| Hubert Parry is best known for his choral song “Jerusalem” . Though almost forgotten nowadays he was instrumental in bringing about the English musical renaissance at the end of the 19th century.
Parry was born on 27. February 1848 in Bournemouth and studied at Eton where George Elvey gave him music lessons. These instructions were so successful that he received a BA in Music from Oxford at the age of eighteen. After graduation he worked for three years as a clerk at Lloyds insurance company in London. His gifts and individual style developed after he had started studies with the pianist and pedagogue Edward Danreuther. Danreuther, who had studied in Leipzig, introduced the music of Chopin, Schumann, Grieg and Liszt to his students and also aroused their interest in the latest compositions of Wagner and Brahms. Parry`s exposure to the works of these masters was very important for channelling his own musical direction.. In 1878 he published his first orchestral composition, a piano concerto. A wide variety of works was to follow: oratorios, choral pieces - e.g. “Scenes from Prometheus” (1880) and “Blest Pair of Sirens” (1887) – cantatas, librettos, solo songs and five symphonies. The above mentioned song “Jerusalem” was composed in 1916.
In 1883 Parry started teaching at the Royal College of Music and later was its director from 1894-1918. He also became professor of music at Oxford in 1900. Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan William were two of his students – Holst said about his tutor: ”He did not only teach us, he inspired us”. During this period Parry wrote several books, including: “Studies of Great Composers” (1886), Evolution of the Art of Music” (1896) and “Johann Sebastian Bach” (1909). Parry was knighted in 1898 and made a baronet in 1903. He died on 7. October 1918.
|
