Armstrong Gibbs

Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (10 August 1889, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex – 12 May 1960, Chelmsford, Essex) was an English composer. A monument on the north chancel wall of the church of St John the Baptist, Danbury, Essex states that "He lived, worked and is buried in Danbury".

He studied with Edward Dent at Trinity College, Cambridge, and with Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music, where he himself taught composition and music theory from 1921 to 1939. From 1937 to 1952, he also served as the Vice President of the British Federation of Music Festivals.

Armstrong Gibbs composed one opera, one operetta, incidental music for several plays, several cantatas, three symphonies, a concertino for piano and string orchestra, five string quartets, one violin sonata, pieces for piano, works for choir, and many songs, a great number of which were settings of texts penned by his friend Walter de la Mare.

Major works

• The White Devil, incidental music, 1920
• In the High Alps, suite for piano, 1921
• The Betrothal, incidental music for a play by Maurice Maeterlinck, 1921
• The Blue Peter, comic opera, 1923
• Midsummer Madness, harlequinade, 1924
• The Birth of Christ, cantata, 1930
• The Highwayman, cantata for SATB and small orchestra, 1933
• Fancy Dress, suite for piano and orchestra, 1934
• Deborah and Barak, cantata, 1936
• Lakeland Pictures eight preludes for piano, 1940
• Dale and Fell, suite, 1953
• Mr Cornelius, operetta, 1953
• Threnody for string quartet and string orchestra, 1956
• Symphony No. 1 in E major, 1931–32, premiered 1932
• Symphony No. 2 Odysseus, choral symphony, 1937-38, premiered 1946
• Symphony No. 3 Westmorland, 1943-44, premiered 1945
• "The Cherry Tree" for vocal or choral

Further reading

• Ro Hancock-Child (1993). A Ballad-Maker: The Life and Songs of C. Armstrong Gibbs. London: Thames Publishing. ISBN 978-0-905210-41-4

External links

• Biography from MusicWeb
• Armstrong Gibbs Society Official Website
• Armstrong Gibbs Complete Works
• Danbury church including Gibbs' monument