Frederick Corder (26 January 1852 – 21 August 1932) was an English composer and music teacher. Corder 1887

Life

Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School Visitation of England
/ref> and started music lessons, particularly

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, early. Later he studied with Henry Gadsby. After that he studied

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

with Claude Couldery. Frederick Corder continued his studies at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, where he studied with

George Alexander Macfarren Sir George Alexander Macfarren (2 March 181331 October 1887) was an English composer and musicologist. Life George Alexander Macfarren was born in London on 2 March 1813 to George Macfarren, a dancing-master, dramatic author and journalist, wh ...

(harmony and composition), William Cusins (piano) and William Watson (violin). In 1875, he earned a Mendelssohn Scholarship, which enabled him to study for four years abroad. He spent the first three in the Cologne Conservatory in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, where he studied composition with Ferdinand Hiller and piano with

Isidor Seiss Isidor Wilhelm Seiss (23 December 184025 September 1905) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, piano pedagogue and philanthropist. His surname also appears as Seiß, and his first name also appears as Isidore. Biography Isidor Wilhelm Seiss ...

. He spent his last year in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, without formal instruction. He did however meet

Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; born Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) was an Italian librettist, composer, poet and critic whose only completed opera was ''Mefistofele''. Among the operas for which he wrote the libretto, libretti ar ...

and

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

. Upon his return to England, in 1879, he became conductor at the Brighton Aquarium. In August 1884, for a single month, he filled in for William Robinson as a musical director for the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

, touring ''

Patience or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...

'' and ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. Several of his operatic works were performed by the touring company of

Alice Barth Alice Mary Barth (25 August 1848 – 18 July 1910) was an English operatic soprano who for some years was a member of the Carl Rosa Opera Company and who during the 1880s managed her own troupe, the Alice Barth Opera Company. Early life and ...

in the early 1880s. Corder became professor of composition at the

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 ...

,For a portrait and discussion of Corder's role and teaching style at the RAM, see: Lewis Foreman (1983, rev 2007). Bax: A Composer and his Times
chapter 2, pp 10–19
Boydell Press. . becoming the Academy's curator in 1889. His students included notable British composers such as

Granville Bantock Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 186816 October 1946) was a British composer of classical music. Biography Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon.Hadden, J. Cuthbert, 1913, ''Modern Music ...

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

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 ...

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prol ...

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 ...

, Benjamin Dale, Harry Farjeon,

Joseph Holbrooke Joseph Charles Holbrooke, sometimes given as Josef Holbrooke, (5 July 18785 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Life Early years Joseph Holbrooke was born Joseph Charles Holbrook in Croydon, Surrey. His father, als ...

and Montague Phillips, as well as his own son, Paul Corder. With others, Frederick Corder co-founded the Society of British Composers in 1905 and served as its first chairman. While at the Academy, Corder was living at 13, Albion Road (now Harben Road) in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

, where he often held gatherings of fellow musicians and students, including Bax. He developed an early fascination with

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

and produced with his wife the first accepted English translations of

The Ring The Ring may refer to: Arts and entertainment *The Ring (franchise), ''The Ring'' (franchise), a Japanese horror media franchise Literature * ''The Ring'', a 1967 novel by Richard Chopping * ''The Ring'', a 1988 book by Daniel Keys Moran * ''The R ...

and other works by Wagner.

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

was also an important influence, and Corder produced one of the first English language studies of Liszt. His own compositions included songs, operas and cantatas. Corder's ''Prospero'' overture is available in full score and can be heard on CD. Corder married Henrietta Walford, the daughter of Henry Walford on 25 September 1876. They had a daughter, Dorothea Charlotte (known as Dolly), born on 30 June 1878 (died in her nineties), and a son, Paul Walford Corder, born on 14 December 1879 (died on 7 August 1942). Corder's sister,

Rosa Corder Rosa Frances Corder (18 May 1853 – 28 November 1893) was a Victorian artist and artist's model. She was the lover of Charles Augustus Howell, who is alleged to have persuaded her to create forgeries of drawings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Care ...

, was a friend of

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

and painted his portrait. He married his second wife, the pianist and composer Eleanor Rudall in 1927.

Legacy

Corder's opposite number at the

was

Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...

. He represented the conservative

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 ...

faction of English academia, whereas Corder followed the more progressive influence of Liszt and Wagner. In particular, many of Corder's pupils showed the influence of the "clever primitivism and latent giganticism" of ''The Ring'', but little of the eroticism of ''

Tristan Tristan (Latin/ Brythonic: ''Drustanus''; ; ), also known as Tristran or Tristram and similar names, is the folk hero of the legend of Tristan and Iseult. While escorting the Irish princess Iseult to wed Tristan's uncle, King Mark of ...

''.Pirie, Peter J
'Bantock and his Generation'
in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 109, No. 1506 (Aug 1968), pp. 715–717 History favours the legacy of Stanford, whose pupils included

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 ...

, John Ireland,

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 ...

and

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 ...

, while (arguably) Corder's one major talent was Bax. The critic Peter J Pirie put in this way:

Works (selective)

The principal source for this list, including opus numbers, is an article on the composer published in ''The Musical Times''.''Frederick Corder'' (London: ''The Musical Times'', 1 November 1913, Vol.54, No.849, pp.713–716)

Opera and operetta

* 1877–78 – ''Le Mort d'Arthur'', grand opera, Op.3 (Brighton, 1879) * 1880 – ''Philomel'', operatic satire, Op.4 * 1880 – ''A Storm in a Teacup'', operetta, Op.5 (Aquarium, Brighton, 18 February 1882) * 1883 – ''The Nabob's Pickle'', operetta, Op.12 (Aquarium, Great Yarmouth, 9 July 1883) * 1885 – ''The Noble Savage'', operetta, Op.13 (Aquarium, Brighton, 3 October 1885) * 1887 – '' Nordisa'', romantic opera, Op.17 (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, 26 January 1887) An Incident during a Carl Rosa Opera Company's production of this opera on Thursday April 7. 1887 in the Tyne Theatre & Opera House is the start point of the story of how the "Official Theatre Ghost" of the Theatre was begun. Ref: Newcastle Daily Journal No.9,702 – Friday April 8. p5-6.1887 * ''Ossian'' * ''The Golden Dawn''

Incidental music

* 1898 – ''The Termagant'', overture and incidental music, Op.25 (Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 1 September 1898) * 1899 – ''The Black Tulip'', overture and incidental music, Op.26 (Haymarket Theatre, London, 21 October 1899) * 1911 – (Crystal Palace, London, 8 June 1911) omposite work by many composers: Corder was allocated the final section, ''The Masque Imperial''

Orchestra

* 1876 – ''Evening on the Sea-Shore'', idyll, Op.1 (St James's Hall, London, 25 November 1886) * 1876–79 – ''In the Black Forest'', suite, Op.2 (second movement, ''The Brooklet'', rondo scherzoso, St James's Hall, London, 17 December 1878; complete suite, Crystal Palace, London, 20 March 1880) * 1882 – ''Ossian'', concert overture, Op.8 (Philharmonic Society, St James's Hall, London, 9 March 1882) * 1882 – ''Nocturne'', Op.9 (Brighton Festival, 8 November 1882) * 1885 – ''Prospero'', concert overture, Op.14 (Crystal Palace, London, 24 October 1885) * 1886 – ''The Tempest'', orchestral scenes, Op.15 (Crystal Palace, London, 2 April 1887) * 1887 – ''Roumanian Suite'', Op.18 (Philharmonic Society, St James's Hall, London, 19 May 1887) * 1892 – ''Nordisa'', overture (Crystal Palace, London, 17 December 1892) * 1897 – ''Pippa Passes'', orchestral scena drammatica, Op.24 (Philharmonic Society, Queen's Hall, London, 28 April 1898) * 1901 – ''Tragic Overture'' (Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, 16 January 1902) * 1901 – ''Scene d'Amour'' (Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, 16 January 1902) * 1908 – Elegy for Twenty-four Violins and Organ ''In memoriam Victor Harris'', Op.28 (Queen's Hall, London, 18 November 1908) * ''Galliard for Katherine and Petruccio''

Instrumental soloist and orchestra

* Concerto for cornet and orchestra

Choral and vocal

* 1879 – ''The Triumph of Spring'', masque (Crystal Palace, London, 8 February 1879) * 1881 – ''The Cyclops'', cantata, Op.6 * 1883 – ''Dreamland'', symphonic ode for chorus and orchestra, Op.10 * 1886 – ''The Bridal of Triermain'', cantata, Op.16 (Wolverhampton Festival, 17 September 1886) * 1888 – ''The Minstrel's Curse'', ballad for reciter and orchestra, Op.19 (Crystal Palace, London, 10 March 1888) * 1889 – ''The Sword of Argantyr'', cantata, Op.20 (Leeds Festival, 9 October 1889 ) * 1893 – ''Margaret: The Blind Girl of Castel-Cuillé'', for female voices and piano, Op.21 * 1895 – ''True Thomas'', musical recitation, Op.23 * 1902 – ''The Witch's Song'', musical recitation, Op.27 * 1912 – ''Sing unto God'', motet in fifty parts for female voices, organ, harps, trumpets and drums, Op.29 (Royal Academy of Music, London, 22 June 1912) * 1922 – ''A Wreath of a Hundred Roses'' he R.A.M. Masque Section 4: Quodlibet (Royal Academy of Music, London, 17 July 1922) * ''Sweet day so cool!'' for voices and orchestra * ''The Mother'', lament for soprano solo, female choir, strings and harp (or piano) * ''Romance'' and ''Play'', two partsongs for female voices (in canon) and orchestra

Vocal soloist and orchestra

* ''Greenford Lane'', a modern folksong for baritone and orchestra

Chamber music

* ''Peace'', nocturne for four horns and two harps

Scores and manuscripts

Several works by Corder were published but the large majority of his autograph scores do not survive. Novello, Ewer & Co., London, published full orchestral scores of ''Prospero'' and the Elegy for Twenty-four Violins and Organ together with a vocal score of ''The Bridal of Triermain''. Joseph Williams, London, issued a vocal score of ''Margaret: The Blind Girl of Castel-Cuillé''. Forsyth Brothers, Manchester, published vocal scores of ''Nordisa'' and ''The Sword of Argantyr''. The Library of the Royal Academy of Music, London, hold the following autograph scores: * ''In the Black Forest'' (MS 511), * ''Romance'' and ''Play'', two partsongs (MS 512) * ''Galliard for Katherine and Petruccio'' (MS 513) * ''Peace'' (MS 1052) * ''The Witch's Song'' (MS 1053) * ''The Mother'' (MS 1054) * ''Sunset'' from ''Ossian'' (MS 1055) * ''Greenford Lane'' (MS 1056) * ''Sweet day so cool!'' (MS 1057) * ''A Wreath of a Hundred Roses'' (MS 1744) * 'Romance' from the Cornet Concerto (XX(164601.1)) * Overture to ''The Golden Dawn'' (XX(164602.1)) * ''Nordisa'' (XX(164603.1)) * ''The Pageant of London'' (XX(179906.1)) * ''Sing unto God'' (XX(179907.1)) Following the death of his son Paul Corder in 1942, Frederick's daughter Dolly destroyed those of her father's and brother's music manuscripts that were in her possession.

Bibliography

Selected writings: * Corder, Frederick ''The Orchestra and how to write for it'', 1895. * Corder, Frederick ''Modern Composition'', 1909. * Corder, Frederick ''A History of the Royal Academy of Music from 1822–1922'', 1922. * Corder, Frederick ''Ferencz (François) Liszt'', 1925.

References

External links

*
''Elegy for 24 Violins and Organ''
(1908), realised by Steve's Bedroom Band {{DEFAULTSORT:Corder, Frederick 1852 births 1932 deaths 19th-century English classical composers 20th-century English classical composers Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music British music educators English male conductors (music) English Romantic composers English male classical composers 20th-century English conductors (music) 20th-century English male musicians 19th-century English male musicians