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William Henry Reed

October 21, 2023

William Henry Reed MVO (29 July 1875 – 2 July 1942; his birth year is often given in error as 1876) was an English violinist, teacher, composer, conductor and biographer of Sir Edward Elgar. He was leader of the London Symphony Orchestra for 23 years (1912–1935), but is best known for his long personal friendship with Elgar (1910–1934) and his book Elgar As I Knew Him (1936), in which he goes into great detail about the genesis of the Violin Concerto in B minor.

The book also provides a large number of Elgar's sketches for his unfinished Third Symphony, which proved invaluable sixty years later when Anthony Payne elaborated and essentially completed the work, although Reed wrote that in his view the symphony could not be completed.

His name appears in various forms: William Henry Reed, W. H. Reed, W. H. "Billy" Reed, Billy Reed and Willie Reed. He was known to his friends as Billy.

Biography Edit

 
Edward Elgar

William Henry Reed was born in Frome, Somerset. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Émile Sauret,[1] Frederick Corder and others,[2] graduating with honours.[3]

He first met Edward Elgar in 1902, as a violinist in the Queen's Hall Orchestra. On 17 January, Elgar has just completed a rehearsal of his incidental music to Grania and Diarmid with the orchestra, when Reed approached him, introduced himself, and asked whether he gave lessons in harmony and counterpoint. Elgar said "My dear boy, I don't know anything about those things".[4] They did not become personal friends at that time; however, their paths continued to cross in the course of their work. Reed was a founding member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1904.[1] His physical appearance was quite similar to that of Elgar's close friend August Jaeger (the "Nimrod" of the Enigma Variations of 1899), and that may have played some part in Elgar's always having something positive and encouraging to say to Reed whenever they happened to meet.[3]

On 27 May 1910,[5] Elgar and Reed happened by chance to meet in Regent Street, London. Elgar said he was having some problems with the writing of his Violin Concerto and asked Reed if he could assist him. This was the real beginning of their great friendship, which lasted until Elgar's death in February 1934. Reed played through the sketches of the concerto, at Elgar's flat. He was also the first to play the concerto before an audience, in a semi-public performance at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester on 4 September 1910.[5][6] The official premiere of the work was on 10 November, with the dedicatee Fritz Kreisler as soloist.

Elgar was Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1911–1912, and Reed became the leader of the orchestra in 1912.[1] In 1914 Elgar dedicated his piece for strings and organ, Sospiri, Op. 70 to Billy Reed.[7][8] Reed had himself been composing for some years by now: his String Quartet No. 5 in A minor won a second prize in the Cobbett Competition in 1916.[9]

Elgar continued to turn to Reed for advice on technical problems involving the violin, such as the Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82 (1918). The sonata was premiered in 1919 at the Aeolian Hall, London, by Billy Reed, with Landon Ronald at the piano.[10] Reed also gave the second performance, but the work's main players then became Albert Sammons and William Murdoch. Reed also participated in the first performances of the String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83 and the Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84.[1][11] These three works were written concurrently, when Elgar was living at Brinkwells, near Fittleworth in Sussex, and Reed often stayed at his house and went walking with him during this time.[12]

Elgar's wife died in 1920, and at her funeral at St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church, Little Malvern, Billy Reed was part of the quartet that played a movement from Elgar's String Quartet.[13]

 
George Bernard Shaw, 1934

In 1932 Elgar started writing his Third Symphony in earnest, after a BBC commission in which Reed and George Bernard Shaw played a part. He had been musing over such a work for some years, and had jotted down various themes and ideas on different pieces of manuscript paper. Now, he set about bringing them all together. He and Billy Reed would often try out certain sketches on violin and piano. In October 1933, however, Elgar's cancer was diagnosed, and he died in February 1934. During that period of illness, he was able to jot down only a few more notes for the symphony, and he knew he would not be able to finish it. In December 1933, he said to Reed: "Don't let them tinker with it, Billy – burn it!"[14] But Reed kept the sketches, amounting to 172 pages.[15] After Elgar's death, George Bernard Shaw encouraged Reed to record his memories of Elgar; the book Elgar As I Knew Him was published in 1936, two years after Elgar's death.[7] The book included facsimile reproductions of many of the 172 pages of sketches and also the instructions Elgar had given Reed for playing them and his guidance on where each sketch fitted into the overall work.[14] Reed had also published the complete sketches in his article, "Elgar's Third Symphony" in The Listener (23 August 1935).[15] These and other materials were later to prove invaluable for Anthony Payne, who first came across them in Reed's book in 1972. The first recording of Payne's elaboration of Elgar's sketches for the Third Symphony included a 70-minute discussion by Payne, including the sketches Elgar and Reed had played over on violin and piano. Billy Reed's own violin was used for this recording, with Robert Gibbs playing the violin and David Owen Norris the piano.[16]

In 1935 Reed was asked to stand down as leader of the London Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra had struggled since the formation of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1930 and Sir Thomas Beecham's London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932, and it was felt necessary to refresh the LSO if it were to have a chance to survive. Reed agreed, but asked that he should be allowed to continue to lead certain concerts (such as at Three Choirs Festivals) where he had a personal connection. For the remainder of the schedule his place was taken by George Stratton. As a tribute to Reed's standing in the orchestra and the profession he became the orchestra's Chairman, a position he held until his death.[17]

Reed taught at the Royal College of Music throughout his performing career and was made a Fellow of the college.[1] His students there included George Weldon,[18] Madeleine Dring,[19] Imogen Holst, and Jean Johnstone (the future wife of William Lloyd Webber and mother of Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber).[20]

In 1939 he was awarded a Doctorate of Music by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in recognition of the role he had played at the Three Choirs Festival for over thirty-five years.[21] That year he wrote more on Edward Elgar as part of the "Master Musicians" series.[2] This was not Reed's only honour; in 1928 he had been awarded the M.V.O. by King George V, in the Birthday Honours of that year.[22]

After retirement from active performing, he devoted much of his time to examining students and adjudicating competitions. He did a great deal of work conducting amateur orchestras and ensembles. In 1933 he became conductor of the Strolling Players.[2]

 
Worcester Cathedral, grave of William Henry Reed in the nave

It was on a trip to Scotland to examine and adjudicate for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music[9] that he died suddenly, in Dumfries, on 2 July 1942, aged 65. His ashes were interred in Worcester Cathedral, near the "Gerontius" window.[13][18]

In the film Elgar's Tenth Muse: The Life of an English Composer, Billy Reed was played by Rupert Frazer.[23]

Composer Edit

W. H. Reed was also a composer in his own right and established a growing reputation. Some of his works were given their first performances at the Proms, the Three Choirs Festivals, and at Bournemouth,[2][9] but his name as a composer was overshadowed by that of an Elgar biographer, and his works slipped from the repertoire. They are now starting to be performed again and recorded.[13] Dutton issued a CD of his violin and piano music in 2003.[24] Recordings of the two surviving quartets (No. 4, 1913 and No.5, 1915) and of the two movement Légende for String Quartet of 1922-23, were issued in 2022.[25]

His works include:

References Edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". Answers.com.
  3. ^ a b "HostMetro.com". Classyclassical.com.
  4. ^ Moore, Jerrold Northrop (16 May 1999). Edward Elgar: A Creative Life. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198163664 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ a b Steinberg, Michael (26 October 2000). The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198026341 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Sydney Symphony Program Notes" (PDF). Sydneysymphony.com.
  7. ^ a b "Elgar - His Music : Sospiri". Elgar.org.
  8. ^ "Elgar's English Twilight, an Idyll". Archived from the original on 30 June 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af "W H REED - THE COMPOSER by Philip Scowcroft". Musicweb-international.com.
  10. ^ "Grieg, Elgar, Sibelius: Music For Violin & Piano - Challenge: CC72171 | Buy from ArkivMusic". Arkivmusic.com.
  11. ^ . Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  12. ^ "CMNW Program Notes". Cmnw.org.
  13. ^ a b c "Archive news from the Worcester News". Worcesternews.co.uk.
  14. ^ a b "Elgar - His Music : Symphony No 3". Elgar.org.
  15. ^ a b . Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2009.
  16. ^ "Records International Catalogue August 1998". Recordsinternational.com.
  17. ^ Pearton, Maurice (1974). The LSO at 70: a history of the orchestra. London: Gollancz. pp. 108–9.
  18. ^ a b (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 April 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ Hancock-Child, Ro Northrop (2009). Madeleine Dring: Her Music, Her Life. Micropress Music. ISBN 9780953789320.
  20. ^ Webber, Julian Lloyd (16 April 2004). "Julian Lloyd Webber on his composer father". The Guardian.
  21. ^ "Presentation to Mr. W.H Reed". The Croydon Times. 16 September 1939. p. 10. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  22. ^ "General Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood". The London Gazette. 4 June 1928. p. 3851. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  23. ^ "Blockbuster". Blockbuster.com.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Reed, W H: Toccata for Violin & Piano (page 1 of 1)". Prestomusic.com.
  25. ^ 'William Henry Reed: String Quartets', MPR 114 (2022), reviewed at MusicWeb International
  26. ^ a b c Mike Purton Recordings
  27. ^ "ELGAR (1857-1934) Rediscovered Works for Violin, Vol. 2 [IL]: Classical Reviews- July 2001 MusicWeb (UK)". Musicweb-international.com.
  28. ^ "The Lied and Art Song Texts Page". Lieder.net.

External links Edit

October 21, 2023
william, henry, reed, july, 1875, july, 1942, birth, year, often, given, error, 1876, english, violinist, teacher, composer, conductor, biographer, edward, elgar, leader, london, symphony, orchestra, years, 1912, 1935, best, known, long, personal, friendship, . William Henry Reed MVO 29 July 1875 2 July 1942 his birth year is often given in error as 1876 was an English violinist teacher composer conductor and biographer of Sir Edward Elgar He was leader of the London Symphony Orchestra for 23 years 1912 1935 but is best known for his long personal friendship with Elgar 1910 1934 and his book Elgar As I Knew Him 1936 in which he goes into great detail about the genesis of the Violin Concerto in B minor The book also provides a large number of Elgar s sketches for his unfinished Third Symphony which proved invaluable sixty years later when Anthony Payne elaborated and essentially completed the work although Reed wrote that in his view the symphony could not be completed His name appears in various forms William Henry Reed W H Reed W H Billy Reed Billy Reed and Willie Reed He was known to his friends as Billy Contents 1 Biography 2 Composer 3 References 4 External linksBiography Edit nbsp Edward ElgarWilliam Henry Reed was born in Frome Somerset He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Emile Sauret 1 Frederick Corder and others 2 graduating with honours 3 He first met Edward Elgar in 1902 as a violinist in the Queen s Hall Orchestra On 17 January Elgar has just completed a rehearsal of his incidental music to Grania and Diarmid with the orchestra when Reed approached him introduced himself and asked whether he gave lessons in harmony and counterpoint Elgar said My dear boy I don t know anything about those things 4 They did not become personal friends at that time however their paths continued to cross in the course of their work Reed was a founding member of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1904 1 His physical appearance was quite similar to that of Elgar s close friend August Jaeger the Nimrod of the Enigma Variations of 1899 and that may have played some part in Elgar s always having something positive and encouraging to say to Reed whenever they happened to meet 3 On 27 May 1910 5 Elgar and Reed happened by chance to meet in Regent Street London Elgar said he was having some problems with the writing of his Violin Concerto and asked Reed if he could assist him This was the real beginning of their great friendship which lasted until Elgar s death in February 1934 Reed played through the sketches of the concerto at Elgar s flat He was also the first to play the concerto before an audience in a semi public performance at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester on 4 September 1910 5 6 The official premiere of the work was on 10 November with the dedicatee Fritz Kreisler as soloist Elgar was Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1911 1912 and Reed became the leader of the orchestra in 1912 1 In 1914 Elgar dedicated his piece for strings and organ Sospiri Op 70 to Billy Reed 7 8 Reed had himself been composing for some years by now his String Quartet No 5 in A minor won a second prize in the Cobbett Competition in 1916 9 Elgar continued to turn to Reed for advice on technical problems involving the violin such as the Violin Sonata in E minor Op 82 1918 The sonata was premiered in 1919 at the Aeolian Hall London by Billy Reed with Landon Ronald at the piano 10 Reed also gave the second performance but the work s main players then became Albert Sammons and William Murdoch Reed also participated in the first performances of the String Quartet in E minor Op 83 and the Piano Quintet in A minor Op 84 1 11 These three works were written concurrently when Elgar was living at Brinkwells near Fittleworth in Sussex and Reed often stayed at his house and went walking with him during this time 12 Elgar s wife died in 1920 and at her funeral at St Wulstan s Roman Catholic Church Little Malvern Billy Reed was part of the quartet that played a movement from Elgar s String Quartet 13 nbsp George Bernard Shaw 1934In 1932 Elgar started writing his Third Symphony in earnest after a BBC commission in which Reed and George Bernard Shaw played a part He had been musing over such a work for some years and had jotted down various themes and ideas on different pieces of manuscript paper Now he set about bringing them all together He and Billy Reed would often try out certain sketches on violin and piano In October 1933 however Elgar s cancer was diagnosed and he died in February 1934 During that period of illness he was able to jot down only a few more notes for the symphony and he knew he would not be able to finish it In December 1933 he said to Reed Don t let them tinker with it Billy burn it 14 But Reed kept the sketches amounting to 172 pages 15 After Elgar s death George Bernard Shaw encouraged Reed to record his memories of Elgar the book Elgar As I Knew Him was published in 1936 two years after Elgar s death 7 The book included facsimile reproductions of many of the 172 pages of sketches and also the instructions Elgar had given Reed for playing them and his guidance on where each sketch fitted into the overall work 14 Reed had also published the complete sketches in his article Elgar s Third Symphony in The Listener 23 August 1935 15 These and other materials were later to prove invaluable for Anthony Payne who first came across them in Reed s book in 1972 The first recording of Payne s elaboration of Elgar s sketches for the Third Symphony included a 70 minute discussion by Payne including the sketches Elgar and Reed had played over on violin and piano Billy Reed s own violin was used for this recording with Robert Gibbs playing the violin and David Owen Norris the piano 16 In 1935 Reed was asked to stand down as leader of the London Symphony Orchestra The orchestra had struggled since the formation of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1930 and Sir Thomas Beecham s London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932 and it was felt necessary to refresh the LSO if it were to have a chance to survive Reed agreed but asked that he should be allowed to continue to lead certain concerts such as at Three Choirs Festivals where he had a personal connection For the remainder of the schedule his place was taken by George Stratton As a tribute to Reed s standing in the orchestra and the profession he became the orchestra s Chairman a position he held until his death 17 Reed taught at the Royal College of Music throughout his performing career and was made a Fellow of the college 1 His students there included George Weldon 18 Madeleine Dring 19 Imogen Holst and Jean Johnstone the future wife of William Lloyd Webber and mother of Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber 20 In 1939 he was awarded a Doctorate of Music by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of the role he had played at the Three Choirs Festival for over thirty five years 21 That year he wrote more on Edward Elgar as part of the Master Musicians series 2 This was not Reed s only honour in 1928 he had been awarded the M V O by King George V in the Birthday Honours of that year 22 After retirement from active performing he devoted much of his time to examining students and adjudicating competitions He did a great deal of work conducting amateur orchestras and ensembles In 1933 he became conductor of the Strolling Players 2 nbsp Worcester Cathedral grave of William Henry Reed in the naveIt was on a trip to Scotland to examine and adjudicate for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music 9 that he died suddenly in Dumfries on 2 July 1942 aged 65 His ashes were interred in Worcester Cathedral near the Gerontius window 13 18 In the film Elgar s Tenth Muse The Life of an English Composer Billy Reed was played by Rupert Frazer 23 Composer EditW H Reed was also a composer in his own right and established a growing reputation Some of his works were given their first performances at the Proms the Three Choirs Festivals and at Bournemouth 2 9 but his name as a composer was overshadowed by that of an Elgar biographer and his works slipped from the repertoire They are now starting to be performed again and recorded 13 Dutton issued a CD of his violin and piano music in 2003 24 Recordings of the two surviving quartets No 4 1913 and No 5 1915 and of the two movement Legende for String Quartet of 1922 23 were issued in 2022 25 His works include Valse brillante 1898 orchestra 2 9 Touchstone overture 1899 9 Valse elegante 1903 orchestra 9 Suite Venitienne 1903 orchestra 9 Variations Caracteristiques for strings 1911 1 9 Will o the Wisp orchestra 1913 1 published 1924 9 String Quartet No 4 in C major 1913 26 String Quartet No 5 in A minor 1915 pub 1916 this won a second prize in the Cobbett Competition and presumably there were four earlier quartets 9 26 Rhapsody in D major for viola and piano 1918 published 1927 9 24 Violin Concerto in A minor 1918 published in piano reduction 9 Viola Concerto 1918 2 9 Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra in E minor 1920 2 9 24 The Lincoln Imp orchestra 1921 1 9 Among the Mountains of Cambria symphonic poem 1922 9 Legende for String Quartet 1922 23 26 Aesop s Fables orchestra 1924 1 9 Two Somerset Idylls orchestra 1926 1 Shockheaded Peter orchestra 1933 9 Earl Haldan s Daughter choral ballad 1939 2 Merry Andrew overture 1940 2 Symphony for strings 9 Down in the West Country strings and timpani 9 Caliban symphonic poem 9 Scenes from the Ballet orchestra 9 Miniature Suite orchestra 9 Elegie 9 Intermezzo 9 Pastorale 9 Men of Kent 9 March of the Prefects school orchestra 2 Stately Dance school orchestra 9 Patrol school orchestra 2 School March school orchestra 2 String Trio unpublished 9 Risenlied violin and piano 9 Introduction and Rondo Caprice clarinet and piano 9 On Waterford Quay An Irish Impression 24 Reverie 24 Toccata for Violin amp Piano 24 Fantaisie Brillante 24 Two Chinese Impressions 24 Andante con moto 24 Punjabi Song 24 Lento and Prelude 24 Spanish Dance 24 Luddi Dance 24 Andante Tranquillo 24 arrangement of the Welsh folk song The Gentle Dove 24 arrangement for violin and piano of Dreaming from Elgar s Nursery Suite 27 Treasury of Christmas Music for mixed voices with accompaniment ad lib 9 songs to texts by Christina Rossetti and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 28 References Edit a b c d e f g h i j Grove s Dictionary of Music and Musicians 5th ed 1954 a b c d e f g h i j k l Answers The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life s Questions Answers com a b HostMetro com Classyclassical com Moore Jerrold Northrop 16 May 1999 Edward Elgar A Creative Life Oxford University Press ISBN 9780198163664 via Google Books a b Steinberg Michael 26 October 2000 The Concerto A Listener s Guide Oxford University Press ISBN 9780198026341 via Google Books Sydney Symphony Program Notes PDF Sydneysymphony com a b Elgar His Music Sospiri Elgar org Elgar s English Twilight an Idyll Archived from the original on 30 June 2012 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af W H REED THE COMPOSER by Philip Scowcroft Musicweb international com Grieg Elgar Sibelius Music For Violin amp Piano Challenge CC72171 Buy from ArkivMusic Arkivmusic com MOZART Sinfonia Concertante ELGAR Violin Sonata Sammons 1926 1935 ClassicsOnline Classical Music CD mp3 downloads Free preview streaming 8 110957 from Naxos Historical Archived from the original on 16 July 2011 Retrieved 28 June 2009 CMNW Program Notes Cmnw org a b c Archive news from the Worcester News Worcesternews co uk a b Elgar His Music Symphony No 3 Elgar org a b ELGAR PAYNE Symphony No 3 ClassicsOnline Classical Music CD mp3 downloads Free preview streaming 8 554719 from Naxos Archived from the original on 16 July 2011 Retrieved 28 June 2009 Records International Catalogue August 1998 Recordsinternational com Pearton Maurice 1974 The LSO at 70 a history of the orchestra London Gollancz pp 108 9 a b Archived copy PDF Archived from the original PDF on 24 April 2009 Retrieved 28 June 2009 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Hancock Child Ro Northrop 2009 Madeleine Dring Her Music Her Life Micropress Music ISBN 9780953789320 Webber Julian Lloyd 16 April 2004 Julian Lloyd Webber on his composer father The Guardian Presentation to Mr W H Reed The Croydon Times 16 September 1939 p 10 Retrieved 22 January 2023 General Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood The London Gazette 4 June 1928 p 3851 Retrieved 22 January 2023 Blockbuster Blockbuster com a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Reed W H Toccata for Violin amp Piano page 1 of 1 Prestomusic com William Henry Reed String Quartets MPR 114 2022 reviewed at MusicWeb International a b c Mike Purton Recordings ELGAR 1857 1934 Rediscovered Works for Violin Vol 2 IL Classical Reviews July 2001 MusicWeb UK Musicweb international com The Lied and Art Song Texts Page Lieder net External links EditFree scores by William Henry Reed at the International Music Score Library Project IMSLP Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title William Henry Reed amp oldid 1177587858, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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