Walter Willson Cobbett
Encyclopedia
Walter Willson Cobbett CBE
(1847-1937) was a British businessman and amateur violinist, and editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. He also endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to Chamber Music
.
Walter Cobbett was born in 1847 in Blackheath
, England
. He became an active supporter of music, and commissioned numerous works of chamber music
from emerging and leading British composers of his time, including chamber works by Benjamin Britten
, Frank Bridge
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
, Arnold Bax
, Eugène Goossens
.
His two-volume encyclopedia of chamber music, published in 1929, is still considered the most comprehensive work on the subject today. His insightful, wry and occasionally caustic style makes for enlightening and delightful reading.
An innovative industrialist and astute businessman, Cobbett was cofounder of Scandinavia Belting Ltd. (today BBA Aviation Ltd.), which manufactured a new type of woven belting for machinery.
But Cobbett's heart was in music. "It has been humorously remarked that he has given to commerce what time he could spare from music," said an article in a contemporary edition of Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians Cobbett played weekly in an amateur string quartet, was concertmaster of a number of amateur orchestras, and was a prolific writer and publicist for chamber music.
In 1905, Cobbett endowed an annual competition for chamber music composers. the Cobbett Competition was instrumental in advancing the careers of leading composers of the time. Frank Bridge won second prize in the first competition with his Phantasy for String Quartet. Other winners included Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition to granting prizes, Cobbett commissioned works from these and other composers.
Cobbett established other prizes as well. In 1920 he started granting annual prizes for chamber music performance for students of the Royal Academy of Music
. The Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music was established in 1924. He also encouraged British luthiers by granting prizes for outstanding instruments.
Cobbett started a periodical on Chamber music, called the Chamber Music Supplement. He established a free library of chamber music and started chamber music concert series in working class neighborhoods of British cities.
Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music was the result of four years of labor. In addition to Cobbett's own extensive contributions, the two-volume survey includes articles by leading musicians and musicologists of the time, including Vincent d'Indy
, Donald Francis Tovey
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
, and others.
Cobbett wrote of his own devotion to chamber music that "there opened out before me an enchanted world... I became a humble devotee of this infinitely beautiful art, and so began for me the chamber music life."
Cobbett died in London
, England in 1937. His legacy is continued by the Cobbett Association
, an organization devoted to rediscovering forgotten works of chamber music.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(1847-1937) was a British businessman and amateur violinist, and editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. He also endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to Chamber Music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
.
Walter Cobbett was born in 1847 in Blackheath
Blackheath, London
Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He became an active supporter of music, and commissioned numerous works of chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
from emerging and leading British composers of his time, including chamber works by Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge
Frank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, Arnold Bax
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
, Eugène Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
.
His two-volume encyclopedia of chamber music, published in 1929, is still considered the most comprehensive work on the subject today. His insightful, wry and occasionally caustic style makes for enlightening and delightful reading.
An innovative industrialist and astute businessman, Cobbett was cofounder of Scandinavia Belting Ltd. (today BBA Aviation Ltd.), which manufactured a new type of woven belting for machinery.
But Cobbett's heart was in music. "It has been humorously remarked that he has given to commerce what time he could spare from music," said an article in a contemporary edition of Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians Cobbett played weekly in an amateur string quartet, was concertmaster of a number of amateur orchestras, and was a prolific writer and publicist for chamber music.
In 1905, Cobbett endowed an annual competition for chamber music composers. the Cobbett Competition was instrumental in advancing the careers of leading composers of the time. Frank Bridge won second prize in the first competition with his Phantasy for String Quartet. Other winners included Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In addition to granting prizes, Cobbett commissioned works from these and other composers.
Cobbett established other prizes as well. In 1920 he started granting annual prizes for chamber music performance for students of the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. The Cobbett Medal for services to chamber music was established in 1924. He also encouraged British luthiers by granting prizes for outstanding instruments.
Cobbett started a periodical on Chamber music, called the Chamber Music Supplement. He established a free library of chamber music and started chamber music concert series in working class neighborhoods of British cities.
Vincent d'Indy
Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
, Donald Francis Tovey
Donald Francis Tovey
Sir Donald Francis Tovey was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist...
, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, and others.
Cobbett wrote of his own devotion to chamber music that "there opened out before me an enchanted world... I became a humble devotee of this infinitely beautiful art, and so began for me the chamber music life."
Cobbett died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England in 1937. His legacy is continued by the Cobbett Association
Cobbett Association
The Cobbett Association for Chamber Music Research is an organization dedicated to the rediscovery of works of forgotten chamber music. The association was founded in 1990, with the objective of...
, an organization devoted to rediscovering forgotten works of chamber music.
External links
- The Cobbett Association
- Four Cobbett Prizes awarded to Frank Bridge