Frederick Bridge

Sir John Frederick Bridge (5 December 1844 – 18 March 1924) was an English organist, composer, teacher and writer.

From a musical family, Bridge became a church organist before he was 20, and he achieved his ambition to become a cathedral organist by the age of 24, at Manchester Cathedral. After six years there, he was invited to become organist at Westminster Abbey, where he remained for the rest of his career. He instituted several changes to modernise and improve the music-making at the Abbey and organised the music for several state occasions, including two coronations.

As a teacher and lecturer, Bridge held posts at the Royal College of Music, Gresham College and the University of London. His students included the composers Arthur Benjamin and Noel Gay, the organists Edward Bairstow and Herbert Brewer, the conductor Landon Ronald and the early music pioneer Arnold Dolmetsch. His public lectures at Gresham College attracted large audiences, and they covered a wide range of subjects and musical periods.

For 25 years, Bridge was conductor of the Royal Choral Society, with whom he performed many new works, including some of his own compositions and works by the British composers Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Parry.

Life and career

Early years

Bridge was born in Oldbury, then in Worcestershire, in central England, the eldest son of John Bridge and his wife, Rebecca née Cox. In 1850, his father was appointed a vicar-choral of Rochester Cathedral. Young Bridge was admitted to the cathedral choir as a "practising boy" (that is, a probationer). The choirboys were educated by another of the vicars-choral. The régime was severe in discipline and rudimentary in curriculum, but among the alumni of the choir school of this period were future organists of four English cathedrals and of Westminster Abbey.

Bridge first participated in a great national commemoration in 1852, when, aged eight, he was allowed to help toll the cathedral bell to mark the death of the Duke of Wellington. During his time at Windsor, Bridge passed the examination for the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists, in 1867, and took his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Oxford.

Under Bridge's leadership musical standards of the cathedral were improved, and the unsatisfactory old organ was replaced. The state of the existing instrument was described by The Manchester Guardian as "not only discreditable to Churchmen, but especially objectionable when existing in the cathedral church of a wealthy diocese.". The churchwarden, William Houldsworth gave £5,000, and a magnificent new instrument was built by Hill and Sons of London. | According to a younger organist, Sir Walter Alcock, Bridge fulfilled those hopes: "He reformed many unsound traditions in the choir, such as life-tenure of posts as vicars-choral and inadequate rehearsal of boys and men together. The services soon became renowned through his marked gifts as a trainer of boys' voices." and Alcock's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography article states, "Because of his persuasive style and apt illustrations, his lectures drew large audiences." Herbert Brewer, Arnold Dolmetsch, Noel Gay, Lloyd Powell and Landon Ronald. Parry was chosen, and Bridge and the others continued to serve under him.

Bridge's enthusiasms were many and varied. His lectures at Gresham College were well known for the wide range of topics he covered. His articles for the musical press showed a similar variety; some examples are: "Purcell and Nicola Matteis"; "Samuel Pepys – A Lover of Musicke"; "A Seventeenth Century View of Musical Education"; and "The Musical Cries of London in Shakespeare's Time". In 1899 he was a pioneer of authentic performance of Handel's score for Messiah, purging it of 18th and 19th century reorchestrations.

Bridge's range of enthusiasms caused some carping. The Times commented: There have been those who said that he was not a great organist, and who disputed the accuracy of his scholarship. Perhaps it is not possible to do all the things Sir Frederick Bridge did and do them all well. He never claimed that he did them all well; he claimed that he did them, and took an immense delight in doing and in talking about it afterwards. … "Spy's" well-known cartoon of him, with "Basso Continuo" under his arm and Pepys's Diary protruding from his pocket, exactly describes him. Pepys was his lifelong friend, and, like him, Bridge went through life dwelling on the things that did please him mightily."

Personal life Bridge was married three times, first, in 1872, to Constance Ellen Moore (d. 1879); second, in 1883, to Helen Mary Flora Amphlett (d. 1906), and third, in 1914, to Marjory Wedgwood Wood (d. 1929). There were a son and a daughter of the first marriage, and a daughter of the second. for ″valued services recently rendered in connection with the coronation (of King Edward VII)″, and promoted to a Commander of the order (CVO) in 1911. He was awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Durham (1905) and Toronto (1908). 1904 - The England of to-morrow 1913 - Bells, bells, what did you say?, Christmas song 1918 - A song of England, two-part song 1921 - The coming of Christmas 1921 - Green grows the holly tree

Organ

1885 - Sonata in D 1896 - Meditation, for organ or harmonium

Scores and manuscripts

Novello, Ewer & Co., London, published vocal scores of The Ballad of "The Clampherdown", Boadicea, Callirhoë, The Cradle of Christ, The Flag of England, Forging the Anchor, The Frogs and the Ox, He giveth his Belovèd Sleep, Hymn to the Creator, The Inchcape Rock, The Lobster's Garden Party, The Lord's Prayer, Mount Moriah, The Repentance of Nineveh, Rock of Ages, Katawampus Kanticles and The Spider and the Fly. Metzler & Co., London, issued the vocal score of The Festival. Bosworth & Co., London, issued the vocal score of The Star of the East.

Autograph manuscripts of Boadicea, The Flag of England, The Frogs and the Ox, God Save the Queen, The Inchcape Rock, Kings shall see and arise, The Lord's Prayer, the Magnificat in G, The Repentance of Nineveh, Rejoice in the Lord and Rock of Ages are held by the Library of the Royal College of Music, London (Add. Mss 5048).

Books In addition to several educational works for Novello & Co, Bridge published two books based on his lectures, Samuel Pepys, Lover of Musicke (1903) and Twelve Good Musicians from John Bull to Henry Purcell (1920), as well as a substantial volume of memoirs, A Westminster Pilgrim (1918).

Notes and references