Anthony Bernard
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Anthony Bernard (25 January 18916 April 1963) was an English conductor, organist, pianist and composer.


Early life

Anthony Bernard's birth was registered as Alan Charles Butler in
West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...
, then classified as
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, in early 1891. His mother was Rosetta Ann Casselden, who had married Alfred Charles Butler, a coal-merchant (son of Henry Butler, also a coal-merchant) four years earlier on 21 September 1887. Bernard changed his name by
deed poll A deed poll (plural: deeds poll) is a legal document binding on a single person or several persons acting jointly to express an intention or create an obligation. It is a deed, and not a contract, because it binds only one party. Etymology Th ...
in 1919 according to the National Archives. Further family research has uncovered that Bernard was the illegitimate child of Casselden and the Edwardian band leader
Thomas Bidgood Thomas Bidgood (7 October 1858 – 1 March 1925) was an English conductor, composer and arranger. Life Thomas Bidgood was born in Woolwich, Kent. His father was William John Bidgood, a master plumber, and his mother was Jane Bidgood, née Wil ...
. Another of Bidgood's sons was the dance band leader
Harry Bidgood Henry Bidgood (28 August 1898 – 15 November 1957), was an English composer, dance band leader and musical director for films. Born in West Ham,1911 Census London, England in 1898,. his father was music teacher and composer Thomas Bidgood. T ...
, also known as
Primo Scala Henry Bidgood (28 August 1898 – 15 November 1957), was an English composer, dance band leader and musical director for films. Born in West Ham,1911 Census London, England in 1898,. his father was music teacher and composer Thomas Bidgood. T ...
. In the 1901 census, Casselden was not living with her husband; she declared herself to be Rosetta Barnard and her 10-year-old son Alan Charles Butler to be "Allan Barnard" who was born in New York. Prior to cohabiting with Bidgood, she had three more sons (1893 - Thomas George who died in infancy; 1896 - Thomas Walter; and 1898 - Henry James), all were registered as "Barnard" (Harry Bidgood was Henry James Barnard). Thomas Walter was registered with Butler as the mother's name, the other two with Casselden. By the time Thomas Bidgood left his wife and son Albert Thomas, and set up home with Rosetta Casselden/Butler, Alan Charles Butler had moved on, and the remaining three sons adopted the surname Bidgood. A fourth was born in 1914 and named Warwick Bidgood. It is not a requirement of English law to register a change of name, and deed poll is optional. The adopted surname of Anthony Bernard therefore seems to have derived from his mother's use of Barnard, though her reasons for doing so remain unclear. Anthony Bernard studied with
Joseph Holbrooke Joseph Charles Holbrooke, sometimes given as Josef Holbrooke, (5 July 18785 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Life Early years Joseph Holbrooke was born Joseph Charles Holbrook in Croydon, Surrey. His father, als ...
,
John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...
,
Leonard Borwick Leonard Borwick (26 February 1868 – 15 September 1925) was an English concert pianist especially associated with the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Early training and debuts Born in Walthamstow, Essex, of a Staffordshire fam ...
and Sir
Granville Bantock Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 186816 October 1946) was a British composer of classical music. Biography Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon.Hadden, J. Cuthbert, 1913, ''Modern Music ...
.Angela Hughes.
Chelsea Footprints: A Thirties Chronicle
' (2008), p. 220
He was appointed organist at St. Augustine's,
Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...
in 1910. He worked in some other churches, and also became well known as an accompanist to singers, such as
Muriel Foster Muriel Foster (22 November 187723 December 1937) was an English contralto, excelling in oratorio. ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Grove's Dictionary'' describes her voice as "one of the most beautiful voices of her time". Muriel Foste ...
, who retained him for the rest of her career, and John Coates.


Career

With W. H. "Billy" Reed (leader of 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 orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
) as violinist, Bernard was the pianist in the premiere performance of
Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
's Violin Sonata in E minor, on 13 March 1919 at a semi-public meeting of the
British Music Society The British Music Society was first set up in 1918 by Arthur Eaglefield Hull to "advance the cause of British music at home and abroad". Its address was 19 Berners Street in London. The supporting committee included influential names such as Adria ...
. In 1921 he and Reed attended a luncheon convened by Elgar, the other invitees being
Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) 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. In the post-war years he qui ...
, Eugene Goossens,
John Ireland John Benjamin Ireland (January 30, 1914 – March 21, 1992) was a Canadian-American actor and film director. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia and raised in New York City, he came to prominence with film audiences for his supporting roles i ...
and
Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
. The purpose of the meeting turned out to be Elgar's suggestion that Bliss, Goossens and
Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...
each write a new piece for the 1922
Three Choirs Festival 200px, Worcester cathedral 200px, Gloucester cathedral The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester) and originally fe ...
, to be held in
Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...
. Bliss's contribution was his ''
A Colour Symphony ''A Colour Symphony'', Op. 24, F. 106, was written by Arthur Bliss in 1921–22. It was his first major work for orchestra, and is today one of his best-known compositions. Orchestration The symphony is scored for 3 flutes (one doubling on ...
''. Goossens wrote ''Silence'' for chorus and orchestra. Howells wrote ''Sine Nomine'' for wordless chorus (which was not given its second performance until his centenary year 1992). Elgar's own contribution was his orchestration of
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
's ''Fantasia and Fugue in C minor'', BWV 542.


London Chamber Orchestra

That year Anthony Bernard formed the
London Chamber Orchestra The London Chamber Orchestra (LCO) was a British chamber orchestra based in London. LCO performed at various concert halls across London and toured Asia, the UK, Europe and the United States. The orchestra gave its last performance in February 2 ...
(LCO), and led them in unfamiliar and better-known repertoire from the early masters through to contemporary composers such as
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...
. He also founded the London Chamber Singers. From 1922 to 1926 he conducted the Dutch Chamber Orchestra, and in 1926 he took the LCO on a tour of Spain. He conducted the
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 ( ...
in 1924 and 1925.


Notable performances

He conducted the first performance of Christian Darnton's Octet for flute, clarinet, bassoon, cornet and string quartet, on 26 March 1927. In 1927, he presented a festival of the music of
Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...
, in which the Harpsichord Concerto and '' Master Peter's Puppet Show'' had their first performances in England; the solo part in the concerto was played by Falla himself. In 1928 his orchestra became associated with the New English Musical Society. In 1929, Bernard conducted the London Chamber Orchestra in the first complete recording of Bach's
Brandenburg Concertos The ''Brandenburg Concertos'' ( BWV 1046–1051) by Johann Sebastian Bach are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). The origi ...
. It is not certain that this recording was officially issued, and only excerpts are now known to exist. Anthony Bernard conducted the first recording to be released of
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...
's '' Sea Drift'' (1929) with the baritone Roy Henderson and the New English Symphony Orchestra, and was praised by the composer's wife Jelka for his conducting. He also conducted the first concert performance of
Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
's ''A Christmas Carol Suite'', on 17 December 1929 in London.
Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley CBE (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James ...
was another composer who entrusted the first performances of some of his works to Anthony Bernard.


Other activities

In 1930 he organised a festival of Italian music from the 11th to the 20th centuries. He performed similar services for French music and was later honoured by the French government for his services. He also conducted opera both at home and abroad. From 1932 to 1942 he was musical director of the
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakes ...
at
Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
. His activities also included conducting orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the
Concerts Colonne The Colonne Orchestra is a French symphony orchestra, founded in 1873 by the violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. History While leader of the Opéra de Paris orchestra, Édouard Colonne was engaged by the publisher Georges Hartmann to lead ...
, and others in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
,
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
,
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
,
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
and
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
. Later in life, he wrote a great deal of incidental music, both for the theatre (such as ''In Parenthesis'' ( David Jones) and ''Queen Mary'' (
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...
, 1947)) and for radio plays by
Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
(''
Iphigenia in Aulis ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' (; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripides. Written between 408, after ''Orestes'', and 406 BC, the year of Eu ...
'' (1951), and ''Ion and Bacchae''), Shakespeare (''
The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...
'' (1951) and ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a Comedy (drama), comedy play written by William Shakespeare in about 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One s ...
'') and others. He produced a version of ''
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 sati ...
'' scored for flute, oboe, bassoon, harpsichord and strings. His other compositions include an organ prelude, ''Rorate Coeli'' (1916), ''Petite Suite: Aucassin et Nicolette'' for violin and piano (published Winthrop Rogers, 1917), the ''Variations on a Hill Tune'', for piano (1920), and songs, such as ''The Cherry Tree Song''. Robert Simpson dedicated his Symphony No. 2 (1956) to Anthony Bernard, who conducted the premiere performance with the LCO. Bernard died in 1963, aged 72.


Elgar's ''Concert Allegro''

Anthony Bernard played a role in the story of
Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
's '' Concert Allegro'', Op. 46, for piano solo. Elgar started to revise and shorten the piece after its first performance by Fanny Davies in 1901, and even toyed with the idea of turning it into a piano concerto. These revisions were never finished, and the original version was never published. Elgar may have given the manuscript away; in any event, it was not found in his papers at his death, and was considered lost. In around 1942, however, Bernard was given the manuscript (by whom is not recorded), and was asked to arrange the piece for piano and orchestra. He thought it worked better as a solo piano piece, and did no work on his commission. The manuscript was still in his study when it was bombed during World War II, and it was assumed destroyed along with other papers of his. After his death, however, his widow came across the manuscript. It came to the attention of the pianist
John Ogdon John Andrew Howard Ogdon (27 January 1937 – 1 August 1989) was an English pianist and composer. Biography Career Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire; his family moved to Manchester when he was eight. He attended the M ...
and the musicologist Diana McVeigh, who together worked on it to extricate the original work from Elgar's crossings out, additions and changes, all made after Fanny Davies' first performance. Ogdon gave the first modern performance of the work in 1969.


Personal life

Anthony Bernard was married twice, his first marriage ending in divorce. His elder daughter Nicolette Bernard was an actress. The younger, Christine Bernard, was an editor, publisher, author and agent. The singer-songwriter Elly Jackson is his great-granddaughter.


Recordings

His recordings were numerous. They included: *
Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...
's Piano Concerto with the composer as soloist * the
Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
Double Violin Concerto with
Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...
and
Gioconda de Vito Gioconda de Vito (26 July 1907 – 14 October 1994) was an Italian-British classical violinist. (The dates 22 June 1907 and 24 October 1994 also appear in some sources.) Life De Vito was born, one of five children, in the town of Martina Fran ...
*
Hans Hotter Hans Hotter (19 January 19096 December 2003) was a German operatic bass-baritone. He stood and his appearance was striking. His voice and diction were equally recognisable. Early life and career Born in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Hotter studied ...
singing Bach with the
Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...
*
Lois Marshall Lois Catherine Marshall, CC (January 29, 1925 – February 19, 1997) was a Canadian soprano. Her husband, Weldon Kilburn, had been her early coach and piano accompanist. Early life and studies; awards Born in Toronto, Ontario, Marshall "began ...
in
Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...
and
Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
with 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 orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
* the ''
Water Music The ''Water Music'' (German: ''Wassermusik'') is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three Suite (music), suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to George I of Great Britain, ...
'' and '' Royal Fireworks Music'' of Handel, again with the LSO * Richard Lewis,
Alfred Deller Alfred George Deller, CBE (31 May 1912 – 16 July 1979), was an English singer and one of the main figures in popularising the return of the countertenor voice in Renaissance and Baroque music during the 20th century. He is sometimes referr ...
, and Norman Walker singing
Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...
* and accompanying
Teresa Stich-Randall Teresa Stich-Randall ( Stich; 24 December 1927 17 July 2007) was a European-based American soprano opera singer.