Frederic Cowen

[albion]

Also now online is

Christopher J. Parker - The music of Sir Frederic Hymen Cowen (1852-1935) : a critical study. PhD (2007)

http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1834/

As with Duncan Barker's thesis on Mackenzie, this is the only recent study of any significance.

[Mark Thomas]

This is great to have, thanks John.

[albion]

With Christmas looming ever closer - what do you get for the unsung-music collector who has everything ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001DEGWMW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A2YEGUIQ9JIOLY

... the perfect stocking-filler.



I've ordered one for Alan.

[Mark Thomas]

Methinks you don't know how thin the ice is, upon which you are skating....

[Alan Howe]

How very thoughtful. I trust there's a mouse to go with it to make my joy complete. Anyway, it'd make a good mat, preferably Cowen side down, for this much superior product...
http://scifigeektees.com/results/AK_Coburg/Felix_Draeseke_Stein/akcoburg.297637278

[Mark Thomas]

Dear Santa,

It's in the can...



Make mine a LARGE one, please..

[jerfilm]

Will that baby hold a full British pint....?

Jerry

[albion]

In addition to the piano score of the orchestral poem A Phantasy of Life and Love (1901) I have just uploaded the following works in (solo) piano transcriptions to IMSLP -

In Fairyland, Suite de Ballet (1896)
A Suite of Old English Dances (1905)

Cowen has been doing well at IMSLP recently, with Saint Ursula (1881), Ruth (1887), The Dream of Endymion (1897) and the Ode to the Passions (1898) all uploaded in vocal score, together with the full score of Symphony No.6, The Idyllic (1897).

[cypressdome]

Thought I would also add that IMSLP now has Cowen's autobiography from 1913 entitled My Art and My Friends.

http://imslp.org/wiki/My_Art_and_My_Friends_%28Cowen,_Frederic_Hymen%29

Enjoy!
Cypressdome

[albion]

I have uploaded Cowen's 1902 Coronation March (interesting to compare stylistically with the Mackenzie) and most of his Sketches for Piano (or Orchestra) The Months (1912) to IMSLP.



The latter was published in four books of three pieces each and unfortunately I only have the first three books, so October to December are currently lacking.



This is a pity as they are really attractive miniatures - does any member have access to a copy of Book IV (Novello, 1912) in order to complete the set?

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, cypressdome, for the Cowen biography link. Very interesting stuff.

[Lionel Harrsion]

I have been browsing through Cowen's book and while it has some interesting moments, there's a rather strong whiff of Charlie Pooter about him, to my mind.    Ironically, he talks about Grossmith 

[Alan Howe]

How important did Cowen think he was exactly?

[Lionel Harrsion]

To be fair to him, perhaps his view of how important he was didn't differ too much from how important his contemporaries thought he was.  Maybe it's only with the benefit of hindsight that the dislocation becomes clear.  What doesn't help is that, in some places, his writing style comes uncomfortably close to Pooter's!

[Mark Thomas]

I rather liked his defence in his foreword of his persistent use of the first person singular pronoun throughout the book. I found that I had a lot of sympathy with what he wrote!

I think that Lionel's point about his self-importance reflecting the importance which his contemporaries bestowed upon him is a very fair one. If you look at British musical lexicons of the period you'll find that Cowen's name looms large.