List of compositions by Frederic Austin

Frederic Austin did not assign opus numbers to any of his music. His published output (apart from The Beggar's Opera, Polly and Perviligium Veneris) consists mainly of song settings for solo voice or chorus, while most of his major orchestral and other works remain in manuscript (see the 'MS' column). Most of Austin's works can be accurately dated, though some (mostly lacking an extant MS) are undated: see the 'Year' column.

List

Year Genre Work MS
1891 solo song Hark, Hark The Lark, for high voice and piano (after Shakespeare) MS
1893 chamber Three Sketches, for cello and piano pub.
1898 chamber Piano Trio, for piano, violin and cello (not extant)
1900 orchestral Overture Richard II, for orchestra[1] MS
1903 orchestral Prelude to a Church Festival, for strings, organ & timpani MS
1907 orchestral Spring, Rhapsody for large orchestra MS
1909 orchestral Isabella, or the Pot of Basil, Symphonic poem (after the poem by Keats) MS
1909 solo song The Twelve Days of Christmas, traditional song arranged for solo voice and piano[2] pub.
1909 solo song Home Thoughts From Abroad, for voice & piano (after Robert Browning) pub.
1909 solo song It Was a Lover And His Lass, for voice & piano (after Shakespeare) pub.
1910 solo song Three songs for voice and piano
  1. Proud Maisie (after Sir Walter Scott)
  2. Sigh no nore, ladies (after Shakespeare)
  3. My Susan was a Bonny Lass (after H. E. Hunt)
 pub.
1910 solo song When I am dead, my dearest (after Christina Rossetti) for voice and piano pub.
1911 military band Music for The Pageant of London (Part III, section 6), for military band
  1. Bartholomew Fair
  2. The Departure of Captain Cook on his last voyage
 MS
1913 orchestral Symphony in E minor, for large orchestra[3] MS
1913 solo song Two songs for voice and piano
  1. My Dear Mistress (after John Wilmot)
  2. Oft in the Stilly Night (after Thomas Moore)
 pub.
1914 piano Battle Songs of the Allies, arr. for piano[4]
  1. Belgium. La brabanconne - Gallant men of Liege
  2. France. La Marsellaise - Partant pour la Syrie
  3. Russia. Russian national hymn
  4. England. The red, white and blue
  5. Scotland. The hundred pipers
  6. Ireland. Wearin' o' the green
  7. Wales. Land of my fathers
  8. Great Britain. Rule Britannia - God save the King
 pub.
1914 solo song Songs in a Farmhouse, for soloists, chorus and orchestra; also with piano accomp.
  1. Summer is a-coming in...Chorus
  2. The Poacher...Bass solo and chorus
  3. It was a Lover and his Lass (Shakespeare)...Chorus
  4. The Banks of Allan Water...Soprano solo
  5. Drink to Me Only (Ben Jonson)...Tenor and semi-chorus
  6. Early One Morning...Contralto solo
  7. The Ash Grove...Unaccompanied chorus
  8. John Peel...Bass solo and chorus
 pub.
1916 solo song The Shepherdess ("She walks, my lady of delight"), for voice and piano (after Alice Meynell) pub.
1917 orchestral Palsgaard, Danish sketches for large orchestra
  1. A Feast-Day Procession
  2. The Pool with the Swans
  3. Sailing up the Fjord
  4. The Book of Sagas
 pub.
1918 solo song An Epitaph, for voice, string quartet & piano (after Elizabeth Cary) pub.
1920 opera The Beggar's Opera, libretto by John Gay, music by Pepusch, arr. Austin pub.
1920 orchestral Incidental music to The Knight of the Burning Pestle by Francis Beaumont, for small orchestra MS
1920 solo song Love's Pilgrimage: Three Songs for voice and piano
  1. Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths (Yeats)
  2. Terre Promise (Ernest Dowson)
  3. Parted Presence (D.G. Rossetti)
 pub.
1921 piano The Enchanted Palace, for piano
  1. The Princess Sings
  2. The Princess Dances
 pub.
1921 solo song To My Fair Lady, for voice and piano pub.
1921 orchestral Incidental music for The Red Lamp by W. Outram Tristram for small orchestra MS
1921 chamber Incidental music to Will Shakespeare by Clemence Dane, for flute, two violins, and cello[5] MS
1922 opera Polly, the sequel to The Beggar's Opera, libretto by Clifford Bax after John Gay, music by Pepusch, arr. Austin pub.
1923 orchestral Incidental music to The Insect Play by Karel Čapek, for small orchestra[6] MS
1923 piano Suite from The Insect Play, for piano
  1. Waltz on themes from the play
  2. One-step
  3. Three-step
 pub.
1923 choral Two May Songs, for unison chorus
  1. Come Listen Awhile
  2. All In The Pleasant Evening
 pub.
1923 solo song Emmeline ("Missing"), for voice and piano (after A. A. Milne)[7] pub.
1924 orchestral Incidental music to The Way of the World by Congreve, for small orchestra[8] pub.
1924 opera The Bandit, comic opera, libretto by Eden Phillpotts (unperformed)
1924 voice and orchestra The Blacksmith's Serenade, humorous scene for voice & ensemble (after Vachel Lindsay) MS; for a made-for-radio short drama, The Blacksmith's Serenade, which was aired by the British Broadcasting Company on 15 January 1924.[9][10]
1924 solo song Two Songs, for unaccompanied voice (after Walter de la Mare)
  1. The Song of Soldiers
  2. Wanderers
 pub.
1924 solo song Christmas Eve, for voice and piano (after John Drinkwater) pub.
1925 opera Robert Burns, a ballad opera, libretto by John Drinkwater[11] MS
1926 solo song Two Songs for voice and piano
  1. Birdlip (Fred. E. Weatherly)
  2. A Brave town is Liverpool (H.E. Hunt)
 pub.
1926 choral Two songs for 4-part chorus
  1. Where Shall the Lover Rest?
  2. Who can live in heart so glad? (Nicholas Breton)
 pub.
1926 chamber [Birth melody], for violin and piano pub.
1927 chamber Sonata for cello and piano MS
1927 solo song Three Wessex Songs, for voice and piano (after Thomas Hardy)
  1. When I Set Out for Lyonnesse
  2. Though Dynasties Pass (In time of 'The breaking of nations')
  3. The Fiddler
 pub.
1929 solo song Three Songs of Unrest, for voice and piano
  1. Margaret
  2. In City Streets (Ada Elizabeth Smith)
  3. The Sleeper's Song (W.H. Davies)
 pub.
1929 choral It Was and Still My Care Is, (Hymn to the Lares) for 4-part unaccompanied male chorus (after Herrick) pub.
1930 ensemble Incidental music for The Devil & the Lady, by Tennyson, for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, timpani and piano[12] MS
1930 solo song All About Me: song cycle for voice and piano (after John Drinkwater)
  1. Invitations
  2. Mr. Moon
  3. The Difference
  4. Puzzles
  5. John Pride
  6. Riding in Rotten Row
 pub.
1930 chorus Song for City of Oxford School,[13] for chorus and piano (after John Drinkwater) pub.
1930 solo song Fond Lover, Cease your Woeful Sighs, for voice and piano (after Clifford Bax)[14] pub.
1931 chorus and orchestra Pervigilium Veneris, for chorus and large orchestra (after Tiberianus) pub.; this was premiered on 8 October 1931 at the Leeds Festival, in the same concert as the premiere of William Walton's Benshazzar's Feast.[15]
1931 solo song The Fair Circassian, for voice and harp (after Richard Garnett) pub.
1931 piano Maids' Delight, Dance Suite for piano
  1. Rigadoon
  2. Running Dance
  3. Jig
 pub.
1932 orchestral Incidental music to Prudence, by Frederick Witney for small orchestra[16] MS
1932 chorus Content, for two-part female chorus (after Thomas Dekker) pub.
1935 chamber The Fairy Ring, for cello and piano (cello part arranged by Herbert Withers)
  1. Titiana
  2. Captain Cockchafer
 pub.
1935 orchestral Overture The Sea Venturers, for large orchestra MS
1936 orchestral Robert Burns concert suite for orchestra, adapted from Austin's 1925 opera MS
1936 solo song The Sailor's Song, for voice and piano (trad.) pub.
1940 choral Four Part-songs for Unaccomanied chorus
  1. Stay, O Sweet (John Donne)
  2. Let Us Now Take Time (Robert Herrick)
  3. Gather Ye Rosebuds(?) (Robert Herrick)
  4. Swedish Drinking song
 pub.
1941 solo song Two Short Songs for bass voice and piano (after Herrick)
  1. Born I Was to be Old (Anacreontike)
  2. Go I Must (To his Tomb-Maker)
 pub.
1943 Film music Film score for Undercover
1943 solo song Serbian Wife's Song, for voice and piano (words by Frederic Austin) pub.
1944 piano and orchestra Concertino for piano & orchestra, arr. piano and strings by ?? in 2008 MS
1949 solo song Orpheus, for voice and piano (after Shakespeare) pub.
1900 ? choral Te Deum, for choir and organ pub.
1914 ?? voice and orchestra The Agincourt Song, for baritone, chorus and orchestra MS
1922 ? piano The Moth: dramatic scene for dancing, for piano (MS has some orchestration indications) MS
1925 ? piano or orchestra Theme & Variations, for two pianos (unfinished). Also partially orchestrated by Austin for large orchestra, performing version (approx. 25 minutes) completed by Jeremy Lee-Browne MS
1935 ? organ Organ Sonata (dedicated to Percy Whitlock) MS
1940 ? choral Tyger, Tyger, for unaccompanied 8-part chorus (after Blake) MS
- piano The Sleeping Beauty, for piano MS
- piano The Garden of Delight: Sketches for a (Chinese) ballet, for piano MS
- solo song Three Scotch Songs, for voice and piano
  1. Cam' ye by Athol
  2. Johnny Cope
  3. Culloden
 pub.
- solo song The Departing Lover ("Sweetest Love, I Do Not Go") for voice and piano (after John Donne) pub.
- solo song Gather Ye Rosebuds, for voice and piano (after Robert Herrick) MS
- solo song Lorna's Song, for voice and piano (after R. D. Blackmore)
- solo song My True Love Hath My Heart, for voice and piano (after Shakespeare) MS
- solo song Three Fool's Songs, for voice and piano (after Max Beerbohm's play 'Savonarola')
  1. "When peas hang green in the garden wall"
  2. "Fly home, sweet self"
  3. "Wear not the ring, it hath an unkind sting"
 MS
- solo song Two 17th Century Lyrics, for high voice and piano
  1. Dirge (after Francis Beaumont)
  2. Morning Song (after Thomas Bateson)
 MS
- orchestral Carnaval (Schumann): arrangement for reduced orchestra
- orchestral Giselle (Adolphe Adam): arrangement for reduced orchestra
- orchestral Les Sylphides, ballet by Glazunov after Chopin: arrangement for reduced orchestra
- orchestral The Rhine Maidens: orchestration of W. G. McNaught's SSA arrangement of the opening scene of Wagner's Rhinegold

A number of popular and novelty songs with music by a certain "Fred Austin" were published by the Lawrence Wright Music Co. during Frederic Austin's lifetime. They include:

  • I do like a Lancashire cocktail
  • I'm going back to Himazas[17]
  • It’s nice to be home again
  • Our heroic family (as sung by Jay Laurier)
  • Some girls (are nicer than others) (as sung by Jack Lane)

Notes

  1. ^ Completed 30 Aug 1900; 1st performance 12 Dec 1901, by Bournemouth Municipal Orch. under Dan Godfrey. Source: original Concert Programme
  2. ^ Austin, Frederic, (arr.) (1909). The Twelve Days of Christmas (Traditional Song). London: Novello. OCLC 1254007259. Novello 13056.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ The autograph MS is in the Grainger Museum, Melbourne University
  4. ^ A copy is held in the National Library of Australia
  5. ^ 1st performance Shaftesbury Theatre, London, 17 Nov. 1921 (Dame Flora Robson's first stage appearance)
  6. ^ Starred Claude Rains, with John Gielgud in his first stage appearance, at the Regent Theatre, London
  7. ^ Milne wrote many of the poems that make up When We Were Very Young on a family holiday with the Playfairs in North Wales in 1923; Austin was also staying there. See A.A. Milne, Autobiography (1939), p. 278
  8. ^ The cast included Dame Edith Evans as Millamant.
  9. ^ "An Evening of Plays". The Radio Times. Vol. 2, no. 16. 11 January 1924. p. 91.
  10. ^ "Plays by Wireless". The Radio Times. Vol. 2, no. 16. 11 January 1924. p. 89.
  11. ^ An advance notice appeared in the New York Times, 16 July 1922
  12. ^ Tennyson's juvenile play was 1st. pub. in 1930. Staged at the Arts Theatre, London. The part of Pharmaceutis was played by Alan Napier.
  13. ^ City of Oxford School merged with another school in approx. 1988 to form Oxford School, Glanville Rd, Cowley, Oxford.
  14. ^ From Bax's play, The Immortal Lady (1930 or 1931)
  15. ^ Stephen Lloyd, William Walton: Muse of Fire
  16. ^ Gwen Berryman, who later played Doris Archer in the BBC radio serial The Archers for many years, appeared in this production. Gänzl, p. 368.
  17. ^ An online copy (catalogued under Frederic Austin) is available at the National Library of Australia.

Sources

  • Lee-Browne, Martin (1999), Nothing So Charming As Musick! London: Thames Publishing ISBN 0-905210-97-2
  • Gänzl, Kurt: British Musical Theatre, vol. 2 (1915–1984), Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-520509-X