Frederick Corder

Frederick Corder, ca. 1913

Frederick Corder (26 January 1852 – 21 August 1932) was an English composer and music teacher.[1]

Biography

Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School [2] and started music lessons, particularly piano, early. Later he studied with Henry Gadsby. After that he studied harmony with Claude Couldery.

Frederick Corder continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with George Alexander Macfarren (harmony and composition), William Cusins (piano) and William Watson (violin). In 1875 he earned a Mendelssohn Scholarship, which enabled him to study for four years abroad. He spent the first three in the Cologne Conservatory in Cologne, Germany, where he studied composition with Ferdinand Hiller and piano with Isidor Seiss. He spent his last year in Milan, Italy without formal instruction. He did however meet Arrigo Boito and Giuseppe Verdi. Upon his return to England, in 1879, he became conductor at the Brighton Aquarium.

In August 1884, for a single month, he filled in for William Robinson as musical director with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, touring Patience and Iolanthe.

Corder became professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London,[3] becoming the Academy's curator in 1889. His students included notable British composers like Granville Bantock, Arnold Bax, York Bowen, Alan Bush, Eric Coates, Benjamin Dale and Joseph Holbrooke, as well as his own son, Paul Corder. See: List of music students by teacher: C to F#Frederick Corder. With others, Frederick Corder co-founded the Society of British Composers in 1905 and served as its first chairman.[4]

He developed an early fascination with Richard Wagner and produced with his wife the first accepted English translations of The Ring and other works by Wagner. His own compositions included songs, operas and cantatas.[5] Corder's Prospero overture can be heard on CD and is available in full score.[5][6]

Corder married Henrietta Walford, the daughter of Henry Walford on 25 September 1876. They had a daughter, Dorothea Charlotte (known as Dolly), born on 30 June 1878 (died in her nineties), and a son, Paul Walford, born on 14 December 1879 (died on 7 August 1942). Corder's sister, Rosa Corder, was a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and painted his portrait.[2]

Compositions (selective list)

Principal source (including opus numbers): "Frederick Corder" (The Musical Times 54 (849), November 1913, pp. 713–716) [7]

Orchestral

Choral and vocal

Operatic

Incidental music

Bibliography

Selected writings:

References

  1. ↑ "Corder, Frederick". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 385.
  2. 1 2 Visitation of England
  3. ↑ For a portrait and discussion of Corder's role and teaching style at the RAM, see: Lewis Foreman (1983, rev 2007). Bax: A Composer and his Times, chapter 2, pp 10–19. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-209-6.
  4. ↑ Foreman, Lewis (2007). Bax: a composer and his times.
  5. 1 2 Priory, Hugh (1991). Victorian concert overtures (pdf) [sleevenotes]. Hyperion records. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  6. ↑ Corder, Frederick (1885). Prospero. Concert overture for full orchestra (full score). Eastman School of Music – Sibley Music Library (previously published by Novello, Ewer & Co, New York). Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  7. ↑ Although this source assigns the cantata The Sword of Argantyr as Op.22, it was published as Op.20 in 1889.
  8. ↑ "The Leeds Festival". The Athenæum (J. Francis) 3233: 494–495. October 12, 1889.

External links

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