Edgar Hubert Hunt (28 June 1909 – 16 March 2006) was a British musician and

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

. He was a key figure in the early music revival in Britain in general, and in the revival of the recorder in particular. He was a founding member of the Society of Recorder Players, of which he was musical director for more than fifty years, and of the

Galpin Society The Galpin Society was formed in October 1946 to further research into the branch of musicology known as organology, i.e. the history, construction, development and use of musical instruments. Based in the United Kingdom, it is named after the emin ...

, of which he was later president. He was head of the early music department at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

, which was the first conservatory in the world to introduce a diploma in recorder.

Early life

Hunt was born at 2 Upper Byron Place,

Clifton, Bristol Clifton is both a suburb of Bristol, England, and the name of one of the city's thirty-five council wards. The Clifton ward also includes the areas of Cliftonwood and Hotwells. The eastern part of the suburb lies within the ward of Clifton D ...

, on 28 June 1909, into a musical family. His father Hubert Hunt had since 1901 been the organist and master of choristers at

Bristol Cathedral Bristol Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is the Church of England cathedral in the city of Bristol, England. Founded in 1140 and consecrated in 1148, it was originally St Augustine's Abbey but after the Disso ...

, and was conductor of the Bristol Madrigal Society and musical director of the Bristol Gentlemen's Musical Club, while his mother, Clara Harriett ''née'' Clements, had been a singer and teacher of music but had given it up on her marriage. Among his father's friends were Sir Walford Davies, Edmund Fellowes and Eric Marshall Johnson. Hunt went to Bristol Grammar School and in 1927 got a scholarship to study flute at

, where he studied under Albert Fransella and

Robert Murchie Robert Murchie (2 March 1884 – 26 July 1949) was a virtuoso British flautist and a prominent member of the major English orchestras between 1914 and 1938. He was successively principal flautist in the New Symphony, Thomas Beecham, Beecham Symp ...

. He took his diploma in 1930, but continued to attend the college until 1933; he took further lessons, and tried without success to obtain a BMus degree from Durham University. From 1933 to 1936 he did an apprenticeship in the music printing works of the music publishing house Novello & Co., and when it was over worked there for a further year. In 1937 he began working at the London branch of

Schott and Co. Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fo ...

in Great Marlborough Street.

The recorder

The director of studies at Trinity was Sir Joseph Cox Bridge, who had previously been organist of Chester Cathedral, and had in 1886 discovered in the stores of the Chester Archaeological Society a remarkable consort of recorders by Peter Bressan, the

Chester Recorders Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Local ...

. Through him, Hunt became interested in the instrument. He first heard it played on 2 October 1928, at a concert of the German Singers, a touring German choir which interspersed instrumental pieces by Purcell, played on recorders and strings, between the choral numbers; he was inspired by its purity of tone.

Legacy

Hunt's collection of historic recorders is now in the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments in Oxford, together with various prototypes he made during his career as maker and designer of instruments. His papers, together with those of his father, Hubert Hunt, and his sister Enid, former archivist of the Bristol Madrigal Society, were donated by Hunt's daughter to the Centre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth in the music department of the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a Red brick university, red brick Russell Group research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Society of Merchant Venturers, Merchant Venturers' sc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Edgar 1909 births 2006 deaths British recorder players Academics of Trinity College of Music Alumni of Trinity College of Music 20th-century flautists