote a light opera, The Two Poets (for four soloists and piano), in 1886, which was produced at the Academy and then performed at St. George's Hall.[9] In 1887, his first symphony, in E Minor, was also performed at the Academy.[10] In 1890 he conducted a revised version of this symphony at the Crystal Palace, while The Two Poets toured successfully in England.[5]

During his time at the Royal Academy, German taught at Wimbledon School and played the violin in theatre orchestras, including the Savoy Theatre. He visited Germany in 1886 and 1888–89 and was impressed by its opera, particularly at Bayreuth.[11] His circle of close friends at the Academy included Dora Bright[12] and Ethel Mary Boyce from Chertsey, Surrey. He and Boyce became engaged. She was also a promising composition student and won the Lady Goldsmid scholarship in 1885, the Sterndale Bennett Prize in 1886 and the Charles Lucas Medal in 1889. Although the engagement was broken off, they remained friends.[13] German never married.[4]

Plays and orchestral music Edit

After leaving the Academy, German continued to teach at Wimbledon School and to play the violin in orchestras at various London theatres, including the Savoy.[4] In 1888, an introduction by conductor Alberto Randegger to theatre manager Richard Mansfield led to German's appointment as conductor and musical director at the Globe Theatre in London. There he improved the orchestra and began providing incidental music for the theatre's lavish productions, starting with Richard III in 1889.[5] This music was well received (The Times called for a concert suite to be arranged),[14] and the overture soon became popular in concert halls. This eventually led to other incidental music commissions that gained success. In 1892, German composed music for a production of Henry Irving's version of Henry VIII at the Lyceum Theatre, London, where he incorporated elements of traditional old English dance. Within a year, sheet music of the dance numbers from the play's score had sold 30,000 copies. German was by then in great demand to write music for plays. His commissions included Henry Arthur Jones's The Tempter in 1893, Johnston Forbes-Robertson's Romeo and Juliet at the Lyceum in 1895, Herbert Beerbohm Tree's productions of As You Like It (1896) and Much Ado about Nothing (1898), and Anthony Hope's English Nell (later known as Nell Gwynn) in 1900, starring Marie Tempest.[8][9]

At the same time, German was writing music for the concert hall, sometimes adapting music from his theatrical scores. His Gipsy Suite met with success similar to that of his overture to Richard III and his popular Henry VIII and Nell Gwynn dances. All were written in "a distinctive, if limited, 'olde English' manner, a species of musical mock Tudor with which German came to be particularly associated."[11] He also wrote a number of successful drawing-room songs and solo piano pieces during this time. The success of German's theatrical and concert hall music led to his receiving commissions from orchestral music festivals, including his second symphony for the Norwich Festival in 1893. The young critic George Bernard Shaw complained that German's symphonies were limited by the composer's indulgence in a theatricality out of place in symphonic writing. German was thin-skinned, and after receiving this criticism, he wrote no more symphonies. German tried to avoid this charge in the future by characterising his large-scale four-movement works as "symphonic suites". Successful orchestral works included suites for the Leeds Festival in 1895 and The Seasons for Norwich in 1899, and a symphonic poem, Hamlet, at Birmingham in 1897, conducted by Hans Richter. He had planned a violin concerto for the 1901 Leeds Festival, but this was never completed, as German instead turned to light opera.[9] In 1902, he produced a Rhapsody on March Themes for the Brighton Festival.[5]

Comic operas Edit

Though German had little experience with opera or choral music, Richard D'Oyly Carte invited him to finish Arthur Sullivan's The Emerald Isle for the Savoy Theatre after Sullivan's death in 1900.[15] He accepted, giving up his violin concerto commission for the Leeds Festival to meet the deadlines. The success of his score for the opera (which was performed into the 1920s) opened up a new career for him.[9] His next comic opera, in 1902, was Merrie England, with Basil Hood, the librettist for The Emerald Isle. This was perhaps German's greatest success, and its dance music was popular separately. It was revived frequently, becoming a light-opera standard in Britain, while several of its songs, including "The English Rose", "O Peaceful England" and "The Yeomen of England", remained popular until the middle of the 20th century.[5] Merrie England has been so frequently chosen by amateur groups in England that it probably has been performed more often than any other British opera or operetta written in the 20th century.[9]

 
Gilbert, Workman and German at a rehearsal

After this, German and Hood collaborated again in 1903 to write A Princess of Kensington. This opera was unsuccessful, although it toured briefly and had a New York production. German turned to other endeavours, composing music to Rudyard Kipling texts, including the twelve songs in the Just So Song Book in 1903. He also received a steady flow of orchestral commissions, leading to works such as his Welsh Rhapsody for the Cardiff Festival in 1904, featuring as its climax "Men of Harlech".[8]

German returned to writing comic operas, achieving another success with Tom Jones for the Apollo Theatre in 1907, produced by Robert Courtneidge for the Fielding bicentenary. The score is one of German's finest works. It received a production in New York, with German conducting, and was performed for decades, spawning separate performances of its dance music.[5] He next collaborated with W. S. Gilbert on his final (and unsuccessful) opera, Fallen Fairies, at the Savoy in 1909. With German's agreement, Gilbert cast his protege, Nancy McIntosh, as the Fairy Queen, Selene. Critics found her performance weak. Shortly after the opening, the producer C. H. Workman, acting at the request of the syndicate he had gathered, replaced McIntosh with Amy Evans and asked for restoration of a song that Gilbert had cut during rehearsals. Gilbert was outraged and threatened to sue, demanding that German join him. This placed German in a distressing position, and the composer, who habitually preferred to avoid legal battles, declined.[16] In maintaining the Savoy tradition of comic opera, German was composing a style of piece for which public taste had dwindled as fashions in musical theatre had changed with the new century.[11]

Later years Edit

In the wake of the failure of Fallen Fairies and his unhappy experience with it, German effectively ended his career as a composer of new works, only returning to composition on a few rare occasions. In 1911 he became the first composer to write music for a British film; he was commissioned for 50 guineas to write 16 bars of music for the coronation scene in the film Henry VIII.[8][17] The same year, he composed his march and hymn for the coronation of King George V.[18]

 
German in later years

Among the few works of his later years was the Theme and Six Diversions in 1919, and his final major work, the Othello-inspired tone poem The Willow Song in 1922.[8] After that, German all but ceased composing. Correspondence shows that he felt uncomfortable with the changing musical styles, such as jazz and modernist classical music. Like Sullivan before him, he regretted that his popularity stemmed mostly from his comic operas.[4] However, German was a perfectionist and continually revised his works and produced new arrangements for publication. He also recorded some of them and encouraged their production and broadcast on the radio.[8]

German lived, from 1886, in Hall Road, Maida Vale, near Lord's Cricket Ground, London, where he was an avid enthusiast of that game. He lived a quiet life, enjoying walking, cycling and fishing, though he often attended the theatre.[19] He developed a strong friendship with Sir Edward Elgar.[4] German was injured in a road accident during World War I, but continued to be a highly sought-after conductor, accepting many conducting engagements, until he suffered an eye condition that left him blind in his right eye in 1928. He was the first British conductor invited by Dan Godfrey to conduct his own music at Bournemouth.[9] Beginning in 1916, he was also one of the first composers to conduct his own music for recording, producing full renderings of Merrie England and Theme and Six Diversions.[5]

German was knighted in 1928, when the respect in which he was held by fellow musicians was shown by the number of eminent musicians who attended the celebratory dinner, including Elgar, Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Sir Hugh Allen, Sir Landon Ronald, and Lord Berners.[20] In 1934 German received the Royal Philharmonic Society's highest honour, its gold medal, presented by Sir Thomas Beecham at an RPS concert.[21] He was elected an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1936, and he was a leader of the Performing Rights Society, which fought for composers' rights to fair compensation for the performances of their works.

German died of prostate cancer at his Maida Vale home, aged 74.[22] He was cremated at Golders Green,[23] and his ashes are interred in the Whitchurch cemetery.[5] He left an estate valued at £56,191.[24]

Legacy Edit

German lived long enough to witness the beginning of a decline in the popularity of his orchestral works. A note found after his death bears this poignant message: "I die a disappointed man because my serious orchestral works have not been recognised".[9] However, his best-known orchestral pieces continued to see occasional performances, and his light operas Merrie England and Tom Jones were kept alive by the productions of amateur companies. Beecham recorded his Gipsy Suite in 1956.[25] A recording of his Richard III, Theme and Six Diversions and The Seasons was released by Naxos in 1994, conducted by Andrew Penny.[9] The first complete professional recording of Tom Jones followed in 2009.[4] Dutton Epoch released a selection of German's music, including his Symphony No. 2, in 2007,[26] and a recording of some of his incidental music for plays, together with two marches and a hymn in 2012.[27]

Analysis Edit

The music scholar David Russell Hulme wrote of German that French influences are clearly apparent in his music "and there are even occasional reminders of Tchaikovsky, but paradoxically he was, like Elgar, a stylistic cosmopolitan who wrote music that is quintessentially English."[11] Hulme also observes that though he is seen as Sullivan's successor, German's music is quite different in style, and his lyric ballads especially show "a romantic warmth that struck a new note in British operetta".[11] The Times argued that German was so frequently spoken of as Sullivan's successor that his contemporaries failed to notice that he was "an artist of genius" in his own right.[28] Many of German's colleagues in the musical establishment did, however, find his work to be of the highest quality, including Elgar and Sir John Barbirolli. Hulme writes that "German's orchestral music certainly does not deserve the neglect it has suffered, for it still has much to offer modern audiences. Beautifully crafted, colourful and vital, its pleasing and distinctive personality is still capable of inspiring the kind of affectionate regard it once so readily kindled."[9]

German's music often reflected a romanticised Shakespearian or semi-mythical English merry-making past. This appealed to contemporary taste, as his Three Dances from 'Henry VIII' (1892) was the most frequently performed English orchestral work in the first decade of The Proms, with well over 30 performances between 1895 and 1905, and his Three Dances from 'As You Like It' (1896) were similarly popular.[29][30]

Edward German Festival Edit

The first Edward German Festival was held in 2006 in German's birth town, Whitchurch, Shropshire. Events included performances by festival patron and cellist, Julian Lloyd Webber and a concert version of German's best-known work, Merrie England.[31] Another festival was held on 23–28 April 2009, sponsored by the Friends of Whitchurch Heritage. This programme included a concert version of Tom Jones (for which a new recording was released by Naxos in 2009) and a school adaptation of Merrie England. Other events featured clarinettist Emma Johnson, German scholar David Russell Hulme and the Hallé Orchestra.[32]

Works Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ Links to information about German's orchestral works and recordings of them at the Edward German Discography, accessed 16 July 2009
  2. ^ Links to information about German's songs and recordings of them at the Edward German Discography, accessed 16 July 2009
  3. ^ Liner notes for recording of German's Symphony No. 1 and Welsh Rhapsody 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine, beille Musique AMCD, 2006, accessed 15 June 2012 (French)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Prince, John. From liner notes for the 2009 recording of Tom Jones, Naxos 2009
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rees, Brian. "German, Sir Edward (1862–1936)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 13 October 2008
  6. ^ "Edward German. A Biographical Sketch". The Musical Times. 45 (731): 20–24. 1 January 1904. doi:10.2307/903292. JSTOR 903292.
  7. ^ "Music Staff at St Chad's", St Chad's of Shrewsbury, 2012, accessed 9 February 2018
  8. ^ a b c d e f Scowcroft, Philip. "Edward German: Serious or Light?" MusicWeb-International, 1 December 2001
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hulme, David Russell. "German: Richard III / Theme and Six Diversions / The Seasons", Marco Polo/Naxos liner notes, 1994
  10. ^ , Profile at the Royal Academy of Music's York Gate Collections (2004)
  11. ^ a b c d e Hulme, David Russell. "German, Sir Edward", Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, accessed 14 October 2008
  12. ^ Rees, p. 35
  13. ^ Information about Ethel Mary Boyce[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ The Times, 18 March 1889, p. 7
  15. ^ Stone, David. "Edward German" 27 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 2001
  16. ^ Morrison, Robert. "The Controversy Surrounding Gilbert's Last Opera", 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Fallen Fairies, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive (2006)
  17. ^ Henry VIII (1911) at IMDb
  18. ^ Russell Hulme (2001), pp. 703–705
  19. ^ Irving, Ernest. Cue for Music (1959), pp. 47–51
  20. ^ The Times, 30 March 1928, p. 14
  21. ^ The Times, 20 April 1934, p. 12
  22. ^ "Deaths", The Times, 4 January 1937, p. 19
  23. ^ Rees, p. 282
  24. ^ Edward German in Wills & Probate 1858–1996: 1936, p. 521, Probate Search Service, UK.Gov, accessed 15 March 2018.
  25. ^ Woolf, Jonathan. "Review: Sir Thomas Beecham – English Music", (EMI reissue 2011), MusicWeb International, 11 August 2011, accessed 21 December 2020
  26. ^ Farrell, Scott. "Sir Edward German (Dutton Epoch)", Edward German Discography, 2007, accessed 3 June 2012
  27. ^ Farrell, Scott. " BBC Concert Orchestra" 2012 Epoch 2012 CDLX 7285, Edward German Discography, 2012, accessed 3 June 2012
  28. ^ The Times obituary, 12 November 1936, p. 16
  29. ^ Poston, Lawrence. "Henry Wood, the 'Proms', and National Identity in Music, 1895–1904", Victorian Studies, Vol. 47, No. 3, Spring 2005, p. 412
  30. ^ "All Performances of Edward German: Henry VIII at BBC Proms", BBC Proms, accessed 21 December 2020
  31. ^ "Whitchurch celebrates music of famous son", BBC Home 2006
  32. ^ "Sir Edward German Music Festival 2009" 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Sir Edward German Music Festival 2009 website

Sources Edit

Further reading Edit

  • Dunhill, T.F. (1936). "Edward German 1862–1936". The Musical Times. lxxvii: 1073–7.
  • Gänzl, Kurt. The encyclopaedia of the musical theatre, 2 vols. (1994)
  • Hyman, Alan (1978). Sullivan and His Satellites. London: Chappell. ISBN 0-903443-24-4.
  • Lamb, Andrew. "German, Sir Edward", New Grove Dictionary of Music
  • Parker, D. C. "Sir Edward German", RAM Magazine, No 179, 1961, pp. 31–33.
  • Scott, William Herbert (1932). Edward German: An Intimate Biography. London: Cecil Palmer.

External links Edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Edward German.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward German.

October 14, 2023
edward, german, february, 1862, november, 1936, english, musician, composer, welsh, descent, best, remembered, extensive, output, incidental, music, stage, successor, arthur, sullivan, field, english, comic, opera, some, light, operas, especially, merrie, engl. Sir Edward German 17 February 1862 11 November 1936 was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera Some of his light operas especially Merrie England are still performed Sir Edward GermanAs a youth German played the violin and led the town orchestra of Whitchurch Shropshire He also began to compose music While performing and teaching violin at the Royal Academy of Music German began to build a career as a composer in the mid 1880s writing serious music as well as light opera In 1888 he became music director of the Globe Theatre in London He provided popular incidental music for many productions at the Globe and other London theatres including Richard III 1889 Henry VIII 1892 and Nell Gwynn 1900 He also wrote symphonies orchestral suites symphonic poems and other works 1 He also wrote a considerable body of songs 2 piano music and symphonic suites and other concert music of which his Welsh Rhapsody 1904 is perhaps best known German was engaged to finish The Emerald Isle after the death of Arthur Sullivan in 1900 the success of which led to more comic operas including Merrie England 1902 and Tom Jones 1907 He also wrote the Just So Song Book in 1903 to Rudyard Kipling s texts and continued to write orchestral music German wrote little new music of his own after 1912 but he continued to conduct until 1928 the year in which he was knighted Contents 1 Life and career 1 1 The Royal Academy 1 2 Plays and orchestral music 1 3 Comic operas 1 4 Later years 2 Legacy 3 Analysis 4 Edward German Festival 5 Works 5 1 Operas 5 2 Incidental music to plays 5 3 Orchestral 5 4 Choral works and part songs 5 5 Songs for solo voice 5 6 Piano 5 7 Violin 5 8 Woodwind chamber music and organ 6 References 7 Sources 8 Further reading 9 External linksLife and career EditGerman was born German Edward Jones in Whitchurch Shropshire the second of five children and the elder of two sons of John David Jones a liquor merchant brewer church organist and lay preacher at the local Congregational chapel and Elizabeth Betsy Cox died 1901 a teacher of Bible classes for young women His first name was an anglicised form of the Welsh name Garmon 3 His parents called him Jim 4 He began to study piano and organ with his father at the age of five At the age of six he formed a boys concert band to perform locally teaching himself the violin composition and music arrangement in the process He later sang alto in the church choir and participated in family entertainments above his uncle s grocery shop often playing piano duets and performing comic sketches with his elder sister Ruth who died when he was 15 5 He also wrote comic poems His younger sisters were named Mabel and Rachel 4 In his mid teens German s parents attempted to apprentice him to a shipbuilding firm as they believed their son had an aptitude for engineering His studies at a boarding school in Chester had been delayed by a serious illness however and so he was turned away as too old to begin an apprenticeship In his teens he formed a second band a quintette including himself on the violin his sister on the pianoforte or the bass and three friends of the family He prepared the orchestrations for this band He also led the town orchestra did some amateur acting and sang comic songs in local village halls 5 The Royal Academy Edit At the age of 18 he studied privately with Walter Cecil Hay the conductor of the Whitchurch choral society and director of music at St Chad s Shrewsbury 6 7 German entered the Royal Academy of Music where he eventually changed his name to J E German and later simply Edward German to avoid confusion with another student named Edward Jones He continued his studies of violin and organ also beginning a more formal study of composition under Ebenezer Prout 8 Many of German s student works were played at Academy concerts 9 In 1884 the Academy appointed German a sub professor of the violin During his time as an instructor he was well regarded and won several medals and prizes such as the Tubbs Bow for his skill with the violin In 1885 he won the Charles Lucas Medal for his Te Deum for soloists choir and organ leading him to change his focus from violin to composition He soon wrote a light opera The Two Poets for four soloists and piano in 1886 which was produced at the Academy and then performed at St George s Hall 9 In 1887 his first symphony in E Minor was also performed at the Academy 10 In 1890 he conducted a revised version of this symphony at the Crystal Palace while The Two Poets toured successfully in England 5 During his time at the Royal Academy German taught at Wimbledon School and played the violin in theatre orchestras including the Savoy Theatre He visited Germany in 1886 and 1888 89 and was impressed by its opera particularly at Bayreuth 11 His circle of close friends at the Academy included Dora Bright 12 and Ethel Mary Boyce from Chertsey Surrey He and Boyce became engaged She was also a promising composition student and won the Lady Goldsmid scholarship in 1885 the Sterndale Bennett Prize in 1886 and the Charles Lucas Medal in 1889 Although the engagement was broken off they remained friends 13 German never married 4 Plays and orchestral music Edit After leaving the Academy German continued to teach at Wimbledon School and to play the violin in orchestras at various London theatres including the Savoy 4 In 1888 an introduction by conductor Alberto Randegger to theatre manager Richard Mansfield led to German s appointment as conductor and musical director at the Globe Theatre in London There he improved the orchestra and began providing incidental music for the theatre s lavish productions starting with Richard III in 1889 5 This music was well received The Times called for a concert suite to be arranged 14 and the overture soon became popular in concert halls This eventually led to other incidental music commissions that gained success In 1892 German composed music for a production of Henry Irving s version of Henry VIII at the Lyceum Theatre London where he incorporated elements of traditional old English dance Within a year sheet music of the dance numbers from the play s score had sold 30 000 copies German was by then in great demand to write music for plays His commissions included Henry Arthur Jones s The Tempter in 1893 Johnston Forbes Robertson s Romeo and Juliet at the Lyceum in 1895 Herbert Beerbohm Tree s productions of As You Like It 1896 and Much Ado about Nothing 1898 and Anthony Hope s English Nell later known as Nell Gwynn in 1900 starring Marie Tempest 8 9 At the same time German was writing music for the concert hall sometimes adapting music from his theatrical scores His Gipsy Suite met with success similar to that of his overture to Richard III and his popular Henry VIII and Nell Gwynn dances All were written in a distinctive if limited olde English manner a species of musical mock Tudor with which German came to be particularly associated 11 He also wrote a number of successful drawing room songs and solo piano pieces during this time The success of German s theatrical and concert hall music led to his receiving commissions from orchestral music festivals including his second symphony for the Norwich Festival in 1893 The young critic George Bernard Shaw complained that German s symphonies were limited by the composer s indulgence in a theatricality out of place in symphonic writing German was thin skinned and after receiving this criticism he wrote no more symphonies German tried to avoid this charge in the future by characterising his large scale four movement works as symphonic suites Successful orchestral works included suites for the Leeds Festival in 1895 and The Seasons for Norwich in 1899 and a symphonic poem Hamlet at Birmingham in 1897 conducted by Hans Richter He had planned a violin concerto for the 1901 Leeds Festival but this was never completed as German instead turned to light opera 9 In 1902 he produced a Rhapsody on March Themes for the Brighton Festival 5 Comic operas Edit Though German had little experience with opera or choral music Richard D Oyly Carte invited him to finish Arthur Sullivan s The Emerald Isle for the Savoy Theatre after Sullivan s death in 1900 15 He accepted giving up his violin concerto commission for the Leeds Festival to meet the deadlines The success of his score for the opera which was performed into the 1920s opened up a new career for him 9 His next comic opera in 1902 was Merrie England with Basil Hood the librettist for The Emerald Isle This was perhaps German s greatest success and its dance music was popular separately It was revived frequently becoming a light opera standard in Britain while several of its songs including The English Rose O Peaceful England and The Yeomen of England remained popular until the middle of the 20th century 5 Merrie England has been so frequently chosen by amateur groups in England that it probably has been performed more often than any other British opera or operetta written in the 20th century 9 nbsp Gilbert Workman and German at a rehearsalAfter this German and Hood collaborated again in 1903 to write A Princess of Kensington This opera was unsuccessful although it toured briefly and had a New York production German turned to other endeavours composing music to Rudyard Kipling texts including the twelve songs in the Just So Song Book in 1903 He also received a steady flow of orchestral commissions leading to works such as his Welsh Rhapsody for the Cardiff Festival in 1904 featuring as its climax Men of Harlech 8 German returned to writing comic operas achieving another success with Tom Jones for the Apollo Theatre in 1907 produced by Robert Courtneidge for the Fielding bicentenary The score is one of German s finest works It received a production in New York with German conducting and was performed for decades spawning separate performances of its dance music 5 He next collaborated with W S Gilbert on his final and unsuccessful opera Fallen Fairies at the Savoy in 1909 With German s agreement Gilbert cast his protege Nancy McIntosh as the Fairy Queen Selene Critics found her performance weak Shortly after the opening the producer C H Workman acting at the request of the syndicate he had gathered replaced McIntosh with Amy Evans and asked for restoration of a song that Gilbert had cut during rehearsals Gilbert was outraged and threatened to sue demanding that German join him This placed German in a distressing position and the composer who habitually preferred to avoid legal battles declined 16 In maintaining the Savoy tradition of comic opera German was composing a style of piece for which public taste had dwindled as fashions in musical theatre had changed with the new century 11 Later years Edit In the wake of the failure of Fallen Fairies and his unhappy experience with it German effectively ended his career as a composer of new works only returning to composition on a few rare occasions In 1911 he became the first composer to write music for a British film he was commissioned for 50 guineas to write 16 bars of music for the coronation scene in the film Henry VIII 8 17 The same year he composed his march and hymn for the coronation of King George V 18 nbsp German in later yearsAmong the few works of his later years was the Theme and Six Diversions in 1919 and his final major work the Othello inspired tone poem The Willow Song in 1922 8 After that German all but ceased composing Correspondence shows that he felt uncomfortable with the changing musical styles such as jazz and modernist classical music Like Sullivan before him he regretted that his popularity stemmed mostly from his comic operas 4 However German was a perfectionist and continually revised his works and produced new arrangements for publication He also recorded some of them and encouraged their production and broadcast on the radio 8 German lived from 1886 in Hall Road Maida Vale near Lord s Cricket Ground London where he was an avid enthusiast of that game He lived a quiet life enjoying walking cycling and fishing though he often attended the theatre 19 He developed a strong friendship with Sir Edward Elgar 4 German was injured in a road accident during World War I but continued to be a highly sought after conductor accepting many conducting engagements until he suffered an eye condition that left him blind in his right eye in 1928 He was the first British conductor invited by Dan Godfrey to conduct his own music at Bournemouth 9 Beginning in 1916 he was also one of the first composers to conduct his own music for recording producing full renderings of Merrie England and Theme and Six Diversions 5 German was knighted in 1928 when the respect in which he was held by fellow musicians was shown by the number of eminent musicians who attended the celebratory dinner including Elgar Sir Alexander Mackenzie Sir Hugh Allen Sir Landon Ronald and Lord Berners 20 In 1934 German received the Royal Philharmonic Society s highest honour its gold medal presented by Sir Thomas Beecham at an RPS concert 21 He was elected an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1936 and he was a leader of the Performing Rights Society which fought for composers rights to fair compensation for the performances of their works German died of prostate cancer at his Maida Vale home aged 74 22 He was cremated at Golders Green 23 and his ashes are interred in the Whitchurch cemetery 5 He left an estate valued at 56 191 24 Legacy EditGerman lived long enough to witness the beginning of a decline in the popularity of his orchestral works A note found after his death bears this poignant message I die a disappointed man because my serious orchestral works have not been recognised 9 However his best known orchestral pieces continued to see occasional performances and his light operas Merrie England and Tom Jones were kept alive by the productions of amateur companies Beecham recorded his Gipsy Suite in 1956 25 A recording of his Richard III Theme and Six Diversions and The Seasons was released by Naxos in 1994 conducted by Andrew Penny 9 The first complete professional recording of Tom Jones followed in 2009 4 Dutton Epoch released a selection of German s music including his Symphony No 2 in 2007 26 and a recording of some of his incidental music for plays together with two marches and a hymn in 2012 27 Analysis EditThe music scholar David Russell Hulme wrote of German that French influences are clearly apparent in his music and there are even occasional reminders of Tchaikovsky but paradoxically he was like Elgar a stylistic cosmopolitan who wrote music that is quintessentially English 11 Hulme also observes that though he is seen as Sullivan s successor German s music is quite different in style and his lyric ballads especially show a romantic warmth that struck a new note in British operetta 11 The Times argued that German was so frequently spoken of as Sullivan s successor that his contemporaries failed to notice that he was an artist of genius in his own right 28 Many of German s colleagues in the musical establishment did however find his work to be of the highest quality including Elgar and Sir John Barbirolli Hulme writes that German s orchestral music certainly does not deserve the neglect it has suffered for it still has much to offer modern audiences Beautifully crafted colourful and vital its pleasing and distinctive personality is still capable of inspiring the kind of affectionate regard it once so readily kindled 9 German s music often reflected a romanticised Shakespearian or semi mythical English merry making past This appealed to contemporary taste as his Three Dances from Henry VIII 1892 was the most frequently performed English orchestral work in the first decade of The Proms with well over 30 performances between 1895 and 1905 and his Three Dances from As You Like It 1896 were similarly popular 29 30 Edward German Festival EditThe first Edward German Festival was held in 2006 in German s birth town Whitchurch Shropshire Events included performances by festival patron and cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and a concert version of German s best known work Merrie England 31 Another festival was held on 23 28 April 2009 sponsored by the Friends of Whitchurch Heritage This programme included a concert version of Tom Jones for which a new recording was released by Naxos in 2009 and a school adaptation of Merrie England Other events featured clarinettist Emma Johnson German scholar David Russell Hulme and the Halle Orchestra 32 Works EditOperas Edit The Two Poets 1886 later revised as The Rival Poets 1901 The Emerald Isle 1901 completion of the opera left unfinished by Sullivan at his death Merrie England 1902 A Princess of Kensington 1903 Tom Jones 1907 Fallen Fairies 1909 Incidental music to plays Edit Richard III 1889 Henry VIII 1892 The Tempter 1893 Romeo and Juliet 1895 Michael and his Lost Angel 1896 As You Like It 1896 Much Ado about Nothing 1898 English Nell 1900 later known as Nell Gwyn The Conqueror 1905 Orchestral Edit The Guitar 1883 Bolero 1883 Symphony No 1 in E minor 1887 March Solennelle 1891 On German Airs 1891 Gipsy Suite 1892 Symphony No 2 Norwich in A minor 1893 Symphonic Suite in D minor Leeds 1895 In Commemoration 1897 revised in 1902 as March Rhapsody on Original Themes Hamlet Symphonic Poem 1897 The Seasons Symphonic Suite 1899 Welsh Rhapsody 1904 Coronation March and Hymn 1911 The Irish Guards 1918 Theme and Six Diversions 1919 The Willow Song 1922 Cloverley Suite 1934 Choral works and part songs Edit Te Deum in F 1885 The Chase 1886 Antigone c 1887 O Lovely May 1894 Who is Sylvia 1894 Banks of the Bann 1899 Just So Songs originally written for solo voice in 1903 part song arrangements by the composer from 1916 1933 Canada Patriotic Hymn 1904 O Peaceful Night 1904 Introit Bread of Heaven 1908 Grace Non Nobis Domine 1911 Pure as the Air 1911 The Three Knights 1911 Beauteous Morn 1912 In Praise of Neptune 1912 My Bonnie Lass 1912 Sleeping 1912 Sweet Day So Cool 1912 Morning Hymn 1912 Intercessory Hymn Father Omnipotent 1915 London Town 1920 Rolling Down to Rio Songs for solo voice Edit All Friends Around the Wrekin A Song of Shropshire Big Steamers Be Well Assured from The Fringes of the Fleet Have You News of My Boy Jack 1916 Charming Chloe Cupid at the Ferry Love the Pedlar Sea Lullaby Heigh Ho Bird of Blue Glorious Devon Who ll Buy My Lavender RecompensePiano Edit Suite for Pianoforte Impromptu Valse Caprice Bourree Elegy Mazurka Tarantella 1889 Four Pianoforte Duets 1890 Graceful Dance in F 1891 Polish Dance 1891 Valse in A Flat 1891 Album Leaf 1892 Intermezzo in A Minor 1892 Valsette pour Piano 1892 Minuet in G 1893 Second Impromptu 1894 Concert Study in A Flat 1894 Gipsy Suite Four Characteristic Dances duet 1895 Melody in E Flat 1895 Suite for Four Hands 1896 Columbine Air de Ballet 1898 Abendlied Evensong 1900 Melody in E The Queen s Carol 1905 Violin Edit Nocturne 1882 Chanson d Amour 1880s Barcarolle 1880s Album Leaf 1880s Sprites Dance 1880s Bolero 1883 Scotch Sketch for 2 Violins and Pianoforte 1890 Moto Perpetuo Pour Violin Accompagnement de Piano 1890 Souvenir for Violin and Pianoforte 1896 Song without Words 1898 Three Sketches Valsette Souvenir Bolero 1897 Woodwind chamber music and organ Edit Saltarello for flute and piano 1889 Pastorale and Bourree for woodwinds 1891 Suite Three Pieces for woodwinds 1892 Andante and Tarantella for woodwinds 1892 Romance for woodwinds 1892 Intermezzo for woodwinds 1894 Early One Morning for woodwinds 1900 Trio in D for Violin Violoncello and Pianoforte c 1883 Serenade for chamber ensemble 1890s Andante in B Flat for organ 1880s References Edit Links to information about German s orchestral works and recordings of them at the Edward German Discography accessed 16 July 2009 Links to information about German s songs and recordings of them at the Edward German Discography accessed 16 July 2009 Liner notes for recording of German s Symphony No 1 and Welsh Rhapsody Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine beille Musique AMCD 2006 accessed 15 June 2012 French a b c d e f g Prince John From liner notes for the 2009 recording of Tom Jones Naxos 2009 a b c d e f g h i Rees Brian German Sir Edward 1862 1936 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford University Press 2004 accessed 13 October 2008 Edward German A Biographical Sketch The Musical Times 45 731 20 24 1 January 1904 doi 10 2307 903292 JSTOR 903292 Music Staff at St Chad s St Chad s of Shrewsbury 2012 accessed 9 February 2018 a b c d e f Scowcroft Philip Edward German Serious or Light MusicWeb International 1 December 2001 a b c d e f g h i j Hulme David Russell German Richard III Theme and Six Diversions The Seasons Marco Polo Naxos liner notes 1994 German Sir Edward Profile at the Royal Academy of Music s York Gate Collections 2004 a b c d e Hulme David Russell German Sir Edward Grove Music Online Oxford Music Online accessed 14 October 2008 Rees p 35 Information about Ethel Mary Boyce permanent dead link The Times 18 March 1889 p 7 Stone David Edward German Archived 27 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Who Was Who in the D Oyly Carte Opera Company 2001 Morrison Robert The Controversy Surrounding Gilbert s Last Opera Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine Fallen Fairies The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive 2006 Henry VIII 1911 at IMDb Russell Hulme 2001 pp 703 705 Irving Ernest Cue for Music 1959 pp 47 51 The Times 30 March 1928 p 14 The Times 20 April 1934 p 12 Deaths The Times 4 January 1937 p 19 Rees p 282 Edward German in Wills amp Probate 1858 1996 1936 p 521 Probate Search Service UK Gov accessed 15 March 2018 Woolf Jonathan Review Sir Thomas Beecham English Music EMI reissue 2011 MusicWeb International 11 August 2011 accessed 21 December 2020 Farrell Scott Sir Edward German Dutton Epoch Edward German Discography 2007 accessed 3 June 2012 Farrell Scott BBC Concert Orchestra 2012 Epoch 2012 CDLX 7285 Edward German Discography 2012 accessed 3 June 2012 The Times obituary 12 November 1936 p 16 Poston Lawrence Henry Wood the Proms and National Identity in Music 1895 1904 Victorian Studies Vol 47 No 3 Spring 2005 p 412 All Performances of Edward German Henry VIII at BBC Proms BBC Proms accessed 21 December 2020 Whitchurch celebrates music of famous son BBC Home 2006 Sir Edward German Music Festival 2009 Archived 15 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine Sir Edward German Music Festival 2009 websiteSources EditRussell Hulme David 2001 German Edward In Sadie Stanley Tyrrell John eds The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Vol volume 2nd ed London Macmillan Rees Brian 1986 A Musical Peacemaker The Life and Work of Sir Edward German Abbotsbrook Kensal Press ISBN 0 946041 49 0 Further reading EditDunhill T F 1936 Edward German 1862 1936 The Musical Times lxxvii 1073 7 Ganzl Kurt The encyclopaedia of the musical theatre 2 vols 1994 Hyman Alan 1978 Sullivan and His Satellites London Chappell ISBN 0 903443 24 4 Lamb Andrew German Sir Edward New Grove Dictionary of Music Parker D C Sir Edward German RAM Magazine No 179 1961 pp 31 33 Scott William Herbert 1932 Edward German An Intimate Biography London Cecil Palmer External links Edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Edward German nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward German Edward German at IMDb Edward German at Allmusic Edward German at the Internet Broadway Database The Edward German Discography Detailed biographical sketch from Naxos Edward German A Biographical Sketch The Musical Times Vol 45 No 731 1 January 1904 pp 20 24 Hulme David Russell Orpheus With His Lute Sources of Edward German s Music for the Victorian and Edwardian Drama Brio Autumn Winter 2000 Free scores by Edward German at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP Free scores by Edward German in the Choral Public Domain Library ChoralWiki Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Edward German amp oldid 1179697611, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.