Charles Wilfred Leslie Orr, generally known as C. W. Orr (31 July 1893 – 24 February 1976), was an English composer. He is particularly noted for his songs, though his output was small. He wrote only 35 songs in 82 years, 24 of them setting words by

A. E. Housman Alfred Edward Housman (; 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936) was an English classical scholar and poet. After an initially poor performance while at university, he took employment as a clerk in London and established his academic reputation by pub ...

Biography

Born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

,https://www.jstor.org/stable/956461 shortly after the death from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

of his father (who was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

), he learnt the piano and studied

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

as a child. He was attracted to the singing of

Elena Gerhardt Elena Gerhardt (11 November 1883 – 11 January 1961) was a German mezzo-soprano singer associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters. She left Germany for good to live in London ...

, whom he heard sing in London and developed an interest in

lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

, especially those of

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

. After reading

Ernest Newman Ernest Newman (30 November 1868 – 7 July 1959) was an English music critic and musicologist. ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His ...

's book on the composer

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...

he determined to become a songwriter, which occupation he pursued through study at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

with

Orlando Morgan Robert Orlando Morgan (1865 – 16 May 1956) was an English music teacher, composer and musicologist. He is best remembered as an influential teacher at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he taught for 64 years, from 1887 to 1951, as ...

. He was attracted to the music of

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

after approaching him at a London restaurant in 1915 and Delius became his mentor, helping him with his early compositions. He also came to know Philip Heseltine (

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 occultism, occult practices, was used for all his ...

), who helped him in publishing his early songs. He married in 1929 and moved to

Painswick Painswick is a town and civil parish in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, England. Originally the town grew from the wool trade, but it is now best known for its parish church's yew trees and the local Rococo Garden. The village is mainly ...

, Gloucestershire, to get away from the busy atmosphere of London, which was detrimental to his health; a

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

as a child had left him with

eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the Human skin, skin, typically characterized by itchiness, erythema, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become lichenification, thick ...

, and he contracted

as an adult. He would remain in Painswick for the rest of his life. His work as a composer was dominated by the composition of songs accompanied by piano; his life's study was the expressive setting of poetry to music. He was a particular admirer of A. E. Housman, and wrote more settings of his poetry than any other composer. He became acquainted with Housman's poetry just after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, during which he had enlisted, but was unable to fight for medical reasons. He undertook research visits to

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, taking photographs, and attended one of Housman's lectures as

Kennedy Professor of Latin The Kennedy Professorship of Latin is the senior professorship of Latin at the University of Cambridge. In 1865, when Benjamin Hall Kennedy retired as headmaster of Shrewsbury School, his friends and former pupils created a fund with the intentio ...

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He asked for permission to translate ''

A Shropshire Lad ''A Shropshire Lad'' is a collection of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman, published in 1896. Selling slowly at first, it then rapidly grew in popularity, particularly among young readers. Composers began setting the ...

'' into German so he could bring his songs into wider circulation, but the request was refused. His piano accompaniments and postludes are an integral part of each song, providing more than bare

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

; examples of its use for

programme music Program music or programatic music is a type of instrumental art music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience through the piece's title, or in the form of program notes ...

include fluttering

semiquaver Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note (American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the dura ...

s depicting

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

leaves in ''Along the Field'' and heavy chords in a march to the

scaffold Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...

in ''The Carpenter's Son''. His

harmonic A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...

language is a mixture of English

modality Modality may refer to: Humanities * Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations * Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales * Modalitie ...

and late Romanticism. Orr is regarded as one of Britain's finest 20th century songwriters.

Works

His music is published by Chester Novello and

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Songs

For solo voice and piano. *''Plucking the Rushes'' (1921) *''Silent Noon'' (1921) *''The Earl of Bristol's Farewell'' (1927) *''Tryste Noel'' (1927) *''When as I Wake'' (1928) *''Hymn before Sleep'' (1953) *''While Summer on is Stealing'' (1953) *4 Songs (1959): ''Bahnhofstrasse'' (1932), ''Requiem'' (1954), ''The Time of Roses'' (1955), ''Since Thou, O Fondest and Truest'' (1957)

Housman settings

*''When the Lad for Longing Sighs'' (1921) *2 Songs from ''

'': Tis Time I Think by Wenlock Town'', ''Loveliest of Trees, The Cherry'' (1921–1922) *''The Carpenter's Son'' (1922) *''When I was One-and-Twenty'' (1924) *''With rue my heart is laden'' (1924) *''Is my team ploughing'' (1925) *''On your Midnight Pallet Lying'' (1925) *''O When I Was in Love with You'' (1926) *''This Time of Year'' (1926) *''Soldier from the Wars Returning'' (1928) *7 Songs from ''A Shropshire Lad'' (1934): ''Along the Field'' (1927), ''When I Watch the Living Meet'' (1930), ''The Lent Lily'', ''Farewell to barn and stack and tree'' (1928), ''O fair enough are sky and plain'' (1931), ''Hughley Steeple'' (1930), ''When Smoke Stood Up from Ludlow'' (1929) *''The Lads in their Hundreds'' (1936) *3 Songs from ''A Shropshire Lad'' (1940): ''Into My Heart an Air that Kills'' (1935), ''Westward on the High-Hilled Plains'' (1927), ''O see how thick the goldcup flowers'', (1939) *''The Isle of Portland'' (1938) *''In Valleys Green and Still'' (1952)

Choral music

*''The Brewer's Man'', bass and two-part

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

(1927) *''Slumber Song'', choir and piano (1937) *''Fain would I change that note'', three-part choir and piano (1937)

Instrumental music

*''

Cotswold The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...

Hill-Tune'', string orchestra, (1937) *''Midsummer Dance'', cello and piano (1957)

Recordings

Songs (complete)

*The complete CW Orr songbook – volume 1;

Stone Records Stone Records is a British, independent, classical record label. History Stone Records was founded in 2008 by opera singer Mark Stone to produce his own recordings. He began by making CDs of English song, but the label soon attracted other ar ...

*The complete CW Orr songbook – volume 2;

Songs (extracts)

*'' A E Housman:

, Complete in verse and song'';

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label. History Hyperion is an independent British classical label that was established in 1980 with the goal of showcasing recordings of music in all genres and from all time period ...

CDA66471/2

References

Sources

*Jane Wilson: 'Orr, C(harles) W(ilfred)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 2007-06-07), http://www.grovemusic.com/ *Andrew Green: notes to '' A E Housman: