Frederick John Nettlefold 1867-1949

[giles.enders]

Frederick John Nettlefold  Born Hastings, Sussex 1.10.1867  Died 25.4.1949

On a recent visit to a member of this forum I was shown box sets of recordings of works by Nettlefold. These were 78's on the HMV label. Never having heard of him I 'googled' the following information: He was a wealthy industrialist, principally in the manufacture of glass bottles.  He was a great patron of the arts, had a fine collection of paintings, bronzes and Martinware. He left a substantial collection of paintings to Tate Britain. He was involved in the theatre and was an amateur composer.  He was married to Vera de Villiers and following her affair with the conductor/composer Albert Coates, he terminated his patronage with a London based symphony orchestra.  It also had a lasting affect on Coates career, he never had a permanent conducting post.

The compositions which I have managed to trace are;

"Il Pensoroso"  for soprano, organ and orchestra
Dramatic song "Edward, Edward"  for tenor and orchestra
Suite for strings
Piano Trio in A major
Trio in D major for flute, cello and piano
"May Night" song for flute, cello and piano
"Youth of year"  song with piano accompaniment
Three pieces for cello and piano: 1. Romance, 2. Barcarolle, 3. Old English Dance  pub. by Weekes
Three pieces for cello and piano: 1. Minuet, 2. Nocturne, 3. Tarantella  pub. by Weekes
"The Midnight Hour" concert waltz for piano and orchestra
"Olivia" concert waltz for piano and orchestra
"In Memoriam"  solo piano

Parents:
Frederick John Nettlefold 1867-1913 and Mary Catherine Warren  1834-1906

John was the eldest of 6 children:
Frederick John Nettlefold  1867-1949  inherited £349,009 from his father in 1913
Mary Edith Nettlefold  1869-1961
Archibald Nettlefold  1870-1944
Christine Mina Nettlefold  1872-1945
Dorothy Nettlefold 1874-1918
Sydney Warren Nettlefold  1878-1883

Frederick was married three times:
Ellen Maud Pratt divorced 1907
Lucy Eleanor Louisa Atcherley married 1922 divorced
Joanna Veronique Waterston Graff 1891-1973 (3 children by previous marriage)
Children with Frederick:
Mary April Nettlefold  1926-2011
Frederick Nettlefold  1927-2003
Dorothy Ann Nettlefold  1931-2014


If members are able to add to the composition list or other relevant information, it will fill in yet another small gap of long forgotten composers and music history

[Gareth Vaughan]

Did you get to hear any of his music, Giles? If so, what was it like? Any good? Incidentally, "Olivier" should read "Olivia" (orchestral parts for this concert waltz are in the Bodleian Library), and "In Memorium" should read "In Memoriam". The Barcarolle is the second of "Three More Pieces for Violoncello and Piano" (Weekes, 1938), the others being No. 1 Romance and No. 3 Old English Dance. (BL). The first set of "Three Pieces for Violoncello and Piano" (Weekes, 1937), also in BL, consists of: 1. Minuet. 2. Nocturne. 3. Tarantella.

[giles.enders]

Thank you Gareth, I never could spell.  No I didn't hear any of the pieces because my friend had nothing to play them on. Will modify the list.

[Gareth Vaughan]

How sad that he couldn't play them. Can you remember what was on the disks?

[Martin Eastick]

May I kindly thank Giles for posting about Nettlefold - just to clear things up, it was me that he was visiting and I have in my possesion two of the three HMV sets of private issue 78's, but unfortunately at present do not have equipment to play them on! If my memory serves me correctly (as I have played them n the past, although not for at least the last 20 years or so!),, the orchestral concert waltzes are certainly quite accomplished, perhaps falling within the "light music" category somewhat, with echoes of Edward German and even Eric Coates - perhaps somewhere in between! I have no idea what is on the other set which I am missing, but it would be surely worthwhile to try and assemble all three sets somehow and possibly get all transferred to a more modern medium, although I doubt whether there would be any commercial incentive for such a specialist venture!

[giles.enders]

I wonder if anyone has knowledge of where the third set might be found, if only to allow us to know what is on it. It would be good if all three sets could be transferred to cd. There is a family tree on the net so perhaps one of them will pick up on this post and give more information.

[semloh]

I can't find any evidence that any of his music has been commercially recorded.
But, as an aside, I was interested to discover that his family is the 'N' in the industrial firm now known as 'GKN'.
Yes... "back to the music"!