Percy Reeve (born 21 December 1855; date of death not known) was an English composer and music critic. Reeve wrote several successful

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

s, often as companion pieces to longer works, as well as music for other theatrical pieces and serious music during the last two decades of the 19th century. As a music critic, he wrote extensively for '' Punch'', '' The Saturday Review'' and other publications.

Life and career

He was born in

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England *Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States *Éton, a commune in the Meuse depa ...

and the London Academy of Music. In 1877 he was appointed to a civil service post in the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

's office, composing music in his spare time."Mr Percy Reeve", ''Lute'' magazine, December 1899, pp. 849-50 Reeve's operetta ''

A Private Wire ''A Private Wire'' is a one-act musical "vaudeville" operetta with a libretto by Frank Desprez and Arnold Felix and music by Percy Reeve. It was first produced at the Savoy Theatre on 31 March 1883 to 1 January 1884 as a companion piece to Gilber ...

'' (1883) ran for more than nine months at the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

as a

Curtain raiser A curtain raiser is a performance or performer that opens a show or event for the main attraction; it is usually shorter than the main attraction, but not always. The term is derived from the act of raising the stage curtain. The fashion in th ...

to ''

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 ...

''. The same year, he wrote ''Love & Music'', a book of poetry. He later composed the music for "Ruddy George, or Robin Redbreast", at

Toole's Theatre Toole's Theatre was a 19th-century West End theatre, West End building in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. A succession of auditoria had occupied the site since 1832, serving a variety of functions, including ...

(1887; a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) and to the works they jointly created. The two men collaborated on fourteen com ...

's ''

Ruddigore ''Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse'', originally called ''Ruddygore'', is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written tog ...

'') to a libretto by H. G. F. Taylor. In 1888, Reeve wrote about his old school in "An Eton Half Holiday". His operetta ''The Crusader and the Craven'' (1890), with words by W. Allison, had a long run at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a Theater (structure), theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was ...

(opening as an afterpiece to an operatic adaptation of ''The Black Rover'') due to its "bright and taking music", despite a libretto described by a later critic as "almost heroically banal", with lines such as, "I am a fierce crusader, a terror to each foe, to infidel invader, I carry death and woe". He contributed to ''Cupid & Co.'' in 1894. Reeve also wrote music for burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre and

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

for West End plays, as well as serious

chamber works Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and songs to texts by a wide range of authors, from

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

to E. Nesbit to Henry Pottinger Stephens. Reeve was also a prolific musical journalist, contributing to a wide range of publications including '' Punch'', '' The Saturday Review'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''. In 1896 he was appointed editor of ''The Lute'', a music magazine. After Reeve's death,

Lord Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...

recalled him in ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...

'': "He was on my staff for a time, as musical critic; sensitive little man, with beautiful hands – irritable!"''The Musical Times'', 1 November 1931, p. 990 As a fluent French speaker, he was responsible for the English translation used by F. C. Burnand, and the lyrics, for

Edmond Audran Achille Edmond Audran (12 April 184017 August 1901) was a French composer best known for several internationally successful comic operas and operettas. After beginning his career in Marseille as an organist, Audran composed religious music and b ...

's '' Miss Helyett'' (1890), staged successfully in London as ''Miss Decima'' in 1891.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeve, Percy People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan English composers People educated at Eton College Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art 1855 births Year of death missing