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Rosalind Ellicott

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An 1890 portrait of Ellicott, by Herbert Rose Barraud

Rosalind Frances Ellicott (November 14, 1857 – April 5, 1924) was an English composer, considered one of the leading female composers of her generation.[1]

Life

Ellicott was born in Cambridge, the daughter of Constantia Annie Ellicott (née Becher) and Charles Ellicott, the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.[2] Her father had no interest in music and it was predominantly her mother, an amateur singer who had been involved with the founding both of London's Handel Society (1882–1939) and of the Gloucester Philharmonic Society, who encouraged young Rosalind's talent.[3] At the age of six "she exhibited an extraordinary facility in music, singing, and harmonising correctly by ear".[4] She took lessons from Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the cathedral organist, from age 12, tried writing songs at 13 and then a sonata at 16.[5]

From 1874 to 1876 she studied piano with Frederick Westlake at the Royal Academy of Music. While at the Academy she discovered her voice and took soprano solo parts in oratorios and cantatas and was a frequent soloist at the Three Choirs Festival.[1] She also studied composition for seven years from 1885 under Thomas Wingham of the Brompton Oratory. She was a member of the International Society of Musicians and the National Society of Professional Musicians, as well as an ARAM.[6] But despite her relative success in the last two decades of the century as a composer and performer, by the early 1900s she began disappearing from the public eye. She moved to the south coast after World War I and died in Seasalter in 1924.[note 1] She is buried near her parents in the churchyard of Birchington-on-Sea, in Kent.

Music

Rosalind Ellicott by Elliott & Fry (c1870)

In 1886, Ellicott found success at the Gloucester Festival with the Dramatic Overture and in 1889 with the lyrical cantata Elysium. Elysium was praised for its full and vigorous orchestration.[7] These early works were later performed in Bristol, Cheltenham, Oxford, London, Dresden, and Chicago. Some suggest her father's position as a bishop helped her get performances at the Three Choirs Festival, though most composers relied on patronage.[1]

Her ambitious chorus and orchestra works were in a traditional Romantic style. Toward the end of the century, she turned to chamber music, hoping for more performance opportunities. The Piano Trio No. 1 in G debuted in Bristol in 1889, with Ellicott as pianist.[8] The second trio was performed at the Gloucester Guildhall in 1903.[9] The Piano Quartet in B minor and the Violin Sonata were introduced at Steinway Hall in London in 1900.[10] Her songs and chamber works were regularly performed and well-received.[6] Ellicott composed rapidly, saying, "I get a whole movement in my head before I touch paper. I hardly ever alter my compositions."[5]

Today, only a few of Ellicott's songs and instrumental works survive, although both piano trios have been recorded.

Works

Orchestral

  • Fantasia for piano and orchestra (1895)[11]

Chamber

Choral

  • King Henry of Navarre: a choral ballad (men's voices) with orchestral accompaniment ad. lib. (1894)[12]

Part songs

Solo songs

  • "The sweet blue eyes of springtime". (Die blauen Frühlingsaugen.) Song; poem by H. Heine. English translation by C. Rowe (1881)
  • "From my sad tears are springing". (Aus meinen Thränen.) Song; poem by H. Heine. English translation by C. Rowe (1881)
  • "To the Immortals". Song; words by D. F. Blomfield (1883)
  • "Verlust": solo song; words by Heine, English Translation by J. Troutbeck. [In C minor and D minor.] (1884)
  • "I love thee". Song; words by R. S. Hichens (1887)
  • "A Dream of the Sea". Song; words by R. S. Hichens (1889)

Discography

  • The Piano Trio No 1 in G major (circa 1889) has been recorded by the Trio Anima Mundi on English Piano Trios, DIVINE ART DDA2515[13]
  • The Piano Trio No 2 in D minor (1891) was recorded by the Summerhayes Piano Trio. (English Romantic Trios: Meridian Records, 2005. CDE84478)[14]
  • Reverie was recorded by Joseph Spooner (cello) and Michael Jones (piano) at Potton Hall, Suffolk, 21–23 May 2008. (Romantics in England – Music for Cello & Piano: Dutton, 2009. CDLX7225)[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Sources differ on this; some state that she died in London, not in Seasalter, although the year given is the same.

References

  1. ^ a b c Dr Pippa Drummond (2013). Provincial Music Festival in England, 1784–1914. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 9781409494614.
  2. ^ "Mrs Ellicott". The Times (40455). London, England: 10. 24 February 1914.
  3. ^ Dr David C.F. Wright. "ROSALIND ELLICOTT". Music on the Web. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  4. ^ "MISS ROSALIND ELLICOTT". Berrow's Worcester Journal (10223). Worcester, England: 6. 21 September 1889.
  5. ^ a b "MISS ELLICOTT INTERVIEWED". The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post (13529). Bristol, England. 22 September 1891.
  6. ^ a b Sophie Fuller. "Ellicott, Rosalind Frances". Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 31 March 2014. Subscription required
  7. ^ "THE GLOUCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL". The Pall Mall Gazette (7634). London, England. 5 September 1889.
  8. ^ Musical Times, January 1990, p 27
  9. ^ Musical Times, 1 December 1903, p 813
  10. ^ Musical Times, June 1900, p 399
  11. ^ "ELLICOTT, ROSALIND FRANCES". Music Dictionary Featuring The Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  12. ^ "Most widely held works by Rosalind Frances Ellicott". OCLC WorldCat. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  13. ^ "English Piano Trios - DIVINE ART DDA25158 [JF] Classical Music Reviews: January 2020 - MusicWeb-International". Musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  14. ^ English Romantic Trios / Summerhayes Piano Trio Release Date: 10/11/2005 Label: Meridian Records Catalog #: 84478 Spars Code: DDD www.arkivmusic.com, accessed 15 December 2020
  15. ^ Walter Macfarren, Michael Balfe, Rosalind Ellicott, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Roger Quilter & Edgar Bainton ROMANTICS IN ENGLAND MUSIC FOR CELLO & PIANO www.duttonvocalion.co.uk, accessed 15 December 2020

Further reading

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