Sir Henry Coward (26 November 184910 June 1944) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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and composer. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

to parents in the entertainment industry, Coward took an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

to a cutler in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. Educating himself, he became a

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

and soon a headteacher."Coward, Henry", ''

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'' Coward's interest in music developed from a

tonic sol-fa Tonic sol-fa (or tonic sol-fah) is a pedagogical technique for teaching sight-singing, invented by Sarah Anna Glover (1786–1867) of Norwich, England and popularised by John Curwen, who adapted it from a number of earlier musical systems. It u ...

class, and in 1876 he founded the Sheffield Tonic Sol-fa Association. This was renamed the Sheffield Musical Union, and Coward was its director until 1933. His choral legacy is still visible in Sheffield, following Sheffield Music Union's 1937 merger with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, a choir which still performs to this day. In 1889, Coward obtained a

B.Mus. A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree at the

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, and in 1894, became a

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (DMus, DM, MusD or occasionally MusDoc) is a doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions, musical performances, and/or scholarly publications on music. In some institutions, the award is a ...

. He returned to Sheffield, where he became the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

master of the Sheffield Music Festival. He conducted societies in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

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and

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, and toured worldwide with the Sheffield Choir. He also taught music at Sheffield Training College and lectured at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

. In 1897, having established a reputation for conducting large numbers of singers in Sheffield parks, he was invited to oversee a gathering of 60,000 school-children in Norfolk Park in Sheffield, to entertain

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Dan Godfrey wrote that "it is doubtful whether England has ever produced a better or more gifted choir trainer than Coward... He has evolved, formulated and put into practice a method of choral technique which has had the result of bringing about a revival of singing in chorus which has spread through the whole Empire." After

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, Henry Coward faced criticism for being unable to conduct an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, but was knighted in 1926 and, from 1929 to 1944, served as President of the Tonic Sol-fa College in London. A

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at 6 Kenwood Road, Nether Edge In Sheffield where he lived between 1931 and 1944. Coward was a white supremacist who campaigned against

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, describing it as "atavistic, lowering, degrading and a racial question ... composed of ... unquestionably grotesque forms." Coward was an active Freemason being initiated in Furnival Lodge No.2558 Sheffield in 1896 and becoming a founding member of University Lodge No.3911 Sheffield in 1919. Sir Henry Coward died in 1944, aged 94.

Works

* ''Choral Technique and Interpretation'' (1914)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coward, Henry 1849 births 1944 deaths Academics of the University of Sheffield Alumni of the University of Oxford English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Musicians from Liverpool Knights Bachelor Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods Schoolteachers from Yorkshire