Arthur Hervey
Arthur Hervey (26 January 1855 – 10 March 1922) was an Irish composer, music critic, and an expert in French music.
Life
Hervey was born in Paris of Irish parentage – his father was Charles J.V. Hervey who owned Killiane Castle[1] in County Wexford, Ireland. He was educated at the Oratory, Birmingham, and studied in London with Berthold Tours and Edouard Marlois, two organist-composers with a French background. Hervey worked as music critic for Vanity Fair (1889–92) and The Morning Post (1892–1908). He died in London.[2]
Music
Hervey composed in many forms including opera and orchestral music. Some of his larger works were written for and performed at major British music festivals at Cardiff, Norwich and Brighton. A French influence is detectable in his early chamber music. His wife Clare (née Harrison, widowed Webster) occasionally contributed the words to some of his songs and the libretto to his second opera Ilona (1914). In an obituary for the Musical Times, his musical language was described as being "always marked by melodiousness, straightforwardness of utterance, and polish of manner".[3]
Since 1959, the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London is awarding an annual Arthur Hervey Prize in the form of a scholarship for an outstanding young composer, which was initiated in memory of Hervey by bequest of his step-daughter, Nancy Webster. A relief portrait of Hervey in carved marble is preserved in the museum of the RAM.[4]
Writings
Despite his substantial musical oeuvre Hervey remained mainly known for his writings, which include biographical studies of composers, most of which being devoted to French contemporaries like Saint-Saëns and Bruneau. He was widely regarded as an expert on French music. His viewpoint was very open-minded for its time, with an exception in the impressionists, and particularly Debussy, whom he regarded as "decadent".
Selected compositions
Opera
- The Fairy's Post-box, opera in 1 act (libretto: John Palgrave Simpson); London, Court Theatre, 21 May 1885
- Ilona, opera in 1 act (libretto: Clare Hervey); London, Court Theatre, 12 May 1914
Vocal music
- Sechs Liebeslieder (Heinrich Heine) for voice and piano (1883)
- Herzens-Stimmen (H. Heine) for voice and piano (1884)
- Neue Liebeslieder (various poets) for voice and piano (c.1890)
- 12 Songs of Heine for voice and piano (c.1895)
- The Gates of Night (author unknown) for baritone and orchestra (1901)
- many individual songs incl. Love of my Life, May Song, Once, Mine All, etc.
Orchestral music
- Love and Fate, dramatic overture (1890)
- Two Tone Pictures (1. On the Heights; 2. On the March) (1902)
- Youth, concert overture (1902)
- In the East, symphonic poem (1904)
- Life Moods, symphonic variations (1910)
Piano music
- Dans ma nacelle (1875)
- Eglantine (1875)
- Paquita (1875)
- Six Album Leaves (1888)
- A basso porto (1900)
- Three Pieces (c.1915)
Chamber music
- Réverie for violin or flute or cello with piano (1882)
- Cantilène for cello and piano (1895)
- Légende espagnole for cello and piano (1895)
- Berceuse for violin and piano (1900)
- Elevation for violin and piano (1902)
Selected writings
- Masters of French Music (London, 1894)
- French Music in the XIXth Century (London, 1903)
- Alfred Bruneau (London, 1907)
- Franz Liszt and his Music (London, 1911)
- The Life of Rubinstein (London, 1913)
- Saint-Saëns (London, 1921)
External links
- Free scores by Arthur Hervey at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
References
- v
- t
- e
- Michael Steinberg (1964–1976)
- Richard Dyer (1976–2006)
- Jeremy Eichler (since 2006)
- Campbell Clarke (1855?–1870)
- Joseph Bennett (1870–1906)
- Robin Legge (1906–1931)
- Herbert Hughes (1911–1932)
- Richard Capell (1933–1954)
- Martin Cooper (1954–1976)
- Peter Stadlen (1976–1985)
- Michael Kennedy (1986–2005)
- Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)
- Ivan Hewett (since 2009)
- George Fremantle (1867–1895)
- Arthur Johnstone (1896–1904)
- Ernest Newman (1905–1906)
- Samuel Langford (1906–1927)
- Neville Cardus (1927–1940)
- Edward Greenfield (1977–1993)
- Tom Service (1999–2003)
- Andrew Clements (since 2003?)
- Isabel Morse Jones (1925–1947)
- Albert Goldberg (1947–1965)
- Martin Bernheimer (1965–1996)
- Mark Swed (since 1996)
- Robert A. Simon (1925–1948)
- Winthrop Sargeant (1949–1972)
- Andrew Porter (1972–1992)
- Paul Griffiths (1992–1996)
- Alex Ross (1996–present)
- William James Henderson (1887–1902)
- Richard Aldrich (1902–1923)
- Olin Downes (1924–1955)
- Howard Taubman (1955–1960)
- Harold C. Schonberg (1960–1980)
- Donal Henahan (1980–1991)
- Edward Rothstein (1991–1995)
- Bernard Holland (1995–2000)
- Anthony Tommasini (2000–2021)
- Zachary Woolfe (since 2022)
- Ernest Newman (1919)
- Percy Scholes (1920–1925)
- A. H. Fox Strangways (1925–1939)
- William Glock (1939–1945)
- Eric Blom (1949–1953)
- Peter Heyworth (1955–1987)
- Nicholas Kenyon (1986–1992)
- Andrew Porter (1992–1996)
- Anthony Holden (2000–2008)
- Fiona Maddocks (since 2008)
- James William Davison (1846–1879)
- Francis Hueffer (1879–1889)
- J A Fuller Maitland (1889–1911)
- H. C. Colles (1911–1943)
- A. H. Fox Strangways
- Frank Howes (1943–1960)
- William Mann (1960–1982)
- Paul Griffiths (1982–1992)
- Richard Morrison (since 1992)
- Paul Hume (1946–1982.)
- Joseph McLellan (mid-1970s–1995)
- Tim Page (1995–1999, 2001–2008)
- Philip Kennicott (1999–2001)
- Anne Midgette (2008–2019)
- Michael Andor Brodeur (since 2020)
- The Baltimore Sun (2000–2019)
- Tim Smith
- Chicago Tribune
- George Putnam Upton (1861–1881)
- Frederick Grant Gleason (1884–1889)
- Daily News
- George Hogarth (1846–1866)
- Evening News
- Mosco Carner (1957–1961)
- Evening Standard
- Percy Scholes (1913–1920)
- Barry Millington (2000s)
- Financial Times
- Andrew Porter (1953–1972)
- Ronald Crichton (1972–1978)
- Frankfurter Zeitung
- The Independent
- Bayan Northcott (1986–2009)
- Edward Seckerson (c. 2009–2012)
- New York Daily News
- William Zakariasen (1976–1993)
- New York Post
- Henry T Finck (1881–1924)
- Olga Samaroff (1926–1928)
- San Francisco Examiner
- Michael Walsh (1977–1981)
- Saturday Review
- William Barclay Squire (1888–1894)
- The Scotsman
- Mary Miller (1992–1998)
- Sunday Express
- Ralph Hill (1940s)
- The Sunday Telegraph
- John Warrack (1961–1972)
- Michael Kennedy (1989–2005)
- The Sydney Morning Herald
- Roger Covell (1960 – late 1990s)
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Daily Mail |
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New Statesman |
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San Francisco Chronicle |
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The Sunday Times |
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The Morning Chronicle |
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The Morning Post |
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Neue Freie Presse |
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New York Herald Tribune |
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