Edward Rowsby Woof (18 January 1883 – 31 December 1943) was an English

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. He became professor of violin 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 ...

(FRAM) in London, and wrote instructional works on violin technique and violin studies, as well as some pieces for violin. Among his pupils were Sidney Griller,

Frederick Grinke Frederick Grinke CBE (8 August 1911 – 16 March 1987) was a Canadian-born violinist who had an international career as soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. He was known especially for his performances of 20th-century English music. Training ...

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, Felix Kok,

Nona Liddell Nona Patricia Liddell (9 June 1927 – 13 April 2017) was a British violinist. She was a soloist, leader of chamber music ensembles, and a teacher. For many years she was leader of the London Sinfonietta. Early life She was born in Ealing, Lon ...

, Peter Mountain,

Jean Pougnet Jean Pougnet (20 July 1907 – 14 July 1968) was a Mauritius, Mauritian-born concert violinist and orchestra concertmaster, leader, of British nationality, who was highly regarded in both the lighter and more serious classical repertoire during t ...

Priaulx Rainier Ivy Priaulx Rainier (3 February 190310 October 1986) was a South African-United Kingdom, British composer. Although she lived most of her life in England and died in France, her compositional style was strongly influenced by the Music of Africa, ...

Rosemary Rapaport Rosemary Rapaport (29 March 1918 in St Albans – 8 June 2011 in Olney) was a violinist and music teacher who founded the Purcell School for musically gifted children. Early years Nancy Rosemary Peace Rapaport was born into a Rabbinic family ...

Colin Sauer Colin Sauer (13 July 1924 – 9 January 2015 ) was a violinist and chamber musician who was one of the founding members of the Aeolian Quartet in 1944. He later lead the Dartington String Quartet for over 20 years. He played with the Hallé Orch ...

, David Carl Taylor of the

Stratton Quartet The Stratton String Quartet was a British musical ensemble active during the 1930s and 1940s. They were specially associated with the performance of British music, of which they gave numerous premieres, and were a prominent feature in the wartime c ...

and William Waterhouse. He also tutored the actress

Meggie Albanesi Margherita Cecilia Brigida Lucia Maria Albanesi (8 October 1899 – 9 December 1923) was a British stage and film actress. Life and career She was born in London on 8 October 1899. Her father was Italian-born Carlo Albanesi (1856–1926), a pi ...

Early life

Woof was born in

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shro ...

, son of Edward Woof and his wife Sarah (née Rowsby). He studied violin with

Hans Wessely Hans Wessely (23 December 1862 – 29 September 1926) was an Austrian violinist. Biography He was born in Vienna in 1862 and died in Innsbruck in 1926. He studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Vienna Conservatory w ...

at the Royal Academy of Music.

Career

From information in prospectuses of the Royal Academy of Music. * Violin sub-professor: 1904-1905 In 1904 Woof won the Messrs. Hill & Sons’ Prize, and the Charles Rube Prize for quartet playing with Ivy L. St. Aubyn Angove, James T. Lockyer, and B. Walton O'Donnell. Woof was a Wessely Exhibitioner at the RAM. Woof was also awarded the Royal Academy of Music's Bronze Medal for Violin in 1904, the Silver Medal for Violin in 1905 as well as the Hannah Mayer Fitzroy Prize, and the James Tubbs and Son’s Prize and the Dove Prize in 1906. In 1907, he made his debut at Bechstein Hall (now

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

). * Violin professor: 1909-1939 * Viola professor: 1912-1939 * Ensemble playing classes: 1914-1923

Personal life

In 1911, Woof married Victoria Mary Fox, a music teacher. They had no children. He died 31 December 1943.

Legacy

The Rowsby Woof Prize for Royal Academy of Music violin students, founded by his wife in 1944, was awarded annually in the years 1945 to 1963. The Prize Board listing the awardees was added to the RAM Museum's collection in 2011. Recipients include

(1945), Beryl Kimber (1949),

Clarence Myerscough Clarence Myerscough (born London, 27 October 1930; died London, 8 October 2000) was a British violinist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music (where in 1952 he won the Rowsby Woof Prize) and the Paris Conservatoire under Frederick Grinke ...

(1952), Brendan O' Reilly (1956) and

John Georgiadis John Alexander Georgiadis (17 July 1939 – 5 January 2021) was a British violinist and conductor. He was twice Concert Leader with the London Symphony Orchestra during the 1960s and 70s, a member of both the ensembles London Virtuosi and the Ga ...

(1959) of the

Gabrieli String Quartet Gabrieli may refer to: People * Andrea Gabrieli (c.1532–1585), composer and organist at San Marco di Venezia * Giovanni Gabrieli (c.1554–1612), composer and organist at San Marco di Venezia * Chris Gabrieli (born 1960), American politi ...

, and Roy Malan (1963), founding concertmaster of the

San Francisco Ballet Orchestra San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

. Rowsby Woof is listed in the Musicians' Book of Remembrance in the Musician's Chapel at

St Sepulchre-without-Newgate Holy Sepulchre London, formerly and in some official uses Saint Sepulchre-without-Newgate, is the largest Anglican parish church in the City of London. It stands on the north side of Holborn Viaduct across a crossroads from the Old Bailey, and i ...

Selected works

Compositions * ''Diamond Jubilee'', children's song, words by S. R. W.,Probably his mother, Sarah Rowsby Woof R.Cocks & Co.: London

897 __NOTOC__ Year 897 ( DCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – King Lambert II travels to Rome with his mother, Queen Ageltrude and brother Guy IV, Lombard duke ...

* ''Reverie'', for violin & piano, C. Woodhouse: London, 1909 * ''Little Waltz'' in first position, for violin & piano, C. Woodhouse: London, 1910 * ''Scherzo'', for violin & piano, C. Woodhouse: London, 1910 * ''Scherzo'', for piano, Cary & Co.: London, 1912 * ''Swinging'', for violin & piano, Cary & Co.: London, 1913 * ''Forsaken'', for violin & piano. Cary & Co.: London, 1914 * ''The North Wind'', for violin & piano, J. Williams: London, 1919 * ''A Romp'', for violin & piano, J. Williams: London, 1919 * ''Four Fancies'', for violin & piano. I ''Caprice'' II ''Romance'' III ''Minuet'' IV ''In church'', Anglo-French Music Co.: London, 1920 * ''Valse Capriccio'', for violin & piano, J. Williams: London, 1927 Arrangements * Bach, J. S.: ''Largo'' and ''Allegro'', arr. violin & piano * Paganini, N. ''Caprice'', arr. violin & piano

922 __NOTOC__ Year 922 ( CMXXII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Summer – Battle of Constantinople: Emperor Romanos I sends Byzantine troops to repel another Bulgaria ...

* Geminiani, F.: Sonata Op.4 No. 10, Two Minuets

927 Year 927 ( CMXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May 27 – Simeon I, emperor (''tsar'') of the Bulgarian Empire, dies of heart failure in his palace at Preslav after a 34- ...

Instructional works * ''The First Position'' Six short pieces for beginners for violin. Anglo-French Music Co.: London, 1910 * ''Technique and Interpretation in Violin-playing''

920 __NOTOC__ Year 920 ( CMXX) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * December 17 – Romanos I has himself crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He shares the throne with ...

* ''Thirty Studies of Moderate Difficulty for Violin'' * ''Fifty Elementary Studies for Violin'' * ''Official book of Scales and Arpeggios for the Violin'' ed. R. Woof, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music: London, 1922

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Woof, Rowsby 1883 births 1943 deaths People from Coalbrookdale 20th-century British classical violinists 20th-century English musicians Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music English classical violinists 20th-century English male musicians English male classical violinists