William Henry Bell born 20.4 1873, St Albans, England died 13.4 1946 Cape Town, South Africa
Attended the St Albans Grammar School. Between 1889 and 1893 he was at The Academy College of Music where he studied under Frederick Corder, Alexander Mackenzie and Reginald Steggall. During this period he also studied privatly with Charles Stanford. He was a successful composer, pianist and professor of music. Thirteen of his works were performed at The Crystal Palace Concerts and others were performed at the Promenade Concerts. He is known to have destroyed a quantity of his own music mostly pre 1912.
From 1912 he resided in Cape Town where he became principal of The South African College of Music.
Orchestral
Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales 1898
The Pardoner's Tale symphonic poem 1899
Three Chaucer Symphonic poems 1898
Symphony No.1 in C minor 'Walt Whitman symphony' 1900
Symphony 1908 most likely destroyed
Symphony No.2 in A minor 1918
Symphony No.3 in F major 1919
Symphony No.4 in A 'A South African Symphony' 1927
Symphony No.5 In F minor 1932
Symphonic Variations 1915
'Aeterna Munera' symphonic fantasy 1941
'Mother Cary' symphonic Poem; Outward bound, In the night watches, In the focsle 1902
'Love Among the Ruins' symphonic poem 1908
'The Shepherd' symphonic poem 1910
'Le fees Sources' symphonic poem 1908
'The Portal' symphonic poem 1921
'Veld Loneliness' symphonic poem 1921
'Song in the Morning' symphonic prelude 1901 pub. by Novello & Co
'Agamemnon' symphonic prelude 1908
Prelude based on English folk songs 1912
'Hamlet' five preludes 1942
'Arcadian Suite' for small orchestra 1911
'Epithalamium' serenade 1904
Dans du Troubadour 1909
Staines Morrice Dance 1912
In modo academico suite in c minor 1924
English Suite 1929
Viola Concerto 'Rosa Mystica' 1917
A Song of Greeting symphonic poem 1920
Chamber
Piano Quartet 1894
String Quartet in D minor pre 1914
String Quartet in G minor pre 1914
String Quartet in G minor 1926
String Quartet in F 1927
Violin Sonata in F minor 1897
Violin Sonata in D 1918
Violin Sonata in F major 1925
Cradle Song for violin and piano 1901 pub. by Novello & Co.
Arabesque for violin and piano 1904 pub. by Breitkopf & Hartel
Sonata for viola or cello and piano 1926
Cello Sonata 1927
Piano
'The Witch's Daughter' 1904
Four Preludes - pre 1920
Chorale and variations 1940
Four elegiac pieces 1940
Song
Five medeival songs for female voice and strings
'Rose and Lily' 1892
'Songs of Youth and Springtime' 1892-6
Serenade from 'A June Romance'
'Crabbed Age and Youth' 1898
Five settings of verses by E Nesbitt
'I Loved a Lass' words by George Wither 1903 pub. by Novello & Co
'The Four Winds' - for baritone and orchestra words by C A Luderitz
Six love lyrics words by W E Henley pub. by Novello & Co
Love and Beauty words by Robert Greene pub. by Novello & Co.
'Sing Heigh Ho!' 1903
'Bhanavar the Beautiful' - song cycle words by G Meredith
'The Ballad of the Bird Bride' for baritone and orchestra 1905
'The Blind Raven' four part song pub. by Novello & Co
'The little Corporal' 1912
'Clair du Lune' words by Paul Verlaine
'D'une Prison' words by Paul Verlaine
Fifteen songs from Bliss Carman's Sappho for soprano and orchestra 1920
'Que faudre - t'il a ce coeur'
Four medieval songs 1927
Four medieval songs 1930
Stage
'The Wandering Scholar' musical comedy 1935
'Romeo and Juliet' incidental music 1939
'Life's Measure' incidental music
'Vision of Delight' - for a Ben Jonson masque 1906
Music for Japanese noh plays
Komachi 1924
Tsuneyo of the Three Trees 1926
Hatsuyaki 1934
Tha Pillow of Kantan 1935
Kageyiko 1936
Vocal
Miserere Maidens for soloist, chorus, orchestra and organ 1895
'Hawke' for chorus and orchestra 1895
'The Four Winds' for baritone and orchestra 1903
I will magnify Thee, O lord in D major for choir and organ 1903 (Easter Anthem) pub. by Novello & Co.
Three Old English songs for soloists and orchestra: Lulley, Lullay, Twelve Oxen, Flower of Jesus.
'Love's Farewell' 1902
'The Call of the Sea' Cantata for soprano, chorus and orchestra 1904
'St.Alban's Pageant music' for chorus and orchestra 1907
'The Ballad of the Bird Bride' for baritone and orchestra 1909
'The Baron of Brackly' Scottish border ballad for chorus and orchestra 1911 pub. by J Williams & Co.
Maria Assumpta for soprano, chorus and orchestra 1922
Prometheus Unbound for chorus and orchestra 1924
Dicitus Philosophi for chorus and orchestra
The Tumbler of Our Lady for soloist, chorus and orchestra
The Song of the Sinless Soul for mezzo-soprano, female chorus and orchestra 1944
Adonis for soprano, mezzo-soprano, female chorus and orchestra 1945
Opera
'Hippolytus' music drama 1911
'Isabeau' 1 act opera 1922
'The Mouse Trap' after R L Stevenson 1928
'Doctor Love' after Moliere 1930
'The Duenna' musical comedy after Sheridan 1939
Organ
Chants sans paroles 1901
Minuet and trio in C major 1901 pub. by Vincent Music Co.
Postlude 1902
On my shelves I've got two recordings of W H Bell:
A Marco Polo recording of the 1927 South African Symphony (but I never realised it was No. 4 among five symphonies), and
The 1916 Rosa Mystica Viola Concerto (a lovely work!) performed by Roger Chase, BBC Concert Orchestra / Stephen Bell, which came out on Dutton c/w the Stanley Bate Va Concerto.
In the Dutton disc there's a "personal memoir" of Bell by his fellow South African John Joubert - and it is an especially interesting piece. Bell obviously gained liking and affection from his students who called him Daddy Bell.
Thanks for providing this list of works. I'd certainly like to hear more of his compositions - especially the chamber music. 'Daddy Bell' seemed quite prolific. I also see from the Joubert memoir that Bell's wife was the sister of John McEwen. Is that John Blackwood McEwen, the composer, or am I confusing names?
I assume it was the Composer McEwan that he refers to. Bell's wife returned to England immediately after his death. He returned to England for two years in the 1930's but missed South Africa and so returned. His wife settled in Lincolnshire.
I've checked the McEwan link, it seems that McEwan and Bell were at The Royal Academy at the same time and would have certainly known each other. They also both composed viola concertos. I am wondering if this was a coincidence or if they were commissioned by the same person.
I am intrigued by the Japanese 'no plays' music, especially as they were composed while Bell was in South Africa.
I first became aware of Bell when reading about the first performance of Holbrooke's Illuminated Symphony "Apollo and the Seaman" at a concert given before Royalty at the Queen's Hall on the twentieth of January 1908. The first item in that concert was Bell's Symphonic Poem "The Shepherd" - like the Symphony, inspired by a work of the Irish poet Herbert Trench.
Wikipedia and Grove each list among Bell's compositions six and a half operas, all of which deserve revival I should think. A certain confusion seems to have arisen about whether some of them are simply incidental music or full-blown operatic works. A good subject for some student's research:
Hippolytus (music drama, 3 acts, after Euripides), c 1914, unperf.
Isabeau (fantasia, 1 act), 1922–4, unperf.
The Mouse Trap (opera, 1 act, after R.L. Stevenson: The Sire de Maletroit's Door), 1928, unperf.
Doctor Love (opera, 1 act, after Molière), 1930
The Wandering Scholar (musical comedy, 1 act, C. Bax), 1933, Cape Town, Little, 28 Oct 1933
The Duenna (musical comedy, 3 acts, after R.B. Sheridan), 1939, unperf.
Romeo and Juliet (op), 1939, incomplete.
Quote from: petershott@btinternet.com on Thursday 17 October 2013, 15:23
...... The 1916 Rosa Mystica Viola Concerto (a lovely work!) performed by Roger Chase, BBC Concert Orchestra / Stephen Bell, which came out on Dutton c/w the Stanley Bate Va Concerto.
Totally agree, Peter - what a marvellous disc this is, and the
Rosa Mystica was a revelation for me. It left me saying "Who was this man? Why don't we know his music?" The list with which Giles initiated he thread is quite amazing... yet another possible treasure trove by an Unsung Composer!