Sydney Smith (composer)
Encyclopedia
Sydney Smith was a leading English pianist and composer in Victorian England. Sydney Smith grew up in a family of musicians. His father was the head of a music school and often gave concerts with his two sons, Sydney and his brother Boyton.
Smith was born in Dorchester, Dorset. He studied piano in Leipzig
with Ignaz Moscheles
and Plaidy, 'cello with Grützmacher, and composition with Reitz. He returned to England in 1858, settling the following year in London
, where he remained until his death, highly regarded as a teacher and composer. He composed or transcribed about 400 works for the piano. These were extremely popular in salons in England in the 19th century, particularly the early works. Many pieces were issued both as solo pieces and as piano duets.
His earliest compositions are piano accompaniments to three concertina pieces by Richard Blagrove. Apart from these, he composed solely for solo piano until the last few years of his life, when he wrote a small handful of songs.
Amongst his best known works are: The Fairy Queen op. 42, Gaîeté de Coeur op. 24, I Puritani op. 85, Lily of the Valley op. 14, La Harpe Eolienne op. 11, Le Jet d’Eau op. 17 and the Tarantelle Brillante op. 8. He wrote many other morceaux de salon for piano solo, and made many arrangements from popular operas.
In addition to the works published under his own name, he also published a number of piano works under the names Paul Beaumont and Victor Delacour.
Smith was born in Dorchester, Dorset. He studied piano in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
with Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
and Plaidy, 'cello with Grützmacher, and composition with Reitz. He returned to England in 1858, settling the following year in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where he remained until his death, highly regarded as a teacher and composer. He composed or transcribed about 400 works for the piano. These were extremely popular in salons in England in the 19th century, particularly the early works. Many pieces were issued both as solo pieces and as piano duets.
His earliest compositions are piano accompaniments to three concertina pieces by Richard Blagrove. Apart from these, he composed solely for solo piano until the last few years of his life, when he wrote a small handful of songs.
Amongst his best known works are: The Fairy Queen op. 42, Gaîeté de Coeur op. 24, I Puritani op. 85, Lily of the Valley op. 14, La Harpe Eolienne op. 11, Le Jet d’Eau op. 17 and the Tarantelle Brillante op. 8. He wrote many other morceaux de salon for piano solo, and made many arrangements from popular operas.
In addition to the works published under his own name, he also published a number of piano works under the names Paul Beaumont and Victor Delacour.
External links
- The Sydney Smith Archive website contains a biography, discography, and scores Smith's music.