Lionel Monckton

Lionel John Alexander Monckton (18 December 1861 – 15 February 1924) was an English composer of musical theatre. He became Britain's most popular composer of Edwardian musical comedy in the early years of the 20th century.

Life and career

Early life Monckton was born in London, the eldest son of the Town Clerk of London, Sir John Braddick Monckton, and Lady Monckton, the former Maria Louisa Long (1837–1920), an "enthusiastic amateur actress". His sister was Mrs Augusta Moore, who wrote popular novels as Martin J. Pritchard.

He was educated at Charterhouse School and Oriel College at Oxford University, graduating in 1885. There he acted in college theatrical productions and composed music for productions of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, of which he was a founder, and the Phil-Thespian Club. He initially joined the legal profession at Lincoln's Inn and began to practise law, but gained part-time work as a songwriter and a theatre and music critic, first for the Pall Mall Gazette and later for the Daily Telegraph. His first theatre work was Mummies and Marriage, an operetta produced by amateurs in 1888. At the age of 29, in 1891, he finally managed to place the song "What will you have to Drink?", with lyrics by Basil Hood, in a professional musical burlesque called Cinder Ellen up too Late. After this, his songs were included in several other London shows.

The "Girl" musicals were followed by a number of "Boy" musicals, again with hit songs by Monckton, including The Messenger Boy in 1900 ("Maisie", "In the Wash", and "When the Boys Come Home Once More") and The Toreador in 1901 ("Captivating Cora", "I'm Romantic", "When I Marry Amelia", "Keep Off the Grass", and "Archie"). Monckton's songs continued to be performed long after the shows closed – some of them remaining popular into the 1960s.

At the same time, Monckton also contributed songs for the musicals playing at Edwardes's Daly's Theatre, which tended more towards romantic comedies, than the light musicals presented at the Gaiety. For Daly's Theatre, he usually collaborated with Sidney Jones, supplying numbers for hits such as The Geisha in 1896 ("Jack's the Boy" and "The Toy Monkey"); A Greek Slave in 1898 ("I Want to Be Popular", "I Should Rather Like to Try", and "What Will Be the End of It?"); and San Toy in 1899 ("Rhoda and Her Pagoda", and "Sons of the Motherland"). Monckton's music was generally arranged and orchestrated by theatre conductor Carl Kiefert. Like The Geisha, A Country Girl and Our Miss Gibbs, it became popular in America and elsewhere and included songs such as "The Pipes of Pan", "The Girl with the Brogue", and "All Down Piccadilly", which "held their own with the melodies of the now fashionable Viennese operetta as the song hits of the period." and even into the later half of the 20th century, in the case of his most popular shows.

Monckton died in his London home at the age of 62; he is buried in Brompton Cemetery. His estate was valued at £79,518. Later the same year his widow married William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley.

Principal shows and original runs

A Country Girl (1902) – 729 performances The Cingalee (1904) – 391 performances The Spring Chicken (1905) – 401 performances The Girls of Gottenberg (1907) – 303 performances Our Miss Gibbs (1909) – 636 performances The Arcadians (1909) – 809 performances. The Quaker Girl (1910) – 536 performances The Boy (1917) – 801 performances

This list includes only the shows where Monckton was the principal composer. Many of the shows to which he contributed songs also had very long runs.

Recordings The Arcadians has been recorded in excerpt form on LP and complete on CD by Ohio Light Opera. Recordings by Gwen Catley and Marilyn Hill Smith of numbers from Our Miss Gibbs and The Quaker Girl have been issued on CD. The first CD recording dedicated to selections of Monckton's works (also including music by Howard Talbot and Paul Rubens) was released by Divine Art in 2003: The Monckton Album by Theatre Bel-Etage, conductor Mart Sander. Selections from The Arcadians, The Quaker Girl and The Cingalee are featured on this album.

In 2008, Hyperion released an audio CD recording of songs from many of Monckton's shows entitled Lionel Monckton (1861–1924): Songs from the Shows. It features performers Richard Suart and Catherine Bott accompanied by the New London Orchestra and the New London Light Opera Chorus, conducted by Ronald Corp. The CD includes numbers from The Arcadians, A Country Girl, A Runaway Girl, The Toreador, The Messenger Boy, The Orchid, The Circus Girl, The Shop Girl, The Mousmé, The Quaker Girl, The Girls of Gottenberg, and Our Miss Gibbs. Many of the selections feature lyrics penned by Monckton himself under the pseudonym Leslie Mayne.