Charles Horsley

[mikehopf]

Charles Edward Horsley (1822–1876), English musician, was the son of William Horsley.

He studied in Germany under Hauptmann and Mendelssohn, and on his return to England composed several oratorios and other pieces, none of which had permanent success. In 1860 he was appointed to arrange the music for the 1862 International Exhibition. In the following year he emigrated to Australia, where he worked as a choral and orchestral conductor, and in 1872 went to America. Three weeks after landing in America, he was appointed organist of St John's Chapel, New York at a salary of £500 a year, which position he filled to the day of his death. His wife, Georgina, to carry out his wishes, placed him to rest near and with his own people in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

His works include a string quartet in C major, the manuscript of which is dated March 1861, shortly after his arrival in Australia; this is probably the first work for this combination to have been written on Australian soil. In the United States he wrote sentimental and patriotic songs, which continued to appear until the last year of his life.

His Violin Concerto is to be given its first Australian performance  in Melbourne in the coming months.

[FBerwald]

I believe he also wrote a Piano concerto in C minor. Anybody here familiar with his music?

[giles.enders]

He did indeed write a piano concerto in 1848. 

[Gareth Vaughan]

And does it still exist  I wonder.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I have answered my own question. Holograph MS score in University of Melbourne library. Incomplete MS score in BL. This according to World Cat.

[eschiss1]

The Marshall-Hall Trust has published two string quartets by Horsley, in fact, including a second from 2 years later (1864- they attribute the first to 1862, not 1861?.)

There are some other chamber music works (piano trios Op.7 (Augener, ca.1860s) & Op.13 (Breitkopf), cello sonata Op.3 (copy @ DKB, and recently republished (2011)), violin sonata Op.14, flute sonata Op.11, etc.? - and I wonder if the string quartet published in a limited edition in 1979 is a third string quartet or just an earlier publication of the C major you mention...); also 3 symphonies, 2 of them (nos. 2 (1848), 3 (1852)) in manuscript @ State Library of Victoria.

[eschiss1]

Also, heads-up to ViolinConcerto , there's a Violin Concerto in D minor Op.29 by Horsley (1849) published in 2007...

edit: apologies for missing that that was already mentioned!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Yes, and edited by the late Richard Divall.

[Mark Thomas]

His Violin Concerto is to be given its first Australian performance  in Melbourne in the coming months.

Will the promised performance broadcast or recorded, Mike?

[mikehopf]

The Horsley  Violin Concerto in Dm Op.29 is to be performed on 7th October at Monash University.

Entry is free, so all it will cost you is the flight to Australia. A small price to pay for such a treat!

I'll be contacting both the university and 3MBS, our local classical music station, to see if the concert is being recorded and/or broadcast.

I have a recording ( issued on a CD some years back) of Horsley's Piano Trio in B, Op.13. Also, possibly, a recording of a String Quartet.

[eschiss1]

btw "1860s" should be edited for the 1st trio to "by 1855" as both trios appear in Augener's universal circulating catalog of 1855. My mistake.

[Martin Eastick]

Firstly, a little more concerning the piano concerto, written in 1847. The British Library holds the incomplete full score, which is lacking the opening tutti and the first section of the opening piano solo (a total of 28 bars, according to a note by Professor Divall) The copy held in the Louise Hansen-Dyer Library in Melbourne however is a complete piano solo score, which also incorporates the orchestral accompaniments in the form of a 2-stave keyboard reduction. Therefore it should be a relatively straight-forward job to reconstruct what is missing, and hopefully this may be undertaken shortly!

Secondly, I have recently been in contact with the Australian String Quartet, who have recently been programming the C major quartet, and it seems that this is to be released on CD shortly.

Thirdly, the Flute Sonata Op11 is included on a Sheva Collection CD entitled appropriately "British Flute Music in the early 19th century", performed by Gilberto Fornito and Christopher Howell.

Certainly, the 2 surviving piano trios, Op7 (1845) & Op13 (1848) would make a most attractive proposition for  recording, certainly on the strength of the 1st movement of  the B minor Op13 (which is all I have heard to date - I am not aware of a complete CD recording of the complete work as mentioned above).

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks Martin for this useful and informative post.

[Simon]

In the introduction to Horsley's Piano Trio Op. 13 edited by Richard Divall, one can read :

"The full catalogue (2011), of Horsley's works to date is included in this introduction."

Strangely, I can't find this full catalogue in the downloadable version of the Trio on the website... Am I the only one missing something? Or is it somewhere else?

http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/music-archive/mda006/

[eschiss1]

the symphony in D op.9 (full score? not sure) is included in this manuscript collection at the British Library, if not already noted so - Worldcat. (Reel 72.)

Also, several others of Horsley's works as edited by Divall besides the B minor trio can be downloaded here I see, along with works by Hart, Marshall-Hall, Isaac Nathan, etc.