Sam Hartley Braithwaite
Sam Hartley Braithwaite (20 July 1883 – 13 January 1947) was a British composer and artist.
Braithwaite was born in Egremont, Cumberland. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music, studying piano, organ and clarinet, as well as composition with Frederick Corder[1] An exact contemporary there was Arnold Bax. They became close friends and Bax dedicated his piano piece Apple Blossom Time (1915) to Braithwaite.[2][3] While still in his twenties he began teaching piano at the RAM, where his pupils included Eric Coates, only three years his junior.[4] He was musical director of the Passmore Edwards Settlement (Mary Ward Centre) in London from 1910 to 1913, succeeding Holst.[3] Braithwaite lived most of his life in Bournemouth and many of his works were performed there, often conducted by him.[5][6] Later in life he shifted his activities towards etching, painting and printmaking.
Two of his works - the characteristically pictorial Snow Picture for orchestra (1924) and the Elegy for orchestra (1927) - won Carnegie Trust awards and were published as part of the Carnegie Collection of British Music.[7] (There's an arrangement of Snow Picture for keyboard, two players by Leslie Woodgate).[8] His Overture for military band was written for a Pageant of Empire at the Crystal Palace. The 14 minute long orchestral scherzo A Night By Dalegarth Bridge was performed for the first time in Bournemouth in 1921[9], and repeated the following year.[10] There is currently only one modern recording of his music, the Pastoral Lullaby for horn and organ [11]
As an artist Braithwaite made etchings of landscapes in Dorset and Lancashire. He exhibited with the New Forest Group formed in 1923[12] and was a member of the Lake Artists Society in the 1940s.[13] Some of his paintings, such as Foxtrot and Pavan (both exhibited at the Arlington Gallery, Old Bond Street, London in 1927)[14] were more abstract with musical themes. He died in Arnside, Westmorland, aged 64.[5]
List of Works
- By the Hot Lake, scherzo for orchestra
- Chopinesque – mazurka for piano duet (1937)
- Elegy for orchestra (pub. 1927)
- Elfin Fountain, for piano (1923)
- English Dance, piano
- Fantasia in C minor, for piano (1917)
- The Fighting Temeraire, overture for orchestra
- Idyll for orchestra
- Invention for piano or harpsichord (pub. 1951)
- Musical Box with two tunes (pub. 1940)
- Near an Eastern Bazaar for orchestra
- A Night By Dalegarth Bridge, symphonic scherzo for orchestra (1921)
- Nocturne for piano (1944)
- Oriental Fragment for orchestra
- Overture for military band (1911)
- Pastorale for piano duet (pub. 1937)
- Pastoral Lullaby for horn and organ (pub. 1949)
- Prelude in the style of the 18th Century, for piano duet (pub. 1937)
- Prelude to a Drama (1940)
- Serenade for piano (1944)
- Snow Picture for orchestra (pub. 1924)
- Suite of Ancient Dances for piano
References
- ^ Nenshaw, W.B. Biographical Dictionary of Organists (2003)
- ^ Score at IMSLP
- ^ a b Foreman, Lewis. Bax: A Composer and His Times (1983) p 124-5
- ^ Payne, Michael. The Life and Music of Eric Coates (2016)
- ^ a b Scowcroft, Philip. An 89th Garland of British Light Music Composers (2000)
- ^ Godfrey, Dan. Memories and Music: Thirty Five Years of Conducting (1924), p 200
- ^ Leach, Gerald. British Composer Profiles (3rd edition, 2012) p 37
- ^ British Music Collection
- ^ 'Music in the Provinces: Bournemouth' in Musical Times, 1 February 1921, p 123
- ^ 'Bournemouth: The End of the Season' in Musical News and Herald, 27 May 1922
- ^ Ifor, James and Bleicher, S.J. Meditations for Horn and Organ, EBS (1996)
- ^ 'The New Forest Painters' in The Times, 2 September 1924, p 13
- ^ Aberystwyth University School of Art
- ^ 'Art Exhibitions' in The Times, 17 February 1927, p 12
External links
- Canford Cliffs, etching (1922)