Cyril Rootham
Encyclopedia
Cyril Bradley Rootham was an English composer
, educator, organist
and important figure in Cambridge
music life.
, Bristol
to Daniel Wilberforce Rootham and Mary Rootham (née Gimblett Evans). His father Daniel was a famous singing teacher whose students included Eva Turner
and Dame Clara Butt
, and it is therefore no wonder that his son should be such a successful composer of many choral and vocal works.
Educated at Bristol Grammar School
, Cyril entered St. John's College
, Cambridge
to study classics
. He developed his considerable musical talents at Cambridge, and later at the RCM
under, amongst others, Stanford
and Parry
.
Rootham's first appointment in 1898 was as organist of Christ Church, Hampstead
, followed by a brief period as organist at St Asaph Cathedral
(Wales) in 1901. Then later in 1901 he was appointed organist at St John's, a post he held till the end of his life. He also became a University lecturer at the Cambridge University Music Society
(CUMS), which thanks to his inspiring leadership became an important and significant influence on English musical life.
Rootham was also responsible for the revival of Handel
oratorios, Mozart
operas and other "forgotten" works. Although E. J. Dent
and others are usually credited with the textual preparation, it was Rootham who held responsibility for their immense musical success.
In 1909, Rootham married Rosamond Margaret Lucas who supplied him with a great amount of support and encouragement. It was also Rosamond who was in charge of the costume making at the CUMS concerts and the Rootham household was always filled with whatever clothes were needed for a new performance. Their son Jasper St John Rootham
was born in 1910.
Apart from Mozart, Handel and Purcell
, the CUMS concerts also promoted a great deal of modern music such as Kodály
's Psalmus Hungaricus, Honegger
's Le Roi David
and Pizzetti
's 'Mass and Piano concerto, all led by Rootham. In 1930 Rootham invited several contemporary composers to the concert; de Falla
, Kodály and Arthur Honegger
attended as did Kathleen Long
.
In 1914 Rootham became a Fellow of the College after taking over the post of University Lecturer in Form and Analysis of Music and later Senior Lecturer in Counterpoint and Harmony in 1924. He was also a much appreciated teacher of orchestration. His many students include Arnold Cooke
, Arthur Bliss
, Robin Orr
and Percy M. Young
. Rootham's enviable physique (he excelled in athletics
at St. John's) and genial manner made him highly popular amongst students which explains their commitment to the CUMS concerts all of which were basically extracurricular.
As much as he promoted the works of other composers, Rootham did relatively little to push his own compositions into the repertoire. He conducted the first performance of his opera The Two Sisters in 1922 and three years earlier his own setting Laurence Binyon
's For the Fallen (which sparked a controversy as Elgar
's setting of the same poem was published shortly after Rootham's. Needless to say, neither composer was basically responsible). Rootham's continued involvement with the CUMS included a performance of Handel's Semele and the revival of the tradition of triennial performances of Greek plays with newly composed music, a venue which continued even after his death.
Later in his life Rootham was plagued by illness, he developed Progressive muscular atrophy
as the result of a stroke
and his active involvement in the CUMS had to be left to Boris Ord
in 1936. He completed a few works before his passing including City in the West and his three movement Second Symphony, though the orchestration was completed by his close friend Patrick Hadley
.
Cyril Rootham died in 1938 at the height of his creative powers, aged sixty-two.
Rootham regarded music with the utmost seriousness but never considered it a luxury to be confined to certain people. This might explain why he never completely broke with tradition; his music has a slight influence from Stanford and especially Parry. A presence of modalism can be found in much of his music as well as, in the later works, harmonic parallelism and bitonality. His harmonies with their unexpected twists and bitonalities, could be criticised for a lack of spontaneity and he is sometimes in danger of repeating himself but if this is the case then Rootham's masterly handling of the orchestra, of which sir Arthur Bliss praised Rootham as a brilliant teacher, certainly makes up for any constructional shortcomings. Favourite teaching examples included Mozart and Rimsky-Korsakov
, and there is indeed a Russian love of primary colours in some of Rootham's work.
In other places a certain influence from Kodaly can be detected, especially in the glittering orchestral textures in Rootham's Psalm of Adonis from 1931. Rootham's later works show inspiration from both Delius
and Vaughan Williams
(whose opera The Poisoned Kiss
Rootham premiered), and bear evidence of a progression in his music. Though he acknowledged the "Folksong revival" he never really became an adherent to it and furthermore he avoids many of the clichès described and criticized in Constant Lambert
's "Music Ho!".
Henry Colles recognized Rootham's style as "vigorous and genial", which greatly corresponds to his own personality. The Symphony no. 1 in C minor is a prime example of this musical vigour, namely the first and last movements which Arthur Hutchings
considers to contain Rootham's most characteristic music. Another Rootham trademark is evident in the symphony which is his superb, difficult and almost vocal writing for brass as well as his ability to write good slow movements, in which many of Rootham's best qualities lie. His string writing is also very refined, as the Rhapsody on the old English tune Lazarus shows.
Rootham was in his true element however, when writing for chorus and voice and many of his masterpieces lie in the realm of choral music. Indeed Rootham's first significant compositions were vocal. It has been said that Stanford, when Rootham studied under him at the RCM, once grunted: "You can write for voices, me boy". Rootham was also extremely talented at combining word and music in an almost perfect unison. He was in that respect, a master of choral setting as Colles writes: "The stimulus of words brings out the more delicate and poetic qualities and gives distinction to his music".The Stolen Child
, Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity and City in the West (a poem by his son Jasper
), especially represent his finest achievements.
Today, it is quite difficult, for non-musicians especially, to assess Rootham's music. Arthur Hutchings
once prophesied a great future for Rootham but apart from a few broadcasts and recordings this has not yet happened. However in a time where a great deal of previously unknown music is being heard anew, it is very probable that Rootham's work will finally receive the attention it fully deserves.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, educator, organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
and important figure in Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
music life.
Biography
Rootham was born in RedlandRedland, Bristol
Redland is an affluent suburb in Bristol, England. The suburb is situated between Clifton, Cotham, Bishopston and Westbury Park. The boundaries of the district are not precisely defined, but are generally taken to be Whiteladies Road in the west, the Severn Beach railway line in the south and...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
to Daniel Wilberforce Rootham and Mary Rootham (née Gimblett Evans). His father Daniel was a famous singing teacher whose students included Eva Turner
Eva Turner
Dame Eva Turner DBE was an English dramatic soprano with an international reputation. Her strong, steady and well-trained voice was renowned for its clarion power in Italian and German operatic roles.-Career:...
and Dame Clara Butt
Clara Butt
Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...
, and it is therefore no wonder that his son should be such a successful composer of many choral and vocal works.
Educated at Bristol Grammar School
Bristol Grammar School
Bristol Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England. The school was founded in 1532 by two brothers, Robert and Nicholas Thorne....
, Cyril entered St. John's College
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
to study classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. He developed his considerable musical talents at Cambridge, and later at the RCM
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
under, amongst others, Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
and Parry
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
.
Rootham's first appointment in 1898 was as organist of Christ Church, Hampstead
Christ Church, Hampstead
Christ Church Hampstead is a Church of England church in Hampstead, London. It is the original church of Hampstead and the Heath.-History:The present church was erected between 1850 and 1852 to designs by the architect Samuel Daukes in the Early English Gothic style. In 1860 a timber gallery was...
, followed by a brief period as organist at St Asaph Cathedral
St Asaph Cathedral
St Asaph Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in St Asaph, Denbighshire, north Wales. It is sometimes claimed to be the smallest Anglican cathedral in Britain.- History :...
(Wales) in 1901. Then later in 1901 he was appointed organist at St John's, a post he held till the end of his life. He also became a University lecturer at the Cambridge University Music Society
Cambridge University Music Society
The Cambridge University Musical Society is a federation of the university's main orchestral and choral ensembles, which cumulatively put on a substantial concert season during the university term.-Ensembles:...
(CUMS), which thanks to his inspiring leadership became an important and significant influence on English musical life.
Rootham was also responsible for the revival of Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
oratorios, Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
operas and other "forgotten" works. Although E. J. Dent
Edward Joseph Dent
Edward Joseph Dent, generally known by his initials as E. J. Dent was a British writer on music....
and others are usually credited with the textual preparation, it was Rootham who held responsibility for their immense musical success.
In 1909, Rootham married Rosamond Margaret Lucas who supplied him with a great amount of support and encouragement. It was also Rosamond who was in charge of the costume making at the CUMS concerts and the Rootham household was always filled with whatever clothes were needed for a new performance. Their son Jasper St John Rootham
Jasper Rootham
Jasper St John Rootham , was a civil servant, soldier, central banker, merchant banker, writer and poet.-Childhood and adolescence:Rootham was an only child....
was born in 1910.
Apart from Mozart, Handel and Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
, the CUMS concerts also promoted a great deal of modern music such as Kodály
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
's Psalmus Hungaricus, Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
's Le Roi David
Le Roi David (Honegger)
Le roi David was composed in Mézières, Switzerland in 1921 by Arthur Honegger and is classified as an oratorio or more specifically as a dramatic psalm...
and Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti
Ildebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
's 'Mass and Piano concerto, all led by Rootham. In 1930 Rootham invited several contemporary composers to the concert; de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
, Kodály and Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
attended as did Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long CBE was a British pianist and teacher. She was an awarded soloist, but was also a much appreciated chamber music player and recitalist. Her tours included Europe, North America and South Africa....
.
In 1914 Rootham became a Fellow of the College after taking over the post of University Lecturer in Form and Analysis of Music and later Senior Lecturer in Counterpoint and Harmony in 1924. He was also a much appreciated teacher of orchestration. His many students include Arnold Cooke
Arnold Cooke
Arnold Atkinson Cooke was a British composer.-Career:He was born at Gomersal, West Yorkshire into a family of carpet manufacturers. He was educated at Repton School and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History, but he was already attracted to a career in music...
, Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
, Robin Orr
Robin Orr
Robert Kelmsley Orr CBE was a Scottish composer.Born in Brechin, he studied at the Royal College of Music in London and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Following studies with Alfredo Casella and Nadia Boulanger he returned to Cambridge in 1938 as Organist of St John's College. During his war...
and Percy M. Young
Percy M. Young
Percy Marshall Young was a British musicologist, editor, organist, composer, conductor and teacher.Young was born in Northwich, Cheshire. From 1934 to 1937 he was a Director of Music at Stranmillis Teacher Training College in Belfast. From 1937 to 1944, Young was a Musical Adviser to...
. Rootham's enviable physique (he excelled in athletics
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
at St. John's) and genial manner made him highly popular amongst students which explains their commitment to the CUMS concerts all of which were basically extracurricular.
As much as he promoted the works of other composers, Rootham did relatively little to push his own compositions into the repertoire. He conducted the first performance of his opera The Two Sisters in 1922 and three years earlier his own setting Laurence Binyon
Laurence Binyon
Robert Laurence Binyon was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. His most famous work, For the Fallen, is well known for being used in Remembrance Sunday services....
's For the Fallen (which sparked a controversy as Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's setting of the same poem was published shortly after Rootham's. Needless to say, neither composer was basically responsible). Rootham's continued involvement with the CUMS included a performance of Handel's Semele and the revival of the tradition of triennial performances of Greek plays with newly composed music, a venue which continued even after his death.
Later in his life Rootham was plagued by illness, he developed Progressive muscular atrophy
Progressive muscular atrophy
Progressive muscular atrophy is a rare subtype of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or motor neurone disease which affects only the lower motor neurones. PMA is thought to account for around 4% of all ALS/MND cases...
as the result of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and his active involvement in the CUMS had to be left to Boris Ord
Boris Ord
Boris Ord , born Bernhard Ord, was an English organist, composer and musical director best known as the choir master of King's College, Cambridge....
in 1936. He completed a few works before his passing including City in the West and his three movement Second Symphony, though the orchestration was completed by his close friend Patrick Hadley
Patrick Hadley
Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley was a British composer.-Biography:Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke College...
.
Cyril Rootham died in 1938 at the height of his creative powers, aged sixty-two.
Music
Considering his many activities outside composition, it is no small wonder how Rootham was able to produce such a large musical catalogue, from two symphonies to an opera, several smaller orchestral works, chamber music and a multitude of choral works. In fact overwork may account for the stroke he suffered later in life.Rootham regarded music with the utmost seriousness but never considered it a luxury to be confined to certain people. This might explain why he never completely broke with tradition; his music has a slight influence from Stanford and especially Parry. A presence of modalism can be found in much of his music as well as, in the later works, harmonic parallelism and bitonality. His harmonies with their unexpected twists and bitonalities, could be criticised for a lack of spontaneity and he is sometimes in danger of repeating himself but if this is the case then Rootham's masterly handling of the orchestra, of which sir Arthur Bliss praised Rootham as a brilliant teacher, certainly makes up for any constructional shortcomings. Favourite teaching examples included Mozart and Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, and there is indeed a Russian love of primary colours in some of Rootham's work.
In other places a certain influence from Kodaly can be detected, especially in the glittering orchestral textures in Rootham's Psalm of Adonis from 1931. Rootham's later works show inspiration from both Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
and Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
(whose opera The Poisoned Kiss
The Poisoned Kiss
The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer is an opera in three acts by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by Evelyn Sharp, is based on Richard Garnett's The Poison Maid and Nathaniel Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter...
Rootham premiered), and bear evidence of a progression in his music. Though he acknowledged the "Folksong revival" he never really became an adherent to it and furthermore he avoids many of the clichès described and criticized in Constant Lambert
Constant Lambert
Leonard Constant Lambert was a British composer and conductor.-Early life:Lambert, the son of Russian-born Australian painter George Lambert, was educated at Christ's Hospital and the Royal College of Music...
's "Music Ho!".
Henry Colles recognized Rootham's style as "vigorous and genial", which greatly corresponds to his own personality. The Symphony no. 1 in C minor is a prime example of this musical vigour, namely the first and last movements which Arthur Hutchings
Arthur Hutchings
Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings was professor of music at the University of Durham, England. He wrote extensively on topics as varied as nineteenth-century English church music, Schubert, Edmund Rubbra, and baroque concertos; but his most famous work was the Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos,...
considers to contain Rootham's most characteristic music. Another Rootham trademark is evident in the symphony which is his superb, difficult and almost vocal writing for brass as well as his ability to write good slow movements, in which many of Rootham's best qualities lie. His string writing is also very refined, as the Rhapsody on the old English tune Lazarus shows.
Rootham was in his true element however, when writing for chorus and voice and many of his masterpieces lie in the realm of choral music. Indeed Rootham's first significant compositions were vocal. It has been said that Stanford, when Rootham studied under him at the RCM, once grunted: "You can write for voices, me boy". Rootham was also extremely talented at combining word and music in an almost perfect unison. He was in that respect, a master of choral setting as Colles writes: "The stimulus of words brings out the more delicate and poetic qualities and gives distinction to his music".The Stolen Child
The Stolen Child
"The Stolen Child" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in 1889 in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems.-Overview:The poem was written in 1886 and is considered to be one of Yeats's more notable early poems. The poem is based on Irish legend and concerns faeries beguiling a child to come...
, Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity and City in the West (a poem by his son Jasper
Jasper Rootham
Jasper St John Rootham , was a civil servant, soldier, central banker, merchant banker, writer and poet.-Childhood and adolescence:Rootham was an only child....
), especially represent his finest achievements.
Today, it is quite difficult, for non-musicians especially, to assess Rootham's music. Arthur Hutchings
Arthur Hutchings
Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings was professor of music at the University of Durham, England. He wrote extensively on topics as varied as nineteenth-century English church music, Schubert, Edmund Rubbra, and baroque concertos; but his most famous work was the Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos,...
once prophesied a great future for Rootham but apart from a few broadcasts and recordings this has not yet happened. However in a time where a great deal of previously unknown music is being heard anew, it is very probable that Rootham's work will finally receive the attention it fully deserves.
Orchestral
- A Passerby, rhapsody after Robert BridgesRobert BridgesRobert Seymour Bridges, OM, was a British poet, and poet laureate from 1913 to 1930.-Personal and professional life:...
(1910) - Pan, rhapsody for orchestra (1912)
- Processional for the Chancellor's Music (1920)
- St. John's Suite, for small orchestra (1921)
- Miniature Suite, for orchestra or piano and strings (1921)
- Rhapsody on "Lazarus", for double string orchestra (1922)
- Psalm of Adonis, for orchestra (1931)
- Symphony no. 1 in C minor (1932)
- Symphony no. 2, for orchestra with choral finale (1936)
Choral
- Andromeda, dramatic cantata (1908)
- The Lady of ShalottThe Lady of Shalott"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson . Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.-Overview:Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one...
, for chorus and orchestra (1909–10) - poem by Alfred, Lord TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron TennysonAlfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language.... - Coronach, for baritone, chorus and orchestra (1910)
- The Stolen ChildThe Stolen Child"The Stolen Child" is a poem by William Butler Yeats, published in 1889 in The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems.-Overview:The poem was written in 1886 and is considered to be one of Yeats's more notable early poems. The poem is based on Irish legend and concerns faeries beguiling a child to come...
, chorus and orchestra (1911) - poem by William Butler YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms... - For the Fallen, chorus and orchestra (1915) - poems by Laurence BinyonLaurence BinyonRobert Laurence Binyon was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. His most famous work, For the Fallen, is well known for being used in Remembrance Sunday services....
- Brown Earth, chorus, semi-chorus and orchestra (1921–22) - poem by Thomas MoultThomas MoultThomas Moult was a versatile English journalist and writer, and one of the Georgian poets. He is known for his annual anthologies Best Poems of the Year, 1922 to 1943, which were popular verse selections taken from periodicals on both sides of the Atlantic.-Life:He was born in Derbyshire...
- Ode On the Morning of Christ's NativityOn the Morning of Christ's NativityOn the Morning of Christ's Nativity is a nativity ode written by John Milton in 1629 and published in his Poems of Mr. John Milton . The poem describes Christ's Incarnation and his overthrow of earthly and pagan powers...
, soli, chorus, semi-chorus and orchestra (1928) - poem by John MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell... - City in the West, chorus and orchestra (1936) - poem by the composer's son Jasper RoothamJasper RoothamJasper St John Rootham , was a civil servant, soldier, central banker, merchant banker, writer and poet.-Childhood and adolescence:Rootham was an only child....
Chamber
- String quartet in D major (1909)
- String quartet in C major (1914)
- Suite for flute and piano (1921)
- Sonata for violin and piano (1925)
- Septet for viola, wind quintet and harp (1930)
- Trio for violin, cello and piano (1932-2)
Organ
- Epinikion "Song of Victory" (1907)
- Elegiac Rhapsody on an Old Church Melody, variations on the hymn tune "Iste Confessor"
Publications
- The modern orchestra and its combination with the singing voice; especially with regard to conductors and composers, Journal of the Royal Music Association, 1910
- Voice Training for Choirs and Schools, Cambridge University Press, 1912
Published recordings on CD
- Cyril Rootham: Symphony No 1 (also orchestral works by Bantock and Holbrooke)
- Artists: London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley (Rootham, Holbrooke); Philharmonia Orchestra Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite (Bantock)
- Publisher: Lyrita Recorded Edition http://www.lyrita.co.uk
- Catalogue No: SRCD.269
- Cyril Rootham: For the Fallen, Miniature Suite, The Psalm of Adonis, City in the West, The Stolen Child
- Artists: Alan Fearon, Sinfonia Chorus, BBC Northern Singers, Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox
- Publisher: EMI Classics http://www.emiclassics.com
- Catalogue No: 5099950592326
- Cyril Rootham: Violin Sonata in G Minor (also sonatas by Benjamin, Holbrooke, Walford Davis)
- Artists: Jacqueline Roche (violin), Robert Stevenson (piano); Justin Pearson (cello), Sophia Rahman (piano)
- Publisher: Dutton Epoch http://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/
- Catalogue No: CDLX 7219
- Cyril Rootham: Miniature Suite for String Orchestra and Piano (also works by Armstrong Gibbs, Dring, Jacob, Milford)
- Title: Peacock Pie
- Artists: Martin Roscoe (piano), Guildhall Strings
- Publisher: Hyperion Records http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/
- Catalogue No: B0000631BI
- Cyril Rootham: Epinikion (Song of Victory) and Elegiac Rhapsody on an Old Church Melody (also works by Alcock, Bairstow, Farrar, Lemare, Stanford)
- Title: Great European Organs, No 66
- Artist: Graham Barber (organ of Ripon Cathedral)
- Publisher: Priory Records http://www.priory.org.uk
- Catalogue No: B00008OETY
External links
- Article about Cyril Rootham by John France on musicweb-international.com
- "Papers of Cyril Bradley Rootham": a list published by the Janus Project
- Article in Dutch about Cyril Rootham in the Netherlands Wikipedia
- Article in French about Cyril Rootham in the French Wikipedia
- Article in German about Cyril Rootham in the German Wikipedia