Frederic Austin
Encyclopedia
Frederic Austin was an English baritone
singer, a musical teacher and composer
in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of The Beggar's Opera
by John Gay
and Johann Christoph Pepusch
, and its sequel, Polly, in 1920–23. He was born and died in London.
(1874–1947), was sent at the age of about 12 to live at Birkenhead
, where he received organ and music lessons, and had singing training from Charles Lunn. By 1896 he had obtained a B.Mus. from Durham University
and was organist in several Birkenhead churches. He became a teacher of harmony
, and later of composition, at Liverpool College of Music.
At Liverpool he became close friends with the composer Cyril Scott
, and through him was introduced to Balfour Gardiner (who became a lifelong friend). Through them he was received into the circle of young English composers known as the Frankfurt Group
, and their friends. These included Scott, Balfour Gardiner, Norman O'Neill, Roger Quilter
, Percy Grainger
(owing to their training at the Hoch Conservatory
) in Frankfurt am Main and such friends as Benjamin Dale
, Gervase Elwes, Eugène Goossens, fils
and Arnold Bax
.
This group, in which Delius
sometimes appeared, often performed each others’ music in informal surroundings, and Austin in particular used to improvise at the piano with Arnold Bax. In August 1900 he completed his first orchestral work, the concert Overture ‘Richard II’, which received its first performance in December 1901. In 1902 (the year of his marriage to Amy Oliver) Austin gave lessons in composition to Thomas Beecham
, sang Tchaikovsky's Pilgrim Song for a Henry Wood promenade concert
, and was introduced to Hans Richter
, for whom he later sang Beethoven's Choral Symphony
and Missa Solemnis
, and Bach
's St Matthew Passion.
In 1904 he moved to Pinner
, sang under Weingartner
and at Wagner nights at the promenade concerts, and took the name role in Mendelssohn
's Elijah at Gloucester
in the Three Choirs Festival
. In June 1905 he took part in Beecham's London debut at the Bechstein Hall
, in the first London performance of Scott's Ballad of Fair Helen of Kilconnell (dedicated to him).
Festival he gave the final scena from Eugene Onegin
, with Olga Wood (repeated 1911). At Hereford
he appeared in César Franck
's Les Beatitudes, and introduced songs by Thomas F Dunhill. His Queen's Hall
performances included the Four Serious Songs of Brahms. His first major London recital (Aeolian Hall
) with Hamilton Harty
(piano) was on 3 April 1906, and he sang for the Philharmonic Society
. For Weingartner he gave the Die Walküre
finale with Agnes Nicholls
, and at Queen's Hall the premiere of Balfour Gardiner's ‘When the lad for longing sighs.’
In 1906 (Southport
) he took baritone roles in The Dream of Gerontius
(beside John Coates
) under Elgar's baton. In April 1907 he was at Reading, Berkshire
, in Parry
's De Profundis and Stanford
's Elegiac Ode: at Hanley he gave the premiere of Havergal Brian
's By the Waters of Babylon. In October, after Gerontius at Preston, he sang for Elgar in The Apostles at Birmingham
. Henry Wood introduced Austin's symphonic composition Rhapsody: Spring, and engaged him to sing in two concerts, including that in which the Delius piano concerto was first given. Austin met Delius that year, and also made a Covent Garden
debut, a small role in Tannhäuser
, for Richter.
's The Messiah (Wood, Queen's Hall), Gerontius (with Coates, Manchester
, under Richter), Elgar's King Olaf (Norwich
Festival), Judas in The Apostles (Liverpool), Bach's Phoebus and Pan (Queen's Hall), and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. His first Covent Garden lead appearance was Gunther (Götterdämmerung) in Richter's English Ring cycle
, repeated three times in February 1909. Late in 1908 he and Cyril Scott gave a recital of Scott's songs at the Bechstein Hall.
At the Sheffield Festival of 1908 he was exceptionally busy, with performances of Samson et Dalila, Schumann
's Paradise and the Peri, Walford Davies’ Everyman, Beethoven's Choral Symphony, and L’Enfant Prodigue of Debussy, specially re-scored by the composer, and delivered under Henry Wood with Austin, Agnes Nicholls, and the tenor Felix Senius. At this Festival also on October 6 he gave the English première (following the Essen
, 1906, first) of Delius’ Sea Drift
. Wood chose Austin as the only man ‘who could be trusted to sing it con amore.’ He sang it again in December, and in February 1909, for Beecham: Birmingham first heard it in 1912.
Austin premiered Granville Bantock
's Omar Khayyam Part III (Birmingham 1909), and in that year sang The Apostles (Judas) and Parry's Job at Hereford. At Liverpool in September 1909 was the first Festival of The Musical League, created by English composers for performance of their music; Austin's symphonic poem Isabella appeared, and he sang in Ethel Smyth
's The Dance and Anacreontic Ode, Havergal Brian's By the Waters of Babylon, and Vaughan Williams’ cantata Willow-wood.
Denhof Company Ring cycle under Michael Balling
. He also appeared in two Ring cyles at Covent Garden. At Hereford he performed the traditional Festival-opening Elijah (and again in 1911), and gave the premiere of Bantock's Gethsemene, and in London repeated the Omar Khayyam. For the Philharmonic Society he gave songs by Ethel Smyth under her direction. In 1911 he was also singing concert performances of The Damnation of Faust
(Berlioz) and Faust
(Gounod), Dvořák
choral works, Handel oratorios, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, the Mozart and Brahms Requiems, Max Bruch
's Frithjof and Lay of the Bell, Mendelssohn's St Paul and Walpurgis nacht, and many other works.
In 1912 Beecham took the Denhof Ring cycle to Glasgow
, Hull
, Leeds
, Liverpool and Manchester, and in these years Austin also appeared with them in the first English Elektra
(Richard Strauss
), as Kunrad in Feuersnot
, Dr Coppelius in Tales of Hoffmann, Gratiano in Così fan tutte
, Tomasso in Tiefland
(Eugen d’Albert), Escamillo in Carmen
and as Vanderdecken in The Flying Dutchman
. In 1913 the Denhof Company was wound up and reformed as the Beecham Company, and until around 1920 Austin appeared for Beecham also as Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Iago (Otello
), Ford (Falstaff
), Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
), and in Madame Butterfly, La bohème
, Pagliacci
, Joseph Holbrooke
's Dylan, and other works.
. Before the War he was also singing in Germany, Holland and Denmark. In 1914 at The Music Club in London he performed several songs of Arnold Schoenberg
in the composer's presence. Roger Quilter
dedicated his song The Jocund Dance (Op. 18 No. 3) to him, written 1913–14.
From 1913 Austin developed close connections with Rutland Boughton
, and assisted in the development of the English music drama at Glastonbury. In the Summer Festivals of August 1914 and 1915 he sang the role of Eochaidh the King in The Immortal Hour
there, and again at Bournemouth
in 1915, with Frank Mullings
and Percy Heming, and in 1916 was King Arthur
in The Round Table. 1916 also saw the first performance of his most lasting orchestral composition, Danish Sketches, Palsgaard, conducted by Beecham on 11 December for the Royal Philharmonic Society.
for Beecham, at Covent Garden in 1920. Neville Cardus
, who saw him in the role beside Agnes Nicholls and Frederick Ranalow, wrote: ‘nobody else has passed across the closing scene of the opera with half of Austin's grace of bearing and suggestion of courtly cynicism.’
by John Gay
and Dr Pepusch (originally produced in 1728) was undertaken by Frederic Austin and completed in 1920 in time for the production by Nigel Playfair
, with artistic designs by Claud Lovat Fraser
, which opened at the Lyric Theatre
, Hammersmith
on June 6, 1920 and ran for a record number of 1463 performances until December 23, 1923. Austin preferred the simpler versions made by Pepusch to the edition prepared by Dr Arne. He appeared as Peachum, with Elsie French, Frederick Ranalow (Macheath), Sylvia Nelis (Polly) and others, conducted by Eugène Goossens
. The entire venture received universal acclaim, and was performed in Paris, Canada, America and Australia. In 1922 Austin revived the sequel, Polly. Recordings were made of the original cast production.
and Columbia Records
. Despite being a prominent English singer in concert and opera he is entirely omitted from Volumes I and II of Michael Scott's study, The Record of Singing
.
In 1922 he became Artistic Director of the British National Opera Company
, reformed out of Beecham's company, and in 1923 was elected member of the Royal Philharmonic Society. In this way, and through his teaching, he continued to train and encourage English singers for many years more. He continued to compose theatre incidental music, notably for The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1923), The Insect Play (1923), Congreve
's The Way of the World (1924), John Drinkwater's Robert Burns (1925), Vallombrossa (1926), and Prudence (1931). He wrote a cello sonata in 1927. In 1932 he made a last singing appearance in Alfred Reynolds
’ Derby Day
.
He composed the music for the Ealing Studios film Undercover (1943), aka Underground Guerrillas (USA), The Insect Play (1939) (TV), The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1938) (TV), and for the movie Midshipman Easy (1935), aka Men of the Sea (USA: reissue title).
Frederic Austin's son Richard (1903-89) was the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra (now the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
) from 1934 until 1939, and became Head of the Opera Department of the Royal College of Music
in 1953.
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
singer, a musical teacher and composer
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...
in the period 1905–30. He is best remembered for his restoration and production of The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
by John Gay
John Gay
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera , set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch...
and Johann Christoph Pepusch
Johann Christoph Pepusch
Johann Christoph Pepusch , also known as John Christopher Pepusch and Dr Pepusch, was a German-born composer who spent most of his working life in England....
, and its sequel, Polly, in 1920–23. He was born and died in London.
Training and early career
Frederic Austin, brother of the composer Ernest AustinErnest Austin
Ernest Austin was an English composer.-Biography:He started composing in 1907 after a career in business, and was self-taught. He was the brother of baritone and composer Frederic Austin...
(1874–1947), was sent at the age of about 12 to live at Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, where he received organ and music lessons, and had singing training from Charles Lunn. By 1896 he had obtained a B.Mus. from Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
and was organist in several Birkenhead churches. He became a teacher of harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
, and later of composition, at Liverpool College of Music.
At Liverpool he became close friends with the composer Cyril Scott
Cyril Scott
Cyril Meir Scott was an English composer, writer, and poet.-Biography:Scott was born in Oxton, England to a shipper and scholar of Greek and Hebrew, and Mary Scott , an amateur pianist. He showed a talent for music from an early age and was sent to the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany to...
, and through him was introduced to Balfour Gardiner (who became a lifelong friend). Through them he was received into the circle of young English composers known as the Frankfurt Group
Frankfurt Group
The Frankfurt Group was a group of English speaking composers and friends who all studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt am Main in the late 1890s.This group included Balfour Gardiner, Percy Grainger, Roger Quilter, Norman O'Neill and Cyril Scott....
, and their friends. These included Scott, Balfour Gardiner, Norman O'Neill, Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.-Biography:Born in Hove, Sussex, Quilter was a younger son of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, who was a noted art collector...
, Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
(owing to their training at the Hoch Conservatory
Hoch Conservatory
Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...
) in Frankfurt am Main and such friends as Benjamin Dale
Benjamin Dale
Benjamin James Dale was an English composer and academic who had a long association with the Royal Academy of Music. Dale showed compositional talent from an early age and went on to write a small but notable corpus of works...
, Gervase Elwes, Eugène Goossens, fils
Eugène Goossens, fils
Eugène Goossens was a French conductor and violinist.He was born in Bordeaux, and studied in Bruges and the conservatoire in Brussels...
and Arnold Bax
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
.
This group, in which Delius
Delius
Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius - English composer* Nicolaus Delius - German philologist* Tobias Delius Delius is a surname. It may refer to:* Ernst von Delius (1912–1937) - German racing car driver* Frederick Delius...
sometimes appeared, often performed each others’ music in informal surroundings, and Austin in particular used to improvise at the piano with Arnold Bax. In August 1900 he completed his first orchestral work, the concert Overture ‘Richard II’, which received its first performance in December 1901. In 1902 (the year of his marriage to Amy Oliver) Austin gave lessons in composition to Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, sang Tchaikovsky's Pilgrim Song for a Henry Wood promenade concert
Promenade concert
See The PromsAlthough the term Promenade Concert is normally associated today with the series of concerts founded in 1895 by Robert Newman and the conductor Henry Wood – a festival known today as the BBC Proms – the term originally referred to concerts in the pleasure gardens of London where the...
, and was introduced to Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
, for whom he later sang Beethoven's Choral Symphony
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
and Missa Solemnis
Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123 was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819-1823. It was first performed on April 7, 1824 in St. Petersburg, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie,...
, and Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's St Matthew Passion.
In 1904 he moved to Pinner
Pinner
- Climate :Pinner's geographical position on the far western side of North West London makes it the furthest London suburb from any UK coastline. Hence the lower prevalence of moderating maritime influences make Pinner noticeably warmer in the spring and the summer compared to the rest of the capital...
, sang under Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
and at Wagner nights at the promenade concerts, and took the name role in Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
's Elijah at Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
in the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
. In June 1905 he took part in Beecham's London debut at the Bechstein Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, in the first London performance of Scott's Ballad of Fair Helen of Kilconnell (dedicated to him).
Recitals in London and the provinces
At the 1905 SheffieldSheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
Festival he gave the final scena from Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, with Olga Wood (repeated 1911). At Hereford
Hereford
Hereford is a cathedral city, civil parish and county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, southwest of Worcester, and northwest of Gloucester...
he appeared in César Franck
César Franck
César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
's Les Beatitudes, and introduced songs by Thomas F Dunhill. His Queen's Hall
Queen's Hall
The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect T.E. Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts founded by Robert...
performances included the Four Serious Songs of Brahms. His first major London recital (Aeolian Hall
Aeolian Hall
Aeolian Hall may refer to:*Aeolian Hall , a concert hall near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City*Aeolian Hall , England*Aeolian Hall , a historic music venue in London, Ontario...
) with Hamilton Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
(piano) was on 3 April 1906, and he sang for the Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
. For Weingartner he gave the Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
finale with Agnes Nicholls
Agnes Nicholls
Agnes Nicholls was one of the greatest English sopranos of the 20th century, both in the concert hall and on the operatic stage....
, and at Queen's Hall the premiere of Balfour Gardiner's ‘When the lad for longing sighs.’
In 1906 (Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...
) he took baritone roles in The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
(beside John Coates
John Coates (tenor)
John Coates was a leading English tenor, who sang in opera and oratorio and on the concert platform. His repertoire ranged from Bach and Purcell to contemporary works, and embraced the major heldentenor roles in Richard Wagner's operas...
) under Elgar's baton. In April 1907 he was at Reading, Berkshire
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, in 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...
's De Profundis and 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 :...
's Elegiac Ode: at Hanley he gave the premiere of Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian , was a British classical composer.Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the many symphonies he had managed to write. By the end of his life he had completed 32, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart...
's By the Waters of Babylon. In October, after Gerontius at Preston, he sang for Elgar in The Apostles at Birmingham
Birmingham Triennial Music Festival
The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. Its last performance was in 1912.-History:...
. Henry Wood introduced Austin's symphonic composition Rhapsody: Spring, and engaged him to sing in two concerts, including that in which the Delius piano concerto was first given. Austin met Delius that year, and also made a Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
debut, a small role in Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
, for Richter.
New work in opera and oratorio
1908 saw much oratorio, with HandelHANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's The Messiah (Wood, Queen's Hall), Gerontius (with Coates, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, under Richter), Elgar's King Olaf (Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
Festival), Judas in The Apostles (Liverpool), Bach's Phoebus and Pan (Queen's Hall), and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast. His first Covent Garden lead appearance was Gunther (Götterdämmerung) in Richter's English Ring cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
, repeated three times in February 1909. Late in 1908 he and Cyril Scott gave a recital of Scott's songs at the Bechstein Hall.
At the Sheffield Festival of 1908 he was exceptionally busy, with performances of Samson et Dalila, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
's Paradise and the Peri, Walford Davies’ Everyman, Beethoven's Choral Symphony, and L’Enfant Prodigue of Debussy, specially re-scored by the composer, and delivered under Henry Wood with Austin, Agnes Nicholls, and the tenor Felix Senius. At this Festival also on October 6 he gave the English première (following the Essen
Essen
- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...
, 1906, first) of Delius’ Sea Drift
Sea Drift (Delius)
Sea Drift is among the larger-scale musical works by the composer Frederick Delius. Completed in 1903-1904 and first performed in 1906, it is a setting for baritone, chorus and orchestra of words by Walt Whitman.- The poem adaptation :...
. Wood chose Austin as the only man ‘who could be trusted to sing it con amore.’ He sang it again in December, and in February 1909, for Beecham: Birmingham first heard it in 1912.
Austin premiered Granville Bantock
Granville Bantock
Sir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...
's Omar Khayyam Part III (Birmingham 1909), and in that year sang The Apostles (Judas) and Parry's Job at Hereford. At Liverpool in September 1909 was the first Festival of The Musical League, created by English composers for performance of their music; Austin's symphonic poem Isabella appeared, and he sang in Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
's The Dance and Anacreontic Ode, Havergal Brian's By the Waters of Babylon, and Vaughan Williams’ cantata Willow-wood.
Operatic work and expanding repertoire
In 1910 Austin commenced his regular operatic career, appearing as Wotan and Wanderer, and doubling as Gunther, in the EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
Denhof Company Ring cycle under Michael Balling
Michael Balling
Michael Balling was an German violist and conductor. He served as principal conductor of The Hallé, Manchester, England from 1912 to 1914....
. He also appeared in two Ring cyles at Covent Garden. At Hereford he performed the traditional Festival-opening Elijah (and again in 1911), and gave the premiere of Bantock's Gethsemene, and in London repeated the Omar Khayyam. For the Philharmonic Society he gave songs by Ethel Smyth under her direction. In 1911 he was also singing concert performances of The Damnation of Faust
The Damnation of Faust
La damnation de Faust , Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "légende dramatique"...
(Berlioz) and Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
(Gounod), Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
choral works, Handel oratorios, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, the Mozart and Brahms Requiems, Max Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
's Frithjof and Lay of the Bell, Mendelssohn's St Paul and Walpurgis nacht, and many other works.
In 1912 Beecham took the Denhof Ring cycle to Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Liverpool and Manchester, and in these years Austin also appeared with them in the first English Elektra
Elektra (opera)
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal...
(Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
), as Kunrad in Feuersnot
Feuersnot
Feuersnot , Op. 50, is a Singgedicht or opera in one act by Richard Strauss. The German libretto was written by Ernst von Wolzogen, based on J. Ketel's report "Das erloschene Feuer zu Audenaerde" in the Oudenaarde Gazette, Leipzig, 1843...
, Dr Coppelius in Tales of Hoffmann, Gratiano in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Tomasso in Tiefland
Tiefland (opera)
Tiefland is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Eugen d'Albert, to a libretto in German by Rudolph Lothar. Based on the 1896 Catalan play Terra baixa by Àngel Guimerà, Tiefland was d'Albert's seventh opera, and is the one which is now the best known.-Performance history:Tiefland was first...
(Eugen d’Albert), Escamillo in Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
and as Vanderdecken in The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
. In 1913 the Denhof Company was wound up and reformed as the Beecham Company, and until around 1920 Austin appeared for Beecham also as Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Iago (Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
), Ford (Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
), Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
), and in Madame Butterfly, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
, Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Holbrooke
Joseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
's Dylan, and other works.
English recital and drama
In the spring of 1912 was the first series of the Balfour Gardiner Queen's Hall Concerts, devoted to contemporary English music, which effectually transformed the acceptance and establishment of the English composers. In the fourth concert Austin sang Scott's Helen of Kirconnell again, and gave the premiere of Norman O’Neill's La belle dame sans merci. His symphonic Rhapsody: Spring was also repeated, and in March 1913 his Symphony in E was first performed. In 1912 Austin delivered his own Three Songs of Unrest, and gave a serious lecture on the songs of Hugo WolfHugo Wolf
Hugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
. Before the War he was also singing in Germany, Holland and Denmark. In 1914 at The Music Club in London he performed several songs of Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
in the composer's presence. Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter
Roger Quilter was an English composer, known particularly for his songs.-Biography:Born in Hove, Sussex, Quilter was a younger son of Sir William Quilter, 1st Baronet, who was a noted art collector...
dedicated his song The Jocund Dance (Op. 18 No. 3) to him, written 1913–14.
From 1913 Austin developed close connections with Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music....
, and assisted in the development of the English music drama at Glastonbury. In the Summer Festivals of August 1914 and 1915 he sang the role of Eochaidh the King in The Immortal Hour
The Immortal Hour
The Immortal Hour is an opera by English composer Rutland Boughton. Boughton adapted his own libretto from the works of Fiona MacLeod, a pseudonym of writer William Sharp....
there, and again at Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
in 1915, with Frank Mullings
Frank Mullings
Frank Mullings was a leading English tenor with Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company and its successor, the British National Opera Company, during the 1910s and 1920s...
and Percy Heming, and in 1916 was King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
in The Round Table. 1916 also saw the first performance of his most lasting orchestral composition, Danish Sketches, Palsgaard, conducted by Beecham on 11 December for the Royal Philharmonic Society.
Operatic farewell
Austin's last formal operatic performance was as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
for Beecham, at Covent Garden in 1920. Neville Cardus
Neville Cardus
Sir John Frederick Neville Cardus CBE was an English writer and critic, best known for his writing on music and cricket. For many years, he wrote for The Manchester Guardian. He was untrained in music, and his style of criticism was subjective, romantic and personal, in contrast with his critical...
, who saw him in the role beside Agnes Nicholls and Frederick Ranalow, wrote: ‘nobody else has passed across the closing scene of the opera with half of Austin's grace of bearing and suggestion of courtly cynicism.’
The Beggar's Opera
The restoration of the musical score for The Beggar's OperaThe Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
by John Gay
John Gay
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera , set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch...
and Dr Pepusch (originally produced in 1728) was undertaken by Frederic Austin and completed in 1920 in time for the production by Nigel Playfair
Nigel Playfair
Sir Nigel Playfair was the actor-manager of the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London, in the 1920s. He studied at University College, Oxford....
, with artistic designs by Claud Lovat Fraser
Claud Lovat Fraser
Claud Lovat Fraser was an English Artist, designer and author.Claud Lovat Fraser was a member of a distinguished old family in which it was traditional to include the name Lovat in the eldest son's name. For much of his life he was know simply by that name...
, which opened at the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
, Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
on June 6, 1920 and ran for a record number of 1463 performances until December 23, 1923. Austin preferred the simpler versions made by Pepusch to the edition prepared by Dr Arne. He appeared as Peachum, with Elsie French, Frederick Ranalow (Macheath), Sylvia Nelis (Polly) and others, conducted by Eugène Goossens
Eugène Goossens, fils
Eugène Goossens was a French conductor and violinist.He was born in Bordeaux, and studied in Bruges and the conservatoire in Brussels...
. The entire venture received universal acclaim, and was performed in Paris, Canada, America and Australia. In 1922 Austin revived the sequel, Polly. Recordings were made of the original cast production.
Recordings
Frederic Austin made recordings for both the Gramophone CompanyGramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. Despite being a prominent English singer in concert and opera he is entirely omitted from Volumes I and II of Michael Scott's study, The Record of Singing
The Record of Singing
The Record of Singing is a compilation of classical-music singing from the first half of the 20th century, the era of the 78-rpm record.It was issued on LP by EMI, successor to the British company His Master's Voice — perhaps the leading organization in the early history of audio recording.The...
.
Directing and composition
See also: List of works by Frederic AustinIn 1922 he became Artistic Director of the British National Opera Company
British National Opera Company
The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company , which was disbanded when financial problems over...
, reformed out of Beecham's company, and in 1923 was elected member of the Royal Philharmonic Society. In this way, and through his teaching, he continued to train and encourage English singers for many years more. He continued to compose theatre incidental music, notably for The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1923), The Insect Play (1923), Congreve
William Congreve
William Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
's The Way of the World (1924), John Drinkwater's Robert Burns (1925), Vallombrossa (1926), and Prudence (1931). He wrote a cello sonata in 1927. In 1932 he made a last singing appearance in Alfred Reynolds
Alfred Reynolds (composer)
Alfred Reynolds was a composer of light music for the theatre.He was born in Liverpool and educated at Merchant Taylors' School and later in France. He studied with Engelbert Humperdinck in Berlin....
’ Derby Day
Derby Day (light opera)
Derby Day is a 1932 three-act light opera, with music composed by Alfred Reynolds to a libretto by A. P. Herbert. Herbert wrote his text between March and May 1931, whilst on a trip to Australia, during the first run of his successful Tantivy Towers....
.
He composed the music for the Ealing Studios film Undercover (1943), aka Underground Guerrillas (USA), The Insect Play (1939) (TV), The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1938) (TV), and for the movie Midshipman Easy (1935), aka Men of the Sea (USA: reissue title).
Frederic Austin's son Richard (1903-89) was the chief conductor of the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra (now the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is an English orchestra. Originally based in Bournemouth, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole in 1979....
) from 1934 until 1939, and became Head of the Opera Department of the Royal College of Music
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...
in 1953.
Sources
- N. Cardus, Autobiography (Collins, London 1947).
- G Davidson, Opera Biographies (Werner Laurie, London 1955).
- R. Elkin, Royal Philharmonic (Rider & Co, London 1946).
- V. Langfield, Roger Quilter, His Life and Music (Boydell, 2002)
- M. Lee-Browne, Nothing so charming as Musick! (Thames, London 1999)
- H. Wood, My Life of Music (Gollancz, London 1938)