Godfrey Sampson (1 June 1902 – 21 June 1949) was an English composer and organist, best remembered for his church and choral music.
Sampson was born in Gloucester, the son of a clergyman,
[ and attended ]Westminster School
Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...
. From 1920 he studied composition 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 ...
under 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 ...
, where he was Goring Thomas scholar in 1924, and where he also won a Mendelssohn Scholarship
The Mendelssohn Scholarship () refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to continue their development.
Hi ...
in 1927. In 1932 he became a professor of composition there.
While still a student Sampson composed a Cello Sonata that was performed by Douglas Cameron and Harry Isaacs at Grotrian Hall
Grotrian Hall was a London concert venue from 1925 until 1938, located at 15 Seymour Street, Portman Square, London. The site is now covered by an office block backing on to Edwards Mews, behind Selfridges.
Originally the lecture theatre of the M ...
, Wigmore Street
Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named af ...
in 1926. This was followed by the Symphony in D, which was premiered at the Royal Academy in 1927 and repeated at the Henry Wood Proms in 1928, conducted by the composer. Isaacs was also the soloist in Sampson's ''Symphonic Variations'' for piano and orchestra, broadcast on 8 June 1932 by the BBC Orchestra
BBC Orchestras and Singers refers collectively to a number of orchestras, choirs and other musical ensembles, maintained by the BBC.
Current operation
All of the BBC’s Orchestras and Singers record performances primarily for BBC Radio 3, with t ...
, conducted by Victor Hely-Hutchinson
Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the ''Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely ...
.
However, most of his output in the 1930s consisted of short choral works, regularly published by Novello. A recital of his vocal and choral music was broadcast by BBC Radio on 23 June 1935, conducted by Leslie Woodgate
Hubert Leslie Woodgate (15 April 190218 May 1961) was an English choral conductor, composer, and writer of books on choral music.
He was born in London, and educated at Westminster School and the Royal College of Music. During the 1920s, he ...
. Sampson returned to larger form composition towards the end of his life with the ''Suite for Strings'' (1946), and a 15-minute setting of Edgar Allen Poe's ''The Bells'' for eight part choir and orchestra (1946).
In the 1920s, Sampson was an organist at his father's church, St Paul's, New Beckenham, Kent. He later played the organ and conducted the choir at Claygate Parish Church while teaching at nearby Milbourne Lodge School
Milbourne Lodge School is a co-educational pre-prep and preparatory school for children aged four to thirteen.
Located in Esher, Surrey, the school is housed in a Victorian mansion situated on of Surrey countryside.
History
Milbourne Lodge w ...
.[Whittle, David. ]
Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books
' (2008) The novel ''Swan Song'' (1946) is dedicated to him. He died in Claygate, aged 47, from malignant hypertension
A hypertensive emergency is very high blood pressure with potentially life-threatening symptoms and signs of acute damage to one or more organ systems (especially brain, eyes, heart, aorta, or kidneys). It is different from a hypertensive urgenc ...
.[
]
Works
Choral
* ''Ah My Dear Angrie Lord'', chorus and piano
* ''Awake My Soul'' (text: Bishop Ken), SATB chorus and organ (1939)
* ''Benedicite Omnia Opera'', SATB chorus
* ''Come My Way, My Truth, My Life'' (text: George Herbert
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotio ...
) SATB chorus and organ
* ''The God of Love My Shepherd Is'', SATB choir (1932)
* ''Lover's Lament'', part song (1938)
* ''Madrigal'' for 2 sopranos, alto and piano, words Christopher Marlowe (1930)
* ''My Boy Tammy'' (text: Hector Macneill
Hector Macneill (22 October 1746 – 15 March 1818) was a Scottish poet born near Roslin, Midlothian, Scotland. Macneill had been the son of a poor army captain and went to work as a clerk in 1760 at the age of fourteen. Soon, he was sent to the ...
), mixed voices (1938)
* ''My Song Shall Be Always'', SATB chorus (1937)
* ''Our Times Are in Thy Hands'', chorus and organ (1940)
* ''O Ye Who Bear Christ's Holy Name'', chorus and organ (1940)
* ''There is a Blessed Home'', SATB chorus and organ
* ''To Meadows'' (text: Robert Herrick), three part song for female voices (1931)
* ''Weep you no more, sad fountains'', for female voices
* ''We Prey Thee, Heavenly Father'' (text: V S S Coles), anthem for SATB choir and organ (1930)
Unison and solo song
* ''The Constant Lover'' (text: John Suckling), solo song
* ''Daybreak'' (text: Longfellow), unison song
* ''In Youth is Pleasure'' (text: Robert Wever), solo song
* ''Peace be With You, Shepherd's All'', carol (1931)
* ''She walks in beauty'', (text: Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
), solo song
* ''There Rolls the Deep'' (text: Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...
), unison song
* ''Willie drowned in Yarrow'', solo song
Instrumental
* ''Badajoz'', for violin and piano (1936)
* Cello Sonata (1926)
* ''Dance Tune'', for piano
* ''Pastoral Tune'' for violin and piano (1936) (also transcribed for organ)
Orchestral
* ''The Bells'' (text: Edgar Allan Poe), for double SATB chorus and orchestra (1946)
* ''Suite for Strings'' (1946)
* ''Symphonic Variations'', for piano and orchestra (1932)
* Symphony in D (1928)
* ''Three Fragments'', for orchestra (1949)
Dramatic
* ''The Witch's Charm'', operetta (1922)[''Daily Telegraph'', 5 December 1922, p.9]
References
External links
Recording of ''Pastoral Tune'' for organ
Recording of ''My Song Shall Be Always''
Riverside Choir, Gothic G4931 (2011)
Performance of ''Our Times Are in Thy Hands''
Third Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Godfrey
20th-century English classical composers
1902 births
1949 deaths
English male classical composers
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
20th-century English male musicians