Richard Henry Walthew, often known as Richard H. Walthew (4 November 1872 – 14 November 1951) was an English composer and pianist, and an important figure in English chamber music during the first half of the 20th century.^[1]

Life

Richard Henry Walthew was born in Islington in Middlesex, the only son of Richard Frederick Walthew (1833-1910) and his wife Emily Jeffreys (1842-1930), and was educated at Islington Proprietary School. William Heath Robinson was also at the school and he remained a lifelong friend.^[2] Walthew was a pupil of Hubert Parry for four years at the Royal College of Music (1890–1894). A contemporary at the RCM was Ralph Vaughan Williams.^[3] Recognition as a composer came early, with the success of his cantata The Pied Piper (performed by the Highbury Philharmonic Society on March 20, 1893, and published by Novello)^[4] and the Piano Concerto (first performed at Queen's Hall on 3 May 1894 by the Strolling Players´ Amateur Orchestral Society with the composer as soloist).^[5][6]

From 1900 until 1904 Walthew was music director of Passmore Edwards Settlement.^[7] He taught the opera class at the Guildhall School of Music and was for a time conductor of the University of London Musical Society. From 1907 he was Professor of Music at The Queen's College, Harley Street.^[8]

He had a natural affinity for chamber music and a long association with the South Place Sunday Concert series for which he wrote programme notes. He conducted the orchestra there and it was where much of his chamber music was played. He also gave a series of lectures on the history and development of chamber music, which were published by Boosey and Co in 1909. Thomas Dunhill recorded his admiration for the refined, lyrical and unostentatious style of Walthew's writing, the suitability of his compositions for amateur performance, his special aptitude for writing for the piano and his energetic devotion to chamber music.^[9]

Walthew died, aged 79, in East Preston, Sussex, where he lived at 1 Clarence Drive. His son Richard Sidney Walthew also played the clarinet at many South Place concerts and went on to become principal clarinet of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in the 1930s, as well as principal clarinet of the BBC Midland Orchestra.^[10] His grandson John Walthew (1940–2017) was also a clarinettist.^[11][12]

Music

Walthew's early works were larger scale choral and orchestral pieces such as the Clarinet and Piano Concertos^[13] and the Aladdin overture (1899). His "somewhat Gilbertian" one act operetta The Enchanted Island, loosely based on The Tempest, was composed in 1900 and received many performances, including a revival in the early 1930s with the BBC Theatre Orchestra conducted by John Ansell.^[14]

But it was with chamber music that he made the greatest impression. His String Quartet in E major, his Mosaic in Ten Pieces for clarinet and piano, and his Trio in C minor for clarinet, violin and piano were all played at a South Place concert on Sunday 25 November 1900.^[15] The Mosaic pieces were later taken up by Lionel Tertis, swapping clarinet for viola, and in 1943 Walthew provided an orchestrated version for Tertis, intended for (but in the end not played at) the 1943 Proms. (This version was recorded by Dutton Epoch in 2016).^[16]

His most successful chamber work was the Phantasy Quintet for piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass, commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Musicians, dedicated to Walter Cobbett and published by Stainer and Bell in 1912. This was later revived by the composer at the marathon one thousandth South Place Sunday Concert in February 1927.^[17] Among his educational piano works, the short piece Sun and Shade was chosen as one of ten test pieces for the Daily Express national piano playing competition in 1928, and recorded as a demonstration by William Murdoch.^[18][19] The Prelude and Fugue (1945), originally written for strings, later transcribed for two clarinets and bassoon, has been reissued in recent times and recorded by The Trio Pleyel.^[20]

Selected works

References

External links

• Classical Archives - synthesised versions of various works