Marmaduke Barton FRCM (29 December 186524 July 1938) was an English pianist, composer and teacher 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 ...

for almost 50 years.

Career

Marmaduke Miller Barton was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, the son of a

United Methodist Free Church United Methodist Free Churches, sometimes called Free Methodists, was an English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist denomination in the last half of the 19th century. It was formed in 1857 by the amalgamation of the Wesleyan Association (w ...

minister, the Rev Samuel Saxon Barton.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (1954), Vol. I, p. 476 He was educated at the

(RCM) in London under one of the first 50 scholarships. His teachers were

John Francis Barnett John Francis Barnett (16 October 183724 November 1916) was an English composer, pianist and teacher. Life John Francis Barnett was born on 16 October 1837 at St John's Wood, London. His father was Joseph Alfred Barnett (1810-1898), a professo ...

(piano) and Sir

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 ...

. On 2 July 1884 he opened the very first concert ever given by students of the RCM, in the West Theatre of the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, with a performance of Chopin's Ballade No. 3 in A-flat.cph.rcm
He met

Hamish MacCunn Hamish MacCunn, ''né'' James MacCunn (22 March 18682 August 1916) was a Scottish composer, conductor and teacher. He was one of the first students of the newly founded Royal College of Music in London, and quickly made a mark. As a composer he ...

at this time and the two became lifelong friends.Alasdair Jamieson, ''The Music of Hamish MacCunn: A Critical Study'', vol. 1
Etheses.dur.ac.uk He made piano duet arrangements of two of MacCunn's orchestral works, and some smaller works were dedicated to him. He and MacCunn played piano duets in some student concerts. Barton was the inaugural winner of the Hopkinson Gold Medal for piano performance at the RCM. He was the soloist at the premiere performance of Charles Wood's Piano Concerto. In 1887 he played before

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 ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

in a concert celebrating her Golden Jubilee. On 20 December 1887, he participated in the first English performance of

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...

's ''

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

'', at the Princes' Hall, under Sir

Hubert Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 1848 – 7 October 1918), was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is ...

. In 1888 he was awarded a travelling scholarship, enabling him to study with the

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

pupil

Bernhard Stavenhagen Bernhard Stavenhagen (24 November 1862 – 25 December 1914) was a German pianist, composer and conductor. His musical style was influenced by Franz Liszt, and as a conductor he was a strong advocate of new music. Biography Born in Greiz, he comm ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

. He was appointed to the teaching staff of the RCM on his return in 1889, while continuing his career as a solo performer. In February 1891 he played

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 ...

' Piano Concerto No. 2 under Sir

August Manns Sir August Friedrich Manns (12 March 1825 – 1 March 1907) was a German-born British conductor who made his career in England. After serving as a military bandmaster in Germany, he moved to England and soon became director of music at London ...

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around ...

, and also appeared at the Albert Hall,

the Proms 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 ...

(he played the

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

Piano Concerto in A minor on 11 October 1911 under Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

), and in the provinces. He gave frequent solo recitals in London, and he toured South Africa and the Netherlands. Of his playing of the Schumann Piano Concerto in 1910,

Ernest Newman Ernest Newman (30 November 1868 – 7 July 1959) was an English music critic and musicologist. ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His ...

wrote:

A more superb performance of Schumann's Concerto it would be hard to imagine. When we get a piece of playing so thoroughly splendid in every quality of technique and brain and temperament, there is no room for any feeling but one of thankfulness.

Barton taught at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

from 1911, and regularly acted as Examiner for the

Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...

. He published a small number of compositions, including a Mass in A major"Mr. Marmaduke Barton"
obituary, ''

Catholic Herald The ''Catholic Herald'' is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly magazine, founded in 1888 and a sister organisation to the non-profit Catholic Herald Institute, based in New York. After 126 years as a weekly newspaper, it became a magazine ...

'', 29 July 1938] and some piano pieces. His students included: Marion Scott (musicologist), Marion Scott,

Cyril Rootham Cyril Bradley Rootham (5 October 1875 – 18 March 1938) was an English composer, educator and organist. His work at Cambridge University made him an influential figure in English music life. A Fellow of St John's College, where he was also or ...

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, ...

Lloyd Powell Lloyd Powell (22 August 188825 March 1975) was an English, later Canadian pianist and teacher. Career Lloyd Ioan Powell was born in Ironbridge, Shropshire in 1888.''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed (1954), Vol. VI, p. 901 His ...

, Henry Ley, and the entertainer

Anna Russell Anna Russell (born Anna Claudia Russell-Brown; 27 December 191118 October 2006) was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches on the piano. Among her best-known works ...

(presumably no relation to his wife).

Legacy

The Marmaduke Barton Prize for Pianoforte Playing is awarded by the RCM. Recipients include

David Helfgott David Helfgott (born 19 May 1947) is an Australian concert pianist whose life inspired the Academy Award-winning film '' Shine'', in which he was portrayed by actors Geoffrey Rush, Noah Taylor and Alex Rafalowicz. Biography Early life Helfgott ...

and

Marianna Prjevalskaya Marianna Prjevalskaya (born 1982 in Chişinău) is a Russian concert pianist and a naturalized Spanish citizen, having settled in A Coruña in 1992. Education Born to a musical family, Prjevalskaya benefited from early lessons with her mother, ...

Personal life

In 1891 he married Anna Russell, one of his co-students at the RCM, a pupil of

Jenny Lind Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...

and Sir

George Henschel Sir Isidor George Henschel (18 February 185010 September 1934) was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, composer and academic teacher. First trained as a pianist, he was a concert singer who sometimes sang to his own accompanime ...

. She had sung Agathe in the college's production of ''

Der Freischütz ' (Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns, J. 277, Opus number, Op. 77 ''The Marksman'' or ''The Freeshooter'') is a German List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, opera with spoken dialogue in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Johann Fried ...

''. He became a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

soon afterwards.

Death

Barton died in 1938, aged 72, survived by his widow, a daughter and three sons. He was buried at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery,

Kensal Green Kensal Green, also known as Kensal Rise, is an area in north-west London, and along with Kensal Town, it forms part of the northern section of North Kensington, London, North Kensington. It lies north of the canal in the London Borough of Brent ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Marmaduke 1865 births 1938 deaths English classical pianists English male classical pianists English composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama British piano educators Musicians from Manchester Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism English Roman Catholics 19th-century Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics Burials at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green