Frederick B. Kiddle (1874 6 December 1951) was a prominent 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, ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and

accompanist Accompaniment is the part (music), musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmony (music), harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in di ...

. Kiddle was born at

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills and on the River Frome, south of Bath. The population of the parish was 28,559 in 2021. Frome was one of the largest tow ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, and studied at 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 ...

under Sir

Walter Parratt Sir Walter Parratt (10 February 184127 March 1924) was an English organist and composer. He served as Master of the Queen's Music, and later as Master of the King's Music, from 1893 to 1924. Biography Born in Huddersfield, son of a parish org ...

, Rockstro and Higgs. In 1902 he became principal accompanist for the

Promenade Concerts The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

, in succession to

Percy Pitt Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) was an England, English organist, Conductor (music), conductor, composer, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930. Biography A native of London, Pitt studied music in Europe at ...

, and he remained there as permanent organist and accompanist for the next 25 years, retiring at about the time when 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 ...

took over the proms.

Organist and accompanist at Queen's Hall

As examples of his work as organist, Kiddle introduced

Alexandre Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Canto ...

's Symphony in D minor for organ and orchestra (a work with a very long pedal passage) in 1902, and gave the first performance of

Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...

's suite for organ and orchestra at a Symphony Concert in May 1909. In November 1909, under Henry J. Wood, he played

Marco Enrico Bossi Marco Enrico Bossi (25 April 1861 – 20 February 1925) was an Italian organist, composer, improviser and teacher. Life Bossi was born in Salò, a town in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, into a family of musicians. His father, Pietro, wa ...

's new organ concerto. In 1912 he played the

Benjamin Dale Benjamin James Dale (17 July 188530 July 1943) was an English composer and academic who had a long association with the Royal Academy of Music. Dale showed compositional talent from an early age and went on to write a small but notable corpus of ...

Concert Piece for organ and orchestra at Queen's Hall, and at a prom late in 1913 he played the ''Fantaisie Triomphale'' (for organ and orchestra) of

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (; 24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Ro ...

. Between 1909 and 1925 Kiddle performed

Tobias Matthay Tobias Augustus Matthay (19 February 185815 December 1945) was an English pianist, teacher, and composer. Biography Matthay was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and eventually became naturalised Brit ...

's Concert Piece No 1 in A minor five times at the Proms. He was the soloist in Saint-Saëns's Symphony for orchestra, organ and piano in November 1916. In a prom in 1927 he played

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré (; 3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Early life and education Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré ...

's ''Cortège et Litanei''. As a piano soloist, he joined Henry Wood and

York Bowen Edwin York Bowen (22 February 1884 – 23 November 1961) was an English composer and pianist. Bowen's musical career spanned more than fifty years during which time he wrote over 160 works. As well as being a pianist and composer, Bowen was a tal ...

in the first British performance of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's F minor Concerto for Three Pianos (K242) on 12 September 1907, under the baton of

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

. When Henry Wood took control of the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Festival in 1908 he took Kiddle with him as organist for the entire event.

Accompanist to Gervase Elwes

As the permanent accompanist for the Queen's Hall proms, naturally Kiddle accompanied almost everybody, but his great work in this role (demanding the highest standards of musicianship) is particularly remembered through his permanent connection with the tenor

Gervase Elwes Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL (15 November 1866 – 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English tenor of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music from the early 1900s up u ...

. In the early 1900s, when he was also organist of the parish church of

St Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropoli ...

in London, he was invited by Elwes (then just beginning his professional career) to act as his accompanist. Elwes regarded him as a most conscientious musician, and the two worked together throughout Elwes's career, until his death in 1921, often working several hours a day. Elwes instructed Kiddle in the meaning of the words of songs in French and German, so that there should be a unity of purpose in their performance, and he invariably brought Kiddle forward to share the applause at his concerts. Kiddle's association with Elwes naturally brought him closely into the world of

Roger Quilter Roger Cuthbert Quilter (1 November 1877 – 21 September 1953) was a British composer, known particularly for his art songs. His songs, which number over a hundred, often set music to text by William Shakespeare and are a mainstay of the English ...

's music, which he played with great verve and rhythmical insight. Quilter dedicated one of his Nora Hopper songs, 'Blossom-time', to Kiddle in 1914. Kiddle's playing as accompanist is heard on most of the recordings of Gervase Elwes, including the

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 ...

song cycle A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

'' On Wenlock Edge'' with the

London String Quartet The London String Quartet was a string quartet founded in London in 1908 which remained one of the leading English chamber groups into the 1930s, and made several well-known recordings. Personnel The personnel of the London String Quartet was: ...

in 1917. He can also be heard in recordings with

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English viola, violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame, and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born ...

Albert Sammons Albert Edward Sammons CBE (23 February 188624 August 1957) was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation re ...

or the tenor

Hubert Eisdell Hubert is a Germanic masculine given name, from ''hug'' "mind" and '' beraht'' "bright". It also occurs as a surname. Saint Hubert of Liège (or Hubertus) (c. 656 – 30 May 727) is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians, and m ...

, another Quilter dedicatee.

Kiddle and Liddle

An exact contemporary of Frederick B. Kiddle was the fine accompanist Samuel H. Liddle, closely associated with Elwes's friend and supporter

Harry Plunket Greene Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examinatio ...

, and composer of various songs popularised by Dame

Clara Butt Dame Clara Ellen Butt (1 February 1872 – 23 January 1936) was an English dramatic contralto and one of the most popular singers from the 1890s through to the 1920s. She had an exceptionally fine contralto voice and an agile singing technique, ...

, including her much-recorded version of 'Abide with me'. The rhyme of their names and roles was often commented upon, not least in a short humorous verse by Harry Graham:

'With the cunningest collusion
And a deep desire to diddle,
Mr Kiddle courts confusion
With his colleague, Mr Liddle.'

Gerald Moore Gerald Moore (30 July 1899 – 13 March 1987) was an English classical pianist best known for his career as a collaborative pianist for many distinguished musicians. Among those with whom he was closely associated were Dietrich Fischer-Diesk ...

addedMoore 1966, 123. 'These gentlemen were the best of friends and indeed it would be hard to find two artists more courteous and affable. If one were mistaken for the other, however, they were immediately transformed into snarling homicides.'

Notes

Sources

Arthur Eaglefield Hull Arthur Eaglefield Hull (10 March 1876 – 4 November 1928) was an English music critic, writer, composer and organist.

, ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'' (Dent, London 1924). *R. Elkin, ''Queen's Hall 1893-1941'' (Rider, London 1944). *W. Elwes and R. Elwes, ''Gervase Elwes - The Story of His Life'' (Grayson and Grayson, London 1935). *H. Graham, ''The World We Laugh In'' (Methuen, London 1936). *V. Langfield, ''Roger Quilter - His Life and Music'' (Boydell, Woodbridge 2002). *G. Moore, ''Am I Too Loud''? (Penguin, Harmondsworth 1966). *H. J. Wood, ''My Life of Music'' (Cheap Edition, Gollancz, London 1946). {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiddle, Frederick 1874 births 1951 deaths English classical pianists British male classical pianists English classical organists Classical accompanists British male classical organists People from Frome