Mary Lucas (born Mary Anderson Juler, 24 May 1882–14 January 1952), sometimes referred to as Mary Anderson Lucas, was an English composer and pianist.

Lewis Foreman Lewis Foreman (born 1941) is a musicologist and author of books, articles, programme notes and CD sleeve notes on classical music, specialising in British music. He has been particularly associated with the Dutton Epoch and Lyrita record labels ...

'Lucas ée Anderson">'Lucas [née Anderson
/nowiki>, Mary', in ''Grove Music Online''(2001)

Biography

Her father Henry Juler (1842-1921) was a doctor, and her mother Amy Margaret Churchill Anderson (1860-1922). She was one of five children, growing up in London and (from 1891) Chipstead in Surrey. In 1899 she studied piano at the Dresden Conservatory">Chipstead, Surrey">Chipstead in Surrey. In 1899 she studied piano at the Dresden Conservatory with Carlo Albanesi, then (1900-1903) at the Royal Academy of Music, and later in life, during the 1920s, she returned to education, studying composition at the Royal College of Music with Herbert Howells and R.O. Morris. She married entrepreneur and inventor Ralph Lucas in 1903, and their son Colin became a noted architect. During the 1920s and 1930s they were living a 10, St Germans Place, Blackheath, London SE13. They later moved to

Cookham Cookham is a historic River Thames, Thames-side village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, Bourne ...

in Berkshire.

Music

Lucas gave up composition for over 25 years after she married in 1903 and had a family (two sons and a daughter), but returned in the late 1920s, when the Bournemouth Municipal Orchestra performed her ''Rhapsody'' (1928) and ''Fugue'' (1929). By the early 1930s she had produced a number of successful compositions, including six string quartets. The Stratton String Quartet championed her music, performing her quartets for the London Music Club's First Performance Society on 29 November 1934 at 22

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

, and in January 1935 at the

Blackheath Concert Halls Blackheath Halls is a 600-seat concert hall on Lee Road in Blackheath, London, United Kingdom. It claims to be London's oldest surviving purpose-built cultural venue.http://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/blackheath-halls/about-blackheath-halls About Bla ...

. There was a BBC broadcast of the third quartet by the all female Macnaghten Quartet on 4 February 1936. Lucas also composed ballet music, including ''Cupid and Death'' and ''Undine'', both 1936. Her circus-themed ballet ''Sawdust'' was performed in London and Wolverhampton in 1941 by the Ballet Guild, under the direction of (no relation)

Leighton Lucas Leighton Lucas (5 January 1903 – 1 November 1982) was an English composer and conductor. His career was wide-ranging: he was associated with the revival of interest in 20th century English ballet, arranged music for dance bands, conducted chall ...

. It was later orchestrated as the ''Circus Suite'', which was conducted by

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 ...

at 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 ...

on 4 July 1942, giving Lucus her Proms debut at the age of sixty.BBC Proms Archive
/ref> Lucas had a special affinity with the clarinet, and may have encouraged her niece Pauline Juler (1914-2003) to become a professional clarinetist. (Juler later became associated with the clarinet music of composers such as

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 ...

Gerald Finzi Gerald Raphael Finzi (14 July 1901 – 27 September 1956) was a British composer. Finzi is best known as a choral composer, but also wrote in other genres. Large-scale compositions by Finzi include the cantata '' Dies natalis'' for solo voice and ...

and

Howard Ferguson George Howard Ferguson (June 18, 1870 – February 21, 1946) was the ninth premier of Ontario, from 1923 to 1930. He was a Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1905 to ...

). Her Clarinet Sonata was written for Juler in 1938. Around this time she was also performing duo recitals with the clarinetist Rudolph Dunbar, and a recording of them playing her ''Lament'' for clarinet and piano was issued by Octacros Records in the late-1930s. Her papers (including some recordings) are partially housed at the British Library, while some manuscripts and other papers are held at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, 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 al ...

. A Lucas family archive is held at the Dennis Sharpe Archive, Paul Mellon Center,

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Family and friends

Her husband Ralph Lucas was involved in the design and manufacturing of early motor cars, including the Ralph Lucas Car, developed from 1901 until around 1908. He died in 1955. Their son Colin Lucas (1906-1984) was an architect and a pioneer of reinforced concrete construction.Colin Lucas biography, Dennis Sharp Archive, Yale University
/ref> He married the chef

Dione Lucas Dione Lucas (pronounced ''dee-OH-nee''; born Dione Wilson; 10 October 1909 – 18 December 1971) was an English chef, and the first female graduate of Le Cordon Bleu. Her father was the architect, jeweller and designer Henry Wilson, and her sister ...

(Wilson) in 1945. Colin Lucas built Noah's Boathouse in

for his parents.Ouspensky Today. ''Colin Lucas: a view of a creative life''
/ref> Mary Lucas established a music room there, where musical and philosophical gatherings were held. (Mary and Colin were followers of the Russian esotericist P. D. Ouspensky). Participants in these gatherings may have included friends such as Paul Nash,

Alain Daniélou Alain Daniélou (; 4 October 1907 – 27 January 1994) was a French historian, Indologist, intellectual, musicologist, translator, writer and Western convert to and expert on the Shaivite branch of Hinduism. In 1991, he was awarded the Sange ...

and

Edmund Rubbra Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...

Works

Selected works include: Orchestral * ''Capriccio'' for saxophone and string orchestra * ''Circus Suite'' (1939)British Music Collection
/ref> (pub. Peters) * ''Concertino'' for flute and orchestra (1940) * ''Five Tunes for Small Orchestra'' Lucas Collection: Concert Programmes
/ref> * Fugue for strings (1939) * ''Occasional Overture'' (before 1935, fp 22 November 1940, Arts Theatre Club) *''Rhapsody'' for orchestra (performed in Bournemouth, April 1928) * Suite for chamber orchestra (before 1935) *''Variations on a Theme by

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...

'' for string orchestra (1938) (pub. Peters) * ''Ballet Preludes'' (1941, orchestrated 1945) Chamber Music * Clarinet Sonata (1938) (pub. Hinrichsen) * ''Complainte et Rapsodie'' for clarinet and piano Musicalics Catalogue
/ref> * Duo for clarinet and viola (1941) * Fugue for flute, oboe and viola (before 1935) * ''Lament and Rhapsody'' for clarinet and piano (before 1935) *''Rhapsody'' for flute, cello and piano (1946) * String Quartet No 1 * String Quartet No 2 (1933) * String Quartet No 3 (1935) * Trio for clarinet, viola and piano (1939) * Violin Sonata (performance 4 November 1930, Blackheath) * Woodwind Quintet for clarinet, flute, oboe, bassoon, horn (early 1930s?) Vocal * ''Choeurs isolés'', choral * ''The Hour of Magic'' (text: W H Davies) * ''Sleeping Sea'' and ''Lullaby'', two choral part songs (1939), pub. Chester * Songs for two part choir (OUP): ''Dandelion Down, Duck's Ditty, Evening Song, Thunder at Night, The Wind'' Presto Music
/ref> Ballet and Dramatic * ''Cupid and Death'', ballet (1936) * ''Undine'' (1936) * ''Sciure'' (piano-flute-string quintet), ballet (1941) * ''The Book of Thel'', masque for solo voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, and male and female narrators (1935) * ''Musiques de scène'', masque *''Sawdust'', ballet (fp 21 May 1941, Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton) (orchestrated as ''Circus Suite'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Mary 1882 births 1952 deaths 20th-century English classical composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music British music educators English women classical composers English women music educators 20th-century English women composers Musicians from London