This is a blog-site I've recently started which contains samples from British orchestral music which has, over the years, fallen into obvivion. Most pages are incomplete to date but obviously these will become available once they have content; it takes a lot of time - research/locating scores/typesetting the notes etc..
Composers include Harvey Lohr, Percy Sherwood, Ernest Bryson, John Lodge Ellerton, Benjamin Dale, R.O. Morris and many more.
For those interested the link is:
https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
Thanks very much for informing us about this - a thoroughly worthwhile enterprise.
Indeed, a tremendous enterprise and very much needed. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance. I will try to provide you with what information I have on sources and archives, etc. but it will take me a little time to get it together.
I wonder what you might be able to glean from this website?
A most worthwhile project. There is still so much to be done regarding mid-late 19th century British repertoire, and a quick glance at the names of those composers already mentioned reinforce the real need for such a resource as this! Interestingly enough, I was only thinking recently about mentioning Harvey Lohr, remembering that the RAM had the mss of at least a couple of piano concertos which I feel sure should be worthy of further examination and eventual revival - certainly on the strength of the extracts of the symphonies posted! I discovered these by chance whilst investigating the RAM's holding of the mss of Francis Bache's piano concertos etc., which have recently been mentioned here! The John Francis Barnett piano concerto is another must (I have a copy of the cued piano part which was kindly provided by Cambridge University) - although this requires orchestral reconstruction!
The usual problem when researching this era are the lost/missing scores. Robert at the RCM is proving to be very helpful, and the RAM, albeit quite slow usually respond. University libraries have been useful too. If anyone has a score or two hidden away and can get a few pages sent it would be most helpful.
Would this be of any use to you regarding Percy Sherwood?>>
https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,2677.msg31294.html#msg31294
Somewhere I have a photocopy of the score and - I think - the parts of Learmont Drysdale's Tam O'Shanter overture. I will try to locate it.
Samuel Coleridge Taylor is not forgotten, but sadly not performed in concert halls often enough. But there are many very fine performances on disc. But I can understand why he is included in this British Composers book. He needs the exposure.
I have been searching for William Henry Holmes orchestral works, mostly in manuscript, but still missing his symphonies and piano concerto 'Jubilee'. British Library, R.A.M., R.C.M. don't have either. Any hints where to look for? Or I need to accept the fact that they are lost.
Sent you a PM
UPDATES for May
Charles Oberthür (1819-1895)
Overture Rubezahl
Lorely
Ein Winternachstraum
Learmont Drysdale (1866-1909)
Spirit of the Glen
Oliver King (1855-1923)
In the Pines
Daniel Protheroe (1866-1934)
In the Cambrian Hills
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com/p/home.html
UPDATES for JUNE
Samuel Braithwaite (1883-1947)
Elegy
Percy Sherwood (1866-1939)
2nd Symphony - 1st movement
William Reed (1875-1942)
Somerset Idylls
Edward Mitchell (1891-1950)
Fantasy Overture
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
Thanks in particular for the Sherwood. He was a student of Draeseke, of course, and I've always wondered what his orchestral music sounds like - and, judging by these excerpts, I'd very much like to hear the whole of his 2nd Symphony, which comes across as unlike anything being written by his British contemporaries. Bravo, Martin!
Absolutely, I'll second that. The Sherwood symphony extracts are mouthwatering.
There we are, Martin - have we boxed you in sufficiently that you cannot but give us the whole of Sherwood 2? (He asked, presumptuously!)
JULY 2025 UPDATES
Jane Joseph (1894-1929)
Bergamask
Alexander Brent Smith (1889-1950)
Symphony No 2 G minor - 1st movement
Henry Holmes (1839-1905)
Symphony No 5 "Cumberland" - 2nd movement
William Fenney (1891-1957)
Pastoral
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
I hope Tobias Matthay's work will one day join the rank. I'm quite curious about his compositions seeing he had written no small number of works.
Yes he is most certainly on the list! The RAM hold his scores and it's not often easy communicating with them (there are few staff who are overworked) However, I'm hopeful in the near future.
AUGUST 2025 UPDATES
Adam Carse (1878-1958)Suite - The Nursery
Henry Gadsby (1842-1907)Forest of Arden
Julius Benedict (1804-1885) Overture to The Tempest
Francis Cunningham Woods (1862-1929)Slow Air
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
SEPTEMBER 2025 UPDATE
1.
William George Cusins (1833-1893)Overture to 'Les Travailleurs de la mer'
2.
Benjamin Dale (1885-1943)Prunella
3.
Ferdinand Praeger (1815-1891)Symphonic Prelude: Manfred
4.
James Lyon (1872-1949)Allegretto scherzando
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
Many, many thanks for this, your regular update.
I've just been listening (again) to the excerpts from Sherwood's 2nd Symphony and was wondering whether you might consider giving us the whole work at some point. I have the feeling that he might just be one of the most important barely recorded composers that we're interested in here. Just a thought...
I was impressed by the excerpt from Praeger's Manfred; I wonder when it was written (the entry at IMLP is undated)?
I'm hoping too Alan. I've got some extracts from the 2nd and 3rd movs done for next month. It's all time - there's just not enough of it in a day! It's a beautifully hand-written score, incredibly neat and easy to read so that saves a lot of time.
Quote from: Reverie on Friday 29 August 2025, 12:03It's a beautifully hand-written score, incredibly neat and easy to read so that saves a lot of time.
That's good news. We'll be grateful for anything you can offer, I'm sure.
OCTOBER 2025 UPDATE1.Frederick Corder (1852-1932)Overture Nordisa
2.Walford Davies (1869-1941)Welsh Tune No 1
3.Percy Sherwood (1866-1939)Symphony No 2 - 2nd & 3rd movs
4. Herbert Brewer (1865-1928)Elegy
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
The Sherwood excerpts are gorgeous. Thanks so much.
The closest to a date one has for Praeger's Manfred is its premiere if one can determine it- it was performed at the Crystal Palace...
https://empireadc.org/search/catalog/nbuumu_0046_c_5ccc8a1fbc3e8 (https://empireadc.org/search/catalog/nbuumu_0046_c_5ccc8a1fbc3e8)
17 April 1880 according to a book on the CP. So... composed between 1819 (say he was verra prodigious) and 1880.
NOVEMBER 2025 UPDATES
1.Arthur Hinton (1869-1941) Lancelot and Guinevere - 2nd movement
2.Gaze Cooper (1895–1981)Symphony No 1 - 1st and 2nd movements
3.Hamilton Clarke (1840 -1912) Overture Hamlet
4. William Henry Speer (1863-1937) Nocturne
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
I am fascinated by Hinton's music - have been since the late and much missed Chris Fifield conducted the composer's 1st Symphony. Thanks so much, Martin!
DECEMBER 2025 UPDATES1.Ernest Bryson (1867-1942) Symphony No 1 in D
2.Adam Carse (1878-1958)A Romantic Legend
3.Norman O'Neill (1875 –1934) In Autumn
4. Basil Harwood (1859-1949) In an Old Abbey
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
JANUARY 2026 UPDATES
1. Haydn Morris (1891-1965)
Festival Overture - The Four Kings Nos 1 and 2
2. Wilfred Bendall (1850-1920)
Symphony in C minor - 1st movement
3. Roger Sacheverell Coke (1912-1972)
2nd Symphony
4. George Henschel (1850-1934)
Serenade for Strings in Canon Form - 2nd movement
https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
FEBRUARY 2026 UPDATES
Percy Sherwood (1866-1939)
SYMPHONY No 2 - ENTIRE WORK with score on Youtube
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
MARCH 2026 UPDATES
1. Frank Merrick (1886-1981)
Symphony in D - 1st movement
2. Tobias Matthay (1858-1945)
Symphonic Overture - In May
3. William Henry Bell (1873-1946)
Arcadian Suite - 1st movement
4. Walter Alcock (1861-1947)
Andante
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
I just saw the video and saw that Tobias Matthay was finally represented! That Frank Merrick wrote a symphony also came as a surprise as I was not aware of it.
Wikipedia dates it to 1912.
APRIL 2026 UPDATES
1. Harold Darke (1888-1976)
Symphony - 1st movement
2. Joseph Street (1841-1908)
Symphony No 2 - 1st movement
3. Godfrey Sampson (1902-1949)
Suite for Strings - Finale
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
JULY 2026 UPDATE
1. Percy Pitt
Ballade for violin and orchestra
2. Howard Carr
Symphony No 1 - 1st movement
3. Arnold Foster
"Autumn Idyll" for strings
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com
AUGUST 2026 UPDATE
Arthur Hervey (1855-1922) On the Heights
William Henry Speer (1863-1937) Rhapsody
Wilfred Worden (1915-1979)The Lost Cantaref
LINK: https://britishcomposers1850-1950.blogspot.com