Edith Swepstone 1862-1942

[giles.enders]

Edith Mary Swepstone Born 4.1.1862 in Stepney, London  Died 5.2 1942 Tonbridge, Kent

She was the daughter of a London Solicitor, William Henry Swepstone and his wife Mary Turner. She studied at The Guildhall School, London
For a period she lectured in music at The City of London School.  She composed some of her chamber works for The South Place Sunday Concerts, London.  For many years she resided in one of the grandest houses in Hackney, London *

Orchestral

Symphony in G minor  1902
'Moonrise on the Mountains', symphonic poem  1912
'Daramona'  symphonic poem  1899
'A Vision'  symphonic poem  1903
'The Wind in the Pines'  symphonic poem  1909
'Mort d'Arthur'  symphonic poem  1920
'Woods in April' Idyll for string orchestra  1914
'Les Tenebres' elegiac overture  1903
'The Four Ships' suite for orchestra  1927
'The Ice Maiden' suite for orchestra  1900
'The Horn of Roland'  overture  1910
'Paolo and Francesca'  prelude  1904
Minuet in C major for string orchestra 
Tarantelle in A major for strings
'Mors Janua Vitae'  funeral march  1906
'The Roll of Honour'  march  1916

Chamber

Piano quintet in F minor  1896
Quintet for horn and strings in D major
Quintet for piano and wind in E flat major
Piano quartet in A minor  1920
String quartet in G minor 'Lyrical Cycle'
Piano trio in D minor  1915
Piano trio in G minor
Piano trio in A minor
Lament for violin and piano  1912   pub. by Stainer & Bell
Two pieces for cello and piano  1. Plaintive  2. Fantastic  1892   pub. by Augener & Co.
Requiem for cello and piano 1936   pub. by Oxford University Press
'Rustic Fete' for violin and piano  1912   pub. by Stainer & Bell
Piano

Minuet  1890    pub. by Schott & Co.
'The Spectral Hunt' 1892   pub. by Augener & Co.

Songs

'Autumn Leaves' two part song  words by Edith Swepstone
'Bells across the snow' three part song for female voice and piano  words by F R Havergal  1895   pub. by Augener & Co.
'Time Enough'  words by Robert Browning
'Body and Soul'  words by Robert Browning
'Break, Break, break'  words by A L Tennyson 1908   pub. by Laudy
'Capria'  words by K E Royds  1914   pub. by Laudy & Co.
'Golden Gorse'  two part song  words by H G Hurst  1909
'Is he sleeping?'  words by E M Rutherford  1886  pub. by Boosey
'I worship thee yet'  words by Heinrich Heine  1892  words by Augener & Co.
'Just you and I' words by M Nepean  1900  pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
'Keen Bows the Wind upon Clebrig's side'  four part song  words by W Black.  1892  pub. by Augener & Co.
'Laughing Song'  two part song for female chorus and piano words by William Blake  1911
'Love flew in at the window'  pub. by Laudy & Co.
'My Lady's Gown'  1877   pub. by Chappell
'The Birth of the Daffodils' two part song  words by M Mitchell  1910
'The Call'  two part song  words by K E Royds  1910   pub. by Weekes & Co.
'The Quest'  words by K E Royds  1914  pub. by Laudy
'Renunciation'  1914  words by K E Royds   pub. by Laudy & Co.
'The Return of Prosperone'  three part song  words by K E Royds  1915  pub. by Weekes & Co.
'Rock-a-by-Lady'  words by E Field   1897   pub. by Chappell
'Shadows of Parting'  three part song  words by K E Royds  1915  pub. by Weekes & Co.
'Songs for Children'  words by Robert Louis Stephenson  1897 pub. by J. Curwen & Sons.
'The Crocuses' Lament'  two part song  words by Edith Swepstone
'Foreshadowings'  voice and cello  words by Edith Swepstone  1892   pub. by Augener & Co.
'Oh, sleep a little while, white Pearl'  words by John Keats 1909  pub. by Stainer & Bell
'Daisy's Song'  words by John Keats1909  pub. by Stainer & Bell
'Slumber sweetly, Baby mine' words by Edith Swepstone 1893  pub. by Augener & Co.
'A Song of Twilight'  words by A R Aldrich  1897  pub. by Edwin Ashdown & Co.
'Song of the Winds'   four part song  1897
'Sunbeams thro' her lattice peep'  words by Edith Swepstone   pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
'The Hill'  words by K E Royds  1914  pub. by Weekes & Co.
'The Throstle Song'  words by A L Tennyson   1896   pub. by Augener & Co.
'Under the Lattice'  serenade with cello obligato words by Sir Noel Paton   pub. by Metzler & Co.

Hymns

'O may I join the Choir Invisible'  words by George Eliot
'Out from the Heart of Nature' words by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Cantatas

'Idylls of the Moon'  words by Edith Swepstone 1892   pub. by Augener & Co.
'Ice Queen'  for soloists, female voice chorus 1891   pub. by Augener & Co.

There are numerous solo pieces for piano, violin and viola

*10 King Edwards Road

Her siblings were;
Harry Albemarle Swepstone 1859-7.5.1907
Gertrude Swepstone1864-5.4.1942
twins: Clarence Swepstone1874-25.2.1917
and Maude Swepstone 1874-2.8.1940

[giles.enders]

I recently visited The Metropolitan Archives in London where the Guildhall School of Music archive is deposited.  I wanted confirmation of Swepstone's attendance and any other information about her that they might have.  I was very disconcerted to find that information about former students from over 100 years ago is not availabel to bona fide researchers. Some thing is very wrong.  I did trawl through their concert programmes and there was no composition by her or any performance by her.

[Gareth Vaughan]

This is, indeed, deeply worrying. I don't suppose any reason was given for this lack of (or embargo on) the information.

[giles.enders]

No, I did get a senior member of staff to agree to do a quick look on my behalf but they were only gone for 10 minutes so it would not have been very thorough. I am not even sure which dates she might have been at the Guildhall. 

[Balapoel]

more information (from Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers (Digitized online by GoogleBooks))

Orchestral (years indicate when performed in Bournemouth)
Mors Janua Vitae, funeral march   1906
The Roll of Honour, march   1916
'Les Tenebres' elegiac overture   1903
Paolo and Francesca, prelude   1904
The Horn of Roland, overture   1910
The Ice Maiden, suite   1900
'The Four Ships' suite for orchestra   1927
Daramona, symphonic poem   1899
A Vision, symphonic poem   1903
The Wind in the Pines, symphonic poem   1909
Moonrise on the Mountains, symphonic poem   1912
'Woods in April' Idyll for string orchestra   1914
Morte d'Arthur, symphonic poem   1920
Symphony in g minor   1902 (this was completed and performed)
Minuet in C major for string orchestra   
Tarantelle in A major for strings   

Chamber
Two pieces for cello and piano  1. Plaintive  2. Fantastic  1892
Requiem for cello and piano
Piano Quartet in a minor
Piano Quintet in f minor (not e minor)
Quintet in Eb for piano and wind
Piano Trio in d minor
Piano Trio in g minor
Piano Trio in a minor
Quintet in D for horn and strings
String Quartet in g minor 'Lyrical Cycle'
Lament for violin and piano

[eschiss1]

The piano quintet was performed in St Martin's Town Hall (London?) by the Musical Artist's Society, around April 1896. (Athenaeum, May 2 '96, page 593, via Google Books.)

(Wait, what, 1896? She wrote it at _11_? Well, oki, she wrote Daramona in 1899...)

[eschiss1]

Oh, never mind. Excuse me.
Wikipedia has "fl.1885-1930". That is, her "floruit", flourishing, period, started in 1885. So no, she did not write the 2 pieces for cello and piano at age 7, either. Even Mozart didn't write that much at that age... one should start, in my opinion, thinking "this doesn't look quite right" when that starts to happen, and going back to sources

We have at present _no idea_ when she was born.

Please edit the subject header likewise? .

(Gah.)

[Alan Howe]

Duly edited.

[eschiss1]

Thanks, sorry I blew my top. (Long day, not that that's really any good excuse!!)

[giles.enders]

Thank you for the extra info. ES was involved with the South Place Sunday Concerts between about 1910 and 1927.  The archives for these concerts are quite extensive, yet in her case there is no biographical material.  She is a bit of a mystery for someone who wrote quite so extensively.  Are there any pictures of her?

[eschiss1]

hrm. did published scores ever contain miniature portraits of the composer in those days, as books sometimes do? I doubt it but find it worth asking...

[giles.enders]

There were sometimes pictures on concert programmes.  That is how I found those of Bluebell Klean. 
With reference to the symphony, is it known when and where it was performed. I had no idea it was completed.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, sorry I blew my top. (Long day, not that that's really any good excuse!!)

You were quite right to want the details corrected. No problem at all.

[eschiss1]

Elson's 1903 Woman's work in music has (p.139) "Edith Swepstone has had some movements of an unfinished Symphony performed, also an overture, " Les Tenebres," at London in 1897."- I take 1897 to refer just to the overture, but who knows. 

Zeitschrift der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft, Volume 3, page 362-363, refer to Dan Godfrey's 1902-3 season at Bournemouth and the works he's produced so far with his orchestra up to this point, including Swepstone's symphony in G (which does not conclusively prove, to my mind, that what he produced was more than the "some movements" referred to by Elson.  If this is all the evidence available then I take the case to be unproven, myself!)

[Balapoel]

Come on Eric, keep up 

In the reference I cited above, when I noted that the symphony was performed, on p 447:

dates are of perfomances at Bournemouth
Sym., g., 1902
14 orchestral works, total of 24 times

There is only record of two having been performed elsewhere: a movement from the Symphony in g minor, first heard at Leyton in March 1887, and Les tenebres at Queen's Hall in February 1897.