William Hurlstone

William Martin Yeates Hurlstone (born January 7, 1876 in London , † May 30, 1906 there ) was an English composer .

Life

Hurlstone was born in the London borough of Kensington . His grandfather Frederick Yeates Hurlstone was the first president of the Royal Society of British Artists . His father, a doctor and music lover, gradually went blind as a result of smallpox while studying, which later forced him to quit his job. The family moved to near Salisbury , where young Hurlstone sang in a church choir. The musicians invited by the pastor Hubert Parry and George Grove , heads of the newly opened Royal College of Music , were impressed by the skills of the eight-year-old. The Five Easy Waltzes for piano of the nine-year-old left his father as op. 1 Print. Due to increasing asthma , which should also contribute to the composer's early death, Hurlstone soon had to leave the choir.

Hurlstone, whose family moved again to the vicinity of London, received piano lessons and began to give lessons himself at the age of 16. During these years he continued to compose autodidactically and was awarded a scholarship to teach composition at the Royal College of Music from 1894–1898, whose director Parry had since become. His teachers were u. a. the pianist Edward Georg Dannreuther and Charles Villiers Stanford . Stanford considered Hurlstone to be his most gifted student (at the same time he studied with Gustav Holst , John Ireland , Frank Bridge and Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others ). Hurlstone made a special friendship with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who also died at an early age . During his student days, several works by Hurlstone were performed publicly, for example the Piano Concerto in D in 1896 (with Hurlstone as soloist, Holst played the trombone, Vaughan-Williams triangle).

After completing his studies, Hurlstone made a living as a teacher, répétiteur and conductor, although he also had to support his now widowed mother. His poor health prevented a career as a pianist. During this time he taught himself to play the violin and clarinet in order to be able to better write for these instruments. However, Hurlstone found the interest of music lovers, who enabled him to perform his works privately, and also supported him financially. In 1904 his Variations on a Swedish Air could be performed thanks to financial support from a foundation for the promotion of young British composers (Patron's Fund).

In 1905 Hurlstone was called to teach at the Royal College of Music. However, his health deteriorated and one day he was found passed out on the steps of college. This was followed by a feverish cold and while convalescing, while he was working on a symphonic poem, Hurlstone died at the age of only 30. The inscription on his grave in Croydon New Cemetery is borrowed from the epitaph of Franz Schubert and reads: “Music hath here entombed rich treasure but still fairer hopes”.

plant

Hurlstone's musical roots are unmistakably in late Romanticism (especially that of Brahms , but his teacher Stanford also influenced him). With the exception of the choral work Alfred the Great , some songs and melodramas , Hurlstone left behind mostly instrumental works. His differentiated and transparently orchestrated orchestral music shows a preference for the variation and suite form (including Variations on an Original Theme , Variations on a Hungarian Air , The Magic Mirror Suite ).

Hurlstone's chamber music includes a. a trio for clarinet, bassoon and piano in G minor, a piano trio in G, a piano quartet in E minor, a quintet for piano and wind instruments in G minor, a string quartet ( Fantasy Quartet ) and one sonata each for violin, cello, clarinet and Bassoon (the latter in F major from 1906).

Web link

• Source analysis of the piano trio in G minor, including biography, bibliography and discography of Hurlstone (English)