Sir Charles Barnard Groves

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors. After accompanying positions and conducting various orchestras and studio work for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Groves spent a decade as conductor of the

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

. His best-known musical directorship was of the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

, beginning in 1963, with which he made most of his recordings. From 1967 until his death, Groves was associate conductor of the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

, and in the 1970s he was one of the regular conductors of the Last Night of the Proms. He also served as president of the National Youth Orchestra from 1977, and, during the last decade of his life, as guest conductor for orchestras around the world.

Life and career

Early years

Groves was born in London, the only child of Frederick Groves and Annie (née Whitehead).''Who Was Who''
A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 19 October 2008 He was a pupil at St Paul's Cathedral School (where a house is now named after him), singing in the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

choir and, from the age of 13, studying the piano and organ. Blyth, Alan. ''The Gramophone'', March 1972, Feature on Charles Groves Music was already important to him as a solace, as he was orphaned at the age of ten – his father having died in 1921 from injuries received in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and his mother having died four years later.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' obituary, 22 June 1992 From 1930 until 1932 he was a pupil at

Sutton Valence School Sutton Valence School (SVS) is a private school near Maidstone in southeast England. It has 560 pupils. It is a co-educational day and boarding school, boarding school. There are three senior boarding houses: Westminster, St Margaret's and Sutto ...

, in Kent, where Groves Hall is named in honour of him. After leaving Sutton Valence School he attended the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. There, his main studies were in

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er and accompanying, but he became involved in student opera productions as a

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

. He was naturally gifted with great fluency and the ability to sight read almost any music, but confessed, years later, to having been lazy about his piano studies, and he abandoned his ambitions to become a concert pianist. He played in the percussion section for

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 '' Hugh the Drover'' and Delius's '' A Village Romeo and Juliet'' when Sir Thomas Beecham performed as guest conductor at the College. Groves also went into the conducting class, but did not progress beyond the third orchestra. In 1937, while still a student, he accompanied choral rehearsals of

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

's '' German Requiem'',

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

's ''

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

'' and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's ''

Missa Solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass.Mass
, ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. N.p., Appleton, 1910. 797. and is a genre of < ...

'' under

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

.Cummings, Robert. Biography of Groves at Allmusic.com/ref> Groves began his professional career as a freelance accompanist, including work for the

. In 1938, he was appointed chorus master of the BBC Music Productions Unit under the direction of Stanford Robinson, where he worked on broadcast opera productions. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Groves was sent to

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and Civil parishes in England, parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, England, Worceste ...

, and later

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, England, to be resident chorus master for the BBC while it was evacuated from London. In 1943, he was invited to take charge of the BBC Revue Orchestra, playing mostly light music. During this time Groves conducted Weill's '' Lady in the Dark'' with

Gertrude Lawrence Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born in 1 ...

in the lead role.

Conducting posts

Groves was conductor for the BBC Northern Orchestra in Manchester from 1944 to 1951, conducting several studio concerts every week, and thereby acquiring an exceptionally large repertoire.Ponsonby, Robert
"Groves, Sir Charles Barnard (1915–1992)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 19 October 2008 While in Manchester he met a BBC colleague, Hilary Barchard, whom he married in 1948. Feeling the need to move from studio-based work, Groves accepted the conductorship of the

from 1951 to 1961, which he conducted about 150 times each year. When financial difficulties led to a proposal to merge the Bournemouth and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

orchestras, Groves supported the alternative proposition by which the Bournemouth orchestra took on the additional role of resident orchestra for the new

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

, of which he became musical director from 1961 to 1963. Groves did much to establish that company's choral and orchestral traditions and conducted many performances of works then seldom staged, such as Verdi's '' I Lombardi'' and '' The Sicilian Vespers'', which won critical acclaim and were brought to London. Groves is probably best known for his long tenure from 1963 to 1977 as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the

, conducting, as he said, "everything from the St John Passion to

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

and

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

". He spent nine months of every year with the RLPO, where he greatly improved standards of playing. In the other three months he guest conducted concerts and operas in London and overseas. He took the RLPO on highly acclaimed tours of Germany and Switzerland in 1966 and 1968, and Poland in 1970. During his time in Liverpool, Groves instituted a series of seminars for young conductors, and those who made early appearances there included Andrew Davis,

Mark Elder Sir Mark Philip Elder (born 2 June 1947) is a British conductor. Life and career Elder was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of a dentist. He played the bassoon when in primary school, at Bryanston School, Dorset, and in the National ...

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Church cantata (Bach), Bach's church ...

, James Judd and

Barry Wordsworth Barry Wordsworth (born 20 February 1948) is a British conductor. Biography Wordsworth was appointed assistant conductor to the touring orchestra of The Royal Ballet in 1972. In 1973, he became principal conductor of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ba ...

. At one seminar Groves noted the presence in the orchestra, as an extra percussion player, of a teenager named

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

. From 1967 until his death, Groves was associate conductor of the

, which he led on a tour of the USProfile at Divineart.com
In the 1970s he was one of the regular conductors of the Last Night of the Proms (others being

Norman Del Mar Norman René Del Mar Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (31 July 19196 February 1994) was an English Conductor (music), conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialised in the music of late romantic composers; ...

and James Loughran). Groves was Music Director of the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

in 1978–1979, but in spite of a well-received and rare revival of Weber's '' Euryanthe'' the appointment did not prove a success, and he relinquished the post the following year. He found combining administration with conducting too stressful for him. Groves also served as president of the National Youth Orchestra (1977–1992) and, especially during the last decade of his career, as guest conductor for numerous orchestras around the world. In 1984, he joined the English Sinfonia as president and artistic adviser, later also becoming principal conductor of the Guildford Philharmonic (1987) and music director of the Leeds Philharmonic Society (1988).

Repertoire

Groves was particularly noted for his assured conducting of large-scale works and was the first conductor to direct a complete cycle of

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

's symphonies in Britain. He was also famous for encouraging modern composers, and he frequently included their works in his programmes. Groves conducted a wide repertory, refusing to concentrate on any particular subgenre. He remarked, "I feel myself a GP eneral practitionerrather than a consultant." Nevertheless, he became particularly known as a champion of British composers and invariably offered British works in his programmes when touring abroad. His large British repertoire included the works of

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music f ...

, Arthur Bliss,

Havergal Brian William Havergal Brian (29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer, librettist, and church organist. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies—an unusually high number amongst his contemporaries—25 of them ...

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845–1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...

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

George Butterworth George Sainton Kaye Butterworth, MC (12 July 18855 August 1916) was an English composer who was best known for the orchestral idyll '' The Banks of Green Willow'' and his song settings of A. E. Housman's poems from '' A Shropshire Lad''. He wa ...

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 violist. Coates was born into a musical family, but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, his parents ...

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 ...

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 ...

Alexander Goehr Peter Alexander Goehr (; 10 August 1932 – 26 August 2024) was a German-born English composer of contemporary classical music and academic teacher. A long-time professor of music at the University of Cambridge, Goehr influenced many notable c ...

Alun Hoddinott Alun Hoddinott CBE (11 August 1929 – 12 March 2008) was a Welsh composer of classical music, one of the first to receive international recognition. Life and works Hoddinott was born in Bargoed, Glamorganshire, Wales. He was educated at Gow ...

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

, George Lloyd,

William Mathias William James Mathias CBE (1 November 1934 – 29 July 1992) was a Welsh composer noted for choral works. Biography William Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and b ...

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as o ...

Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 27 May 1928) is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972. Biography Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Barnton, Edinburgh, Mus ...

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

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 ...

and

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

. Groves was noted for adding adventurous new works to the repertory of his orchestras. The composer

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer of contemporary classical music and conductor. Among the most influential British composers of his generation, his relatively few compositions are "rooted in 20th-cen ...

said, "He managed to get the respect of the players and the affection of performers. He had an exemplary attitude and track record with regard to contemporary music. His policy of presenting second performances as well as first was selfless and idealistic." Groves's premières included works by

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 ...

, David Blake, Justin Connolly. Arnold Cooke, Gordon Crosse, Jonathan Harvey,

Robin Holloway Robin Greville Holloway (born 19 October 1943) is an English composer, academic and writer. Early life Holloway was born in Leamington Spa. From 1953 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral and was educated at King's College School, ...

, Daniel Jones, John McCabe, Priaulx Rainier,

Edwin Roxburgh __NOTOC__ Edwin Roxburgh (born 6 November, 1937) is an England, English composer, Conducting, conductor and oboist. Roxburgh was born in Liverpool. After playing oboe in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, National Youth Orchestra, he ...

, Edmund Rubbra, Giles Swayne and Hugh Wood.

Honours and personal life

Groves received many honours for his musical work, including being appointed an Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1958, a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1968, and receiving a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1973. He received doctorates from four universities, was made a freeman of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

in 1976 and elected an honorary member of 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 ...

in 1990. He was appointed Companion of the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

(whose council he chaired from 1973 to 1990, and where a building is named in his honour) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, the

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

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 ...

, and the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at ...

, and was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music. The " Making Music Sir Charles Groves Prize" is a national award, named in his honour, given to an individual or organisation making an outstanding contribution to British music.

wrote ''Sir Charles: his Pavane'' as a tribute to Groves's memory.Brown, Alan
"Pavan"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, 21 October 2008 Away from the concert hall, Groves was a connoisseur of English literature and also a keen sports fan. When young he played rugby "in the

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

F team", as he self-deprecatingly put it, and as a cricketer was "a wily slow bowler". Charles and Hilary Groves had three children, Sally, Mary and Jonathan, the first and last of whom entered the musical profession. Charles Groves suffered a heart attack early in 1992 and died in London, four months later, at the age of 77. A memorial stone to his memory was placed in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

Recordings

Although the record companies tended to regard Groves as a specialist in British music, he made recordings of German, French and Russian music including

( Symphony No 4 and Symphony No 6); Fauré (''Masques et bergamasques'' and ''Pavane'');

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 ...

( Symphony No 92, ''Oxford'', Symphony No 104, ''London'');

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

(''Pavane pour une infante défunte''); Satie (''Gymnopédies'') and

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

(''

Variations on a Rococo Theme The ''Variations on a Rococo Theme'', Op. 33, for cello and orchestra was the closest Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ever came to writing a full concerto for cello and orchestra. The style was inspired by Mozart, Tchaikovsky's role model, and makes it c ...

'' (with

Paul Tortelier Paul Tortelier (21 March 1914 – 18 December 1990) was a French cellist and composer. After an outstanding student career at the Conservatoire de Paris he played in orchestras in France and the US before the Second World War. After the war he bec ...

, cello)). He also recorded Dvorak's Sixth Symphony and

Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

's incidental music to ''The Tempest''. British music recorded by Groves includes Arnold ( Symphony No 2); Bliss ('' A Colour Symphony'', '' Morning Heroes'');

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

(Symphonies 8 & 9);

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

(''Enter Spring'', '' The Sea'', ''Summer''); Britten (''

Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge ''Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge'', Opus number, Op. 10, is a work for string orchestra by Benjamin Britten. It was written in 1937 at the request of Boyd Neel, who conducted his orchestra at the premiere of the work at that year's Salzbu ...

''); Butterworth (''The Banks of Green Willow'' ); Delius (''Koanga'', ''A Mass of Life'', ''On hearing the first cuckoo in Spring''); Elgar (''Caractacus'', Cello Concerto (Paul Tortelier, cello), ''Chanson de matin'', ''Chanson de nuit'', ''Crown of India'' Suite, ''Enigma Variations'', ''The Light of Life'', ''Nursery Suite'', Serenade for Strings, ''Severn Suite'', Violin Concerto ( Hugh Bean, violin)); Holst (''Choral Symphony'', ''

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

'', ''St. Paul's Suite''); Sullivan ( Overture ''Di Ballo'', Overtures to

Savoy Operas Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which imp ...

, Symphony in E (''Irish'')); Tippett (''Fantasia concertante on a Theme of Corelli''); Vaughan Williams ('' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'', '' Hugh the Drover''); Walton (''Capriccio burlesco'', '' Crown Imperial'', ''Hamlet'' Funeral March, ''Johannesburg Festival Overture'', '' Orb and Sceptre'', ''Richard III'' Prelude and Suite, ''Scapino'', ''Spitfire Prelude & Fugue''); and

Warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver". The term came to apply special ...

(''Capriol Suite'').

Notes

External links

Profile at Divineart.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Groves, Charles 1915 births 1992 deaths English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Music directors (opera) Alumni of the Royal College of Music Knights Bachelor Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society People educated at Sutton Valence School People educated at St. Paul's Cathedral School Musicians from Kent 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians Presidents of the Independent Society of Musicians Principal conductors of the BBC Philharmonic Chief conductors of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Principal conductors of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic