- Haydn Wood
Haydn Wood (
March 25 ,1882 –March 11 ,1959 ) was a 20th century Englishcomposer and a respectedviolinist .Life
Haydn Wood was born in the
Yorkshire town ofSlaithwaite on March 25, 1882. At aged three his family moved to theIsle of Man , an island which was often a source of inspiration for the composer. At aged 15, he went to study the violin withEnrique Fernandez Arbos and composition withCharles Villiers Stanford at theRoyal College of Music .From 1913 to 1926, he toured extensively with the soprano [http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/whowaswho/C/CourtDorothy.htm Dorothy Court] whom he married in 1909. He also gained considerable success from his works, particularly his songs. From 1939, he served as a director of the
Performing Right Society .On the occasion of his 70th birthday he was given a full concert dedicated to his music by the
BBC . He died in a London nursing home on March 11, 1959, two weeks before his 77th birthday.Works
Haydn Wood was a prolific composer of orchestral music, including 15 suites, 9 rhapsodies, 8 overtures, 3 concertante pieces and nearly 50 other assorted works, including 180 individual songs.
His orchestral pieces were primarily of the "
light music " style; a well known piece of his is the three-movement "Fantasy-Concerto". Another is his "London Landmarks Suite", particularly "Horse Guards, Whitehall". In 1916, he composed the popular song "Roses of Picardy" for his wife. After a time writing popular music, Wood began to writemusical comedy ; his best-known piece of this genre is the musical play "Tina".The
tone poem _gv. "Mannin Veen" (Manx for "DearIsle of Man ") was based on four Manx folk tunes, and is one of two works written originally forwind band by Wood. The work is also occasionally performed in its orchestral version.External links
* [http://www.haydnwoodmusic.com/homepage.htm Biography, discography, "Roses of Picardy"]
* [http://www.rfsoc.org.uk/hwood.shtml Biography at the Robert Farnon Society]
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