Percy Pitt - 1870 to 1932

[Sydney Grew]

A friend has very kindly drawn my attention to this stimulating forum - it is encouraging to find that the interests of many of its members appear to accord to some degree with my own! So here is a first posting:

The eminent English composer Percy Pitt was born in the capital on the fourth of January, eighteen seventy . . . well some say eighteen seventy but others eighteen sixty-nine! Although his parents were unconnected with the musical profession, the youth nevertheless, after a general education in Paris, studied music between eighteen eighty-six and eighteen eighty-eight in Leipsic under Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. Then for the three following years he worked at Munich under Rheinberger.

In eighteen ninety-three he returned to England, and in eighteen ninety-five was chorus master for the Mottl Concerts. The following year he was appointed organist at Queen's Hall; then in nineteen hundred and two he became maëstro al piano at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, subsequently acting as musical adviser to the syndicate, and in nineteen hundred and six assistant conductor of the orchestra for the summer and autumn seasons.

Upon the retirement of André Messager in nineteen hundred and seven Pitt succeeded him in the position of musical director, thus affording his countrymen the gratification of seeing an Englishman at the head of the premier operatic theatre in England, and one of the most superb orchestras in the world.

Among Percy Pitt's numerous compositions are the following:

- an Orchestral Suite in four movements (1895);
- a suite, "Fêtes Galantes," after Verlaine (1896);
- a Coronation March (1897);
- a Clarinet Concertino - others say "Concerto" (1897);
- the overture, "Taming of the Shrew" (1898);
- a choral ballad, "Hohenlinden," for male voices and orchestra (1898);
- a Ballade for violin and orchestra (perhaps his best-known work, and one mentioned elsewhere in this forum - it was composed for Ysaÿe);
- a symphonic poem (or as some say, a "symphonic prelude") "Le Sang des Crépuscules";
- "Cinderella," a musical fairy tale (1899);
- suite de ballet, "Dance Rhythms" (1901);
- the incidental music to Stephen Phillips's play "Paolo and Francesca" (1901);
- incidental music to "Richard the Second";
- incidental music to "Flodden Field" (both for Tree's performances at His Majesty's Theatre (1903);
- two series of "vocal poems" with orchestral accompaniment, one for baritone, consisting of five poems (Philharmonic Society, 1903), the other for mezzo-soprano (Queen's Hall Symphony Concerts, 1904);
- "The Blessed Damozel," for soli, chorus and orchestra;
- a ballad, "Schwerting the Saxon," for chorus and orchestra;
- "La Sérenade" (for string orchestra);
- a second serenade for full orchestra;
- Coronation March;
- a March for military band (intended for the trooping of the colour);
- an Oriental Rhapsody;
- and last but not least in this list the Symphony (others say "Sinfonietta") composed for the Birmingham Musical Festival of 1906.

Indeed this list by no means exhausts the catalogue of Pitt's creative output, as there must also be placed to the credit of his account a ballet, two cantatas, part-songs, chamber music (including a trio and a quintet), pianoforte pieces, studies, and songs.

Pitt was described in 1901 as "a very active member of the young British school," a man with "wide sympathies and knowledge" whose technical skill in music was "enormous."

He resided at 5, Primrose Hill Studios, N.W.

[Mark Thomas]

Welcome, Sydney. Very interesting.

[eschiss1]

3 of his works are available in some form, I see, at IMSLP. Would like to add a link to this thread as it contains useful information that browsers of the site may like to know- might I?

[Mark Thomas]

Of course.

[eschiss1]

link now added to http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Pitt,_Percy (some of whose editors make a case for 1869, as does MusicSack and Grove Online.) Thanks