William Joseph Mayerl (31 May 1902 – 25 March 1959) was an English

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

who built a career in

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

and

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

and became an acknowledged master of light music. Best known for his syncopated

novelty piano Novelty piano is a genre of piano and novelty music that was popular during the 1920s. A successor to ragtime and an outgrowth of the piano roll music of the 1910s, it can be considered a pianistic cousin of jazz, which appeared around the same ti ...

solos, he wrote over 300 piano pieces, many of which were named after flowers and trees, including his best-known composition, ''Marigold'' (1927). He also ran the successful School of Syncopation for whose members he published hundreds of his own arrangements of popular songs. He also composed works for piano and orchestra, often in suites with evocative names such as the 'Aquarium Suite' (1937), comprising "Willow Moss", "Moorish Idol", "Fantail", and "Whirligig".

Early life and education

Mayerl was born in 1902 on

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tu ...

, near the West End theatre district. His father, a violin player, attempted to introduce him to the violin age of four, but failed. After noticing his affinity to the piano, he started him with piano lessons. By age seven he was studying at the

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

, paid for with a series of scholarships. His first major concert was at age nine, playing

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

Piano Concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...

. In his teens, he supplemented these lessons by accompanying silent movies and playing at dances. While studying at Trinity College, Mayerl began visiting a local music arcade known as 'Gayland', where he first encountered North American ragtime music. After trying his hand at composing it, he was threatened with expulsion from Trinity College if he continued, and it was a decade before his first composition was re-issued as 'The Jazz Master'. Attracted to North American popular music, Mayerl joined a

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

hotel band in 1921. He recorded about 37 piano rolls of popular tunes of the early '20s for the Echo label in London. He subsequently joined the Savoy Havana Band in London and became a celebrity. In the late 20s he recorded in London a single title, "Eskimo Shivers", on the Duo-Art player piano system for the Aeolian Company.

Career

In 1926, Mayerl left the Savoy and opened his 'School of

Syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat (music), off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of ...

' which specialised in teaching modern music techniques such as

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

and

stride piano Stride jazz piano, often shortened to stride, is a jazz piano style that arose from ragtime players. Prominent stride pianists include James P. Johnson, Willie "the Lion" Smith, Fats Waller, Luckey Roberts, and Mary Lou Williams. Techn ...

. It led to the long-running correspondence course, 'How to play like Billy Mayerl'. During this period, he wrote his most famous solo, 'Marigold'. By the late 1930s his correspondence school was believed to have had over 100 staff members and 30,000 students. It closed in 1957. On 28 October 1925, Mayerl was the soloist in the London premiere of

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...

's ''

Rhapsody in Blue ''Rhapsody in Blue'' is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band by George Gershwin. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman, the work combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects and premiered in a concer ...

''. In December 1926, he appeared with Gwen Farrar (1899–1944) in a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

—made in the

Lee de Forest #REDIRECT Lee de Forest {{redirect category shell, {{R from move{{R from other capitalisation ...

Phonofilm Phonofilm is an optical sound-on-film system developed by inventors Lee de Forest and Theodore Case in the early 1920s. In 1919 and 1920, de Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patents on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofi ...

sound-on-film Sound-on-film is a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying a picture is recorded on photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an Analog s ...

process—in which they sang Mayerl's song "I've Got a Sweetie on the Radio". His song "Miss Up-to-Date" was sung and played by

Cyril Ritchard Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard (1 December 1898 – 18 December 1977), known professionally as Cyril Ritchard, was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook i ...

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's sound film ''

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'' (1929). In November 1927, his piano styles accompanied the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, American Vaudeville vocal harmonizers who first recorded in England. On 1 October 1929, Billy Mayerl's orchestra performed at the opening of the Locarno Dance Hall in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

. In the 1930s Mayerl composed several works for the musical theatre, including three connected with horse racing: '' Sporting Love'', opening at the

Gaiety Theatre, London The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand, London, Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre, London, Lyc ...

in 1934; ''

Twenty to One ''Twenty to One'' was a British musical comedy first performed in 1935. The musical was a farce set around the world of horseracing. Bill Snibson ( Lupino Lane), a bookmaker, joins an anti-gambling organisation in a fit of guilt. It ran for other ...

'' (Coliseum 1935); and '' Over She Goes'' (Saville 1936). In 1938, jazz pianist

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland Order of the British Empire, OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire, . PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of ...

joined his group "Mayerl's Claviers" under the name Marian Page. Mayerl stepped in as bandleader for the

Grosvenor House Hotel ] JW Marriott Grosvenor House London, formerly the Grosvenor House Hotel, is a luxury hotel that opened in 1929 in the Mayfair area of London, England. Across from Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, the hotel is built on the former site of the 19th ...

in May 1941, when Sydney Lipton was called up to serve with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

.''Radio Times'' Issue 923, 8th June 1941, p. 28
/ref> Lipton returned after the war.

Death

Mayerl died in 1959 from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

at his home in Beaconsfield, Marigold Lodge, after a long illness. He was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 in 2021), ...

in north

on 31 March 1959 and his ashes were placed in the Cedar Lawn Rose Bed. His name is listed in the Book of Remembrance.

Personal life

In 1923 Mayerl married pianist Ermenegilda (Jill) Bernini, a childhood sweetheart. She later helped him write duet arrangements.

References

Bibliography

*''Marigold: The Music of Billy Mayerl'' by Prof. Peter Dickinson (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1999),

External links

Billy Mayerl SocietyBilly Mayerl
at The Robert Farnon Society website
Mayerl's Discography
on

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

*
Bill Edward's biography of Mayerl, with a comprehensive list of compositionsvideo of Billy Mayerl playing Marigold on Youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayerl, Billy 1902 births 1959 deaths 20th-century English pianists 20th-century English classical musicians 20th-century English composers 20th-century English male musicians Alumni of Trinity College of Music Composers from London English light music composers English male pianists English male composers Musicians from London Ragtime composers Ragtime pianists