Ethel Barns Born 5.12.1874 Islington, London - Died 31.12.1948 Maidenhead, England
Ethel was the youngest of nine children, her father William was a zinc merchant. She initially studied with Herr Kumner at The Watford School of Music then from 1887 she studied at The Royal Academy under Sauret, Prout and Westlake. She made her debut as a violinist at Crystal Palace in 1896. In 1899 she married the baritone Charles Phillips* and they subsequently formed the Barns-Phillips Chamber Concert series at Bechstein Hall.
A highly thought of violinist, most of her compositions are for her own instrument. The violin concerto and second sonata are particularly fine pieces.
Orchestral
Violin Concerto 1904
Concert piece for violin and orchestra In D minor Op.19 1907
'L'escarpolette' (Swing Song) for strings 1908
Chamber
Piano trio in F minor Op.10 1904
Piano trio No.2 pre 1920
Fantasy trio for two violins and piano Op.26 1911 pub. by Schott & Co.
Idyll for cello and piano 1913 pub. by Joseph Williams & Co.
Pieces for violin and piano
Violin Sonata No.1 in D minor 1900
Violin Sonata No.2 in A major Op.9 1904 pub. by Schott & Co.
Violin Sonata No.3 in ? 1906
Violin Sonata No.4 in G minor Op.24 1910 pub. by Schott & Co.
Violin Sonata No.5 1927
Romance 1891 pub. by Stanley Lucas, Weber
Polonaise 1893 pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
Mazurka in G major 1894 pub. by Robert Cocks & Co.
Valse Caprice 1894 pub. by Robert Cocks & Co.
Tarantella 1895 pub. by Robert Cocks & Co.
Chanson Gracieuse 1904 pub. by Schott & Co.
Chant Elegiaque 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
Dans Characteristque 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
Moto Perpetuo 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
Legende 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
Hindo Lament 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
'L'Escarpolette' - Swing Song 1907 pub. by Schott & Co.
Suite Op.21 1908
Toccata 1908
Valse Gracieuse for piano 1908
Concertstuck (arranged from Op.15) pub. by Schott & Co.
Andante for the 4th string 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Adagio Appassonato 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Canzonetta in D 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Dans Negre (scherzo) 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Humoresque 1909 pub by Schott & Co.
Idyll Pastorale 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Lullaby 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Petite Valse 1909
Serenade 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Eight pieces 1910 pub. by Schott & Co.
Aria 1910
Andante Espressivo 1911 pub. by Schott & Co.
Andante Grazioso 1911 pub. by Schott & Co.
Petite Pastorale 1911 pub. by Schott & Co.
Bagatelle in D 1912 pub. by Schott & Co.
Berceuse 1912 pub. by Schott & Co.
Nachtgesang - Notturno 1912 pub. by Schott & Co.
Two Compositions; Coquette, Morceau. 1913 pub. by Boston Music Co.
Twilight (Crepuscule) 1913 pub. by Schott & Co.
Aubade 1917 pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
Carina 1917 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Pierette 1917 pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
La Chasse 1928 pub. by Schott & Co.
Poeme 1928 pub. by Schott & Co.
A Vision 1928 pub. by Schott & Co.
Piano
Four Sketches 1899 pub. by J.B. Cramer
Two Dances: Cymbal Dance, Dance of the Gnomes 1907 pub. by Joseph Williams Ltd
Nocturne ?
Prelude 1908 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Valse Gracieuse 1908 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Humoreske 1909 pub. by Schott & Co.
Scenes Villageoises - 1. Les Glancuses, 2. Dans la Foret, 3. Au Soir 1911 pub. by Schott & Co.
An Impression 1912 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Cri de Coeur 1916 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Monkeyland (scherzo) 1916 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Landscapes - four pieces for piano. 1919 pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd
Petite Caprice 1919
Valse Slave 1919
Songs
Berceuse words by J E Woolacott pub. by Leonard & Co.
'twas ever thus words by K E Smith 1901 pub. by Leonard & Co.
Dewdrops words by H Simpson 1912 pub. by Elkin & Co.
A Fancy words by S Lucas 1892
For thee words by G Hubi-Newcombe 1914 pub. by Chappell & Co.
I long to live words by F G Bowles 1914 pub. by Chappell & Co.
Out on deep waters words by E Lockton 1918 pub by. Chappell & Co.
A Ransome words by words by H Simpson 1907 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Remember or forget words by C Rossetti 1904 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Remembrance words by N Fielding 1903 pub. by Elkin & Co.
Sleep, weary heart words by J J Elliot 1911 pub. by Boosey
Soul of mine - with organ accompaniment words by T Hooley1914 pub. by Chappell & Co.
Susani - 14th Carol arranged by EB pub. by Elkin & Co.
A Talisman words by P J O'Reilly 1914 pub. by Chappell & Co.
Waiting for thee words by Mortimer Collins 1892 pub. by Stanley Lucas, Weber
there are 9 other songs
* John Charles Henry Phillips.
I have used your dates in the Index but some sources appear to give her year of birth as 1873 or 1874 ???
Quote from: giles.enders on Monday 28 May 2012, 12:27
Ethel Barns 1880-1948 Born London, England Died Maidenhead, England
A highly thought of violinist, most of her compositions are for her own instrument. The violin concerto and second sonata are particularly fine pieces.
Orchestral
Violin Concerto
Concert piece for violin and orchestra In D minor Op.19 1907
'L'escarpotette' (Swing Song) for strings 1908
The Violin Concerto is dated 1904 on the autograph score (BL MS Add. 63634) which also titles it 'Concerto No.2'. It was premiered in Bournemouth on 10th November 1904 conducted by Dan Godfrey with the composer as soloist.
:)
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 28 May 2012, 13:22
I have used your dates in the Index but some sources appear to give her year of birth as 1873 or 1874 ???
Grove and most other sources seem to agree 1874 (some give the month as December, but an actual date seems elusive).
As she entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1887, 1874 is a more likely birth-year than 1880.
:)
Quote from: Albion on Monday 28 May 2012, 14:23
Quote from: Dundonnell on Monday 28 May 2012, 13:22
I have used your dates in the Index but some sources appear to give her year of birth as 1873 or 1874 ???
Grove and most other sources seem to agree 1874 (some give the month as December, but an actual date seems elusive).
As she entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1887, 1874 is a more likely birth-year than 1880.
:)
Indeed ;D Amended :)
I will look at her birth record in the Metropolitan archive, London, later in the week and that way we will all be certain
In reply to Albion, I was not aware that there was an earlier violin concerto, I wonder where it is? It would be good if there was one as her other two orchestral works with violin are, in my opinion well worth performing.
Quote from: giles.enders on Tuesday 29 May 2012, 11:02
In reply to Albion, I was not aware that there was an earlier violin concerto, I wonder where it is? It would be good if there was one as her other two orchestral works with violin are, in my opinion well worth performing.
Have you heard them, or did you have access to the scores?
Some extra info here and there...
The Canzonetta of 1909 and Bagatelle of 1912 are in D, according to the Dutch Royal Library at least. (They have 8 works by Barns in their collection.)
There is a recording of some of her chamber works available- I don't know if anyone's recorded any of her orchestral scores. The British Library (and Carnegie Library Pittsburgh- not to be confused with the Free Library of Philadelphia whose collection is also quite interesting...) have the piano/violin version of the opus 19 Concertstück.
The trio in F minor is given Opus 10 in the British Library listings (or its slow movement only is- I think probably the whole trio...)
BTW the proper French seems to be L'escarpolette, not l'escarpotette. l, not t (no pun intended- if there is one.) Published also in 1909 for violin and piano.
There is a version of the 1913 ldyll for cello and piano published by Williams, at the British Library. Also listed by some library-or-other and still not counting vocal works (though perhaps accidentally counting instrumental transcriptions of vocal works...)
*Valse gracieuse for piano (Elkin, 1908)
*Adagio appassionato (pub. Schott, 1909) for violin and piano.
*Aria for violin and piano (Schott, 1910)
*Coquette for violin and piano (Boston Music, 1913)
MS score + parts for "L'Escarpolette" in Fleisher.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Wednesday 30 May 2012, 10:51
MS score + parts for "L'Escarpolette" in Fleisher.
I have materials for many of her violin/piano works. They are surely now in the public domain.
Not in the UK, where copyright is death + 70 years.
and works first published after 1922 don't become public domain in the US, if properly renewed and if (there are some other important conditions- date of copyright must be properly on score, etc. ...) - until date of first publication + 95 (depending on date- it's more complicated than that actually) and I think date of composer's death enters in too; however all works first published 1922 or before had their (US, of course) copyrights voided by law some years back here (which does in fact make sense to me for various reasons.)
The UK law is true, to my limited knowledge, for most of the EU. That's what IMSLP holds by, anyways... (more or less; we try not to oversimplify. Fortunately, I'm not a copyright admin there. Apologies again for digression.)
According to records at the Metropolitan Archive, EB was born in 1874. No date of birth, I would have to pay for a birth certificate to get that.
MusicSack has December 1874 (actually, it has 1880 and December 1874 as alternatives but one can dispense with the former. Their source for December 1874 being Warriner & Bennett's 1896 National portrait gallery of British musicians.)