Basil Cameron,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(18 August 1884 – 26 June 1975) was an English conductor.

Early career

He was born Basil George Cameron HindenbergW.L. Jacob, "Hindenburg v. Cameron" (Letter to the Editor) (1991). ''The Musical Times'', 132 (1782), p. 382 at 34 Waylen Street,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, the son of a German immigrant family.Holden, Raymond.
Cameron, Basil George
, in ''The Oxford Book of National Biography'' (2004) His father, Frederick Clementz Hindenberg, was a piano tuner. He took up the violin at age 8, and studied with the organist and composer Tertius Noble at

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...

, and then for four years at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Hochschule, where his violin teachers were

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

and

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer ( hu, Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Au ...

.W. McN. . McNaught
Mr. Basil Cameron
(1 June 1931). ''The Musical Times'', 72 (1060): pp. 497–500 Back in England he joined

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

's Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1908 and then the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

. In 1912, Hindenberg began conducting at the resort of

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

, where he included music by Delius and Stravinsky in the repertoire alongside more popular seaside favourites.Howes, Frank. 'Cameron, (George) Basil', in ''Grove Music Online'', 2001 He also organised festivals dedicated to the music of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

(1913) and

Strauss Strauss, Strauß or Straus is a common Germanic surname. Outside Germany and Austria ''Strauß'' is always spelled ''Strauss'' (the letter " ß" is not used in the German-speaking part of Switzerland). In classical music, "Strauss" usually re ...

(1914), raising the profile of the orchestra.

World War I and after

In 1914, at the start of World War I, it was considered less than ideal in England to bear such a Germanic-sounding name as Hindenberg, so the family name was discreetly dropped and he adopted his third name, Cameron, as his professional surname. (Various sources have suggested that the name Hindenberg had initially been adopted because German-sounding conductors could find work more easily than English ones could. It has also been suggested that the name Cameron was his mother's maiden name. Both of these assertions are incorrect)."Basil Cameron - The Quiet Maestro"
/ref> During the war, Cameron served in the British Army from November 1915 to August 1918, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant and was wounded in action at Bullecourt in 1918. After the war, Cameron led orchestras in many other British seaside resorts, including Brighton,

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

(from 1923) and

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa w ...

(from 1924, succeeding Howard Carr). Laudatory reviews by

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

and

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

increased his renown, and led to London engagements from the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

Eric Coates Eric Francis Harrison Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading viola, violist. Coates was born into a musical family, but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, ...

, who had been a violinist with Cameron in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, dedicated his ''Four Ways Suite'' of 1927 to him. It had been commissioned by Cameron and was premiered in Harrogate that year. In 1929 Cameron organised an all-British festival in Harrogate, including the music of Bax, Delius, Henry Balfour Gardiner, Joseph Holbrooke,

William Hurlstone William Yeates Hurlstone (7 January 1876 – 30 May 1906) was an English composer. Showing brilliant musical talent from an early age, he died young, before his full potential could be realized. Nevertheless, he left behind an exquisite, albeit s ...

and

Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...

. Also in 1929, Cameron auditioned the pianist Moura Lympany, then aged just 12 years old, and immediately organised her concert debut with him at Harrogate, playing Mendelssohn's G minor Piano Concerto. In 1930 he guest-conducted with the San Francisco Symphony, and was later invited to become its music director, where from 1930 and 1932 he served as joint music director with

Issay Dobrowen Issay Alexandrovich Dobrowen (russian: Исай Александрович Добровейн; in Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire9 December 1953, Oslo, Norway), born Itschok Zorachovitch Barabeitchik, was a Russian/Soviet-Norwegian pianist, co ...

. In 1932 he was appointed music director of the

Seattle Symphony Orchestra The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera. History Beginnings The orchest ...

, where he stayed until February 1938.

Return to England

In 1938, he returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

where he remained for the rest of his career. In 1940, he joined the conducting staff of the

Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

as an associate conductor to Sir Henry Wood and began conducting for various orchestras, the London Philharmonic Orchestra most frequently. With the LPO, Cameron conducted the first UK performance of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's Violin Concerto (on 6 April, 1941), and the first UK performance of the ''

Sinfonia da Requiem ''Sinfonia da Requiem'', Op. 20, for orchestra is a symphony written by Benjamin Britten in 1940 at the age of 26. It was one of several works commissioned from different composers by the Japanese government to mark Emperor Jimmu's 2600th annive ...

'' at the Royal Albert Hall on 22 July, 1942. Cameron played an essential role in the immediate post World War II period at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts held in the Royal Albert Hall where, with

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

, he was responsible for the bulk of the programming, including the Bach/Brahms evenings. One notable occasion was on 7 September 1945 when Cameron conducted the first performance in England of Schoenberg's Piano Concerto, with the 23-year-old pianist

Kyla Greenbaum Kyla Betty Greenbaum (5 February 1922 - 15 June 2017) was a British pianist and composer, the younger sister of conductor and composer Hyam Greenbaum. She gave the first UK performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto in 1945 and the firs ...

as the soloist. Despite some underlying hostility the work was received by the audience with unexpected enthusiasm, and (according to ''The Musical Times'') Greenbaum played with "immense courage". Other premieres he conducted at the Proms included

E. J. Moeran } Ernest John Smeed Moeran (31 December 1894 – 1 December 1950) was an English composer of part-Irish extraction, whose work was strongly influenced by English and Irish folk music of which he was an assiduous collector. His output includes or ...

's Serenade in G (on 2 September 1948) and

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed pro ...

's Violin Concerto (on 25 August 1949).

Retirement and death

Cameron was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in 1957.Obituary for Basil Cameron, ''The Musical Times'', 116 (1590): p. 731. On March 31, 1960, while conducting the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall with

Wilhelm Backhaus Wilhelm Backhaus ('Bachaus' on some record labels) (26 March 1884 – 5 July 1969) was a German pianist and pedagogue. He was particularly well known for his interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. He was also much ...

as soloist, Cameron became ill and could not continue. He retired in 1964, aged 80 years, with a final concert featuring the Symphony No 4 by Brahms and the ''Symphony of Psalms'' by Stravinsky. He was married twice, first to Frances James, and second to Phyllis MacQueen, but died (unmarried) in a Leominster nursing home, aged 91.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Basil 1884 births 1975 deaths English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English violinists British male violinists English people of German descent British Army personnel of World War I Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century violinists 20th-century British male musicians