User:Apwoolrich/Frank Mercer (writer on music)
Frank Mercer, (1891-1955), was the editor of the 1935 reprint of Charles Burney's A General History of Music (1776-1789), 2 vol, published by G. T. Foulis. The American edition (from the English printing) was published by Harcourt Brace in 1935. This edition was reprinted in 1957 by Dover Publications, of New York.
The reprint was favourably reviewed by 'H. G.' in The Musical Times in 1935, who commented 'Praise is due to Mr Mercer. He has wisely refrained from over-editing; his notes are helpful and not too numerous, and his laborious task has been performed with an unusual blend of scholarship and modesty'.[1]. Scott Goddard commented in Music & Letters, in 1936, 'The book has long needed the very work which Mr Mercer has expended on it. His notes are excellent, as illuminating as they are copious, and as far as we have been able to verify them, trustworthy'. [2]
What drew Mercer to work on Burney remains to be discovered. He did his research in the library of the British Museum and the music library of the University of London. Dr Percy Scholes sent him a proof copy of his book The Puritans and Music (1934). The education dept. of Columbia Records loaned him records.In his work he was mush assisted by his wife. [3].Miss Burney, of Wandsworth ,[4] allowed him to copy and include a number of Charles Burney's letters, which were in her possession.
Mercer was very painstaking in his work. His own footnotes are prefixed with an asterisk, and show his profound reading of the literature. Throughout the original work all the musical examples were type-set. Mercer transcribed these for the new publication.
Biography
Mercer was born in Northwich, Cheshire, in March 1891[5]. Nothing is yet known about his musical education, but he was an accomplished solo pianist,[6] He served in WW1 and 20 February 1922 gave another concert at Bradford. He married Annie M. Chew in 1924. They had no children. By 1930 he had joined the music department of the North Western Polytechnic, Kentish Town, London, where he taught piano.[7] In 1939 he was living with his wife at an address in Fulham Road, Chelsea, London [8] He came to Bristol in 1944 and moved to a house in Sefton Park Road. This was very near his brother and sister in law .[9]. Mercer was involved with the Bristol Amateur Operatic Society as musical director until the early 1950s, when he resigned due to ill-health. As well as his work on Burney he also wrote a Record of Concerts in the 17th and 18th Centuries which was unpublished. [10] As far as can be discovered he published nothing more. He died at Bristol, 17 January 1955, aged 64, [11] after a long illness, and was cremated at Arno's Vale crematorium. [12] He left no will. [13] His widow died in March 1967 [14] <
Notes
- ^ The Musical Times, vol 76, No. 1113 (nov.,1935), pp 981-984 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/920369, [Behind Paywall]
- ^ Music & Letters vol 17, No 2 (Apr., 1936), p. 158 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/728796, [Behind Paywall]
- ^ Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 2 vol 1935, rep 1957, Vol 1, p6
- ^ She was the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Burney
- ^ The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register
- ^ The Yorkshire Post, 7 April 1913, 16 February 1914 published reviews of concerts in Bradford in which Mercer took part as a soloist.
- ^ North-Western Polytechnic: Prospectus and Class Time Table, Session 1931-32, p 26, and later ones to 1938-9 (all that survive), Originals in the archive of the London Metropolitan University.
- ^ The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register
- ^ The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register
- ^ Western Daily Press, Thursday 20 July 1950, article 'Notes of the day: B.A.O.S. Need a New Musical Director'.
- ^ Death certificate from General Register Office, Sub-district of Bristol North in the County Borough of Bristol
- ^ Bristol Evening Post Death notice 18 January 1955.
- ^ He does not appear in the official list of wills probated in 1955.
- ^ Her will is in the official list of wills probated in 1967.