Sidney Jones

James Sidney Jones (17 June 1861 – 29 January 1946), usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, who was most famous for composing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods. Jones's most famous musical was The Geisha, but several of his pieces were among the most popular shows of the era, enjoying long runs, international tours and revivals.

In 1892, after nine years of conducting touring companies of British operettas for Alfred Cellier and George Edwardes, Edwardes engaged Jones to conduct several operettas and musical comedies in London. Jones had begun composing incidental music and supplemental songs for some of the shows he conducted and even wrote scores of his own in 1889 and 1892. In 1893, one of his songs, "Linger Longer, Loo", composed for the 1892 burlesque Don Juan at the Gaiety Theatre, became popular throughout the English-speaking world.

Jones's first hit show was A Gaiety Girl (1893), one of the first major successes of the Edwardian musical comedy genre. A series of Jones hits followed: An Artist's Model (1894), The Geisha (1896), A Greek Slave (1898) and San Toy (1899). After this, Jones had less frequent and intense successes, but his more popular shows included My Lady Molly (1902), See See (1906), King of Cadonia (1908), The Girl from Utah (1913) and The Happy Day (1916).

Life and career

Jones was born in Islington, London. His father, James Sidney Jones, Sr. (1837–1914) originally of Suffolk, was a military bandmaster. His mother was Ann Jones, née Eycott. As a child, Jones moved frequently as his father was transferred to new military stations in England and Ireland. The young Jones learned to play a variety of instruments in the band. In Dublin, he studied with Sir Robert Stewart (1825–1894) of Trinity College. The family later moved to Leeds, where his father became conductor of the Leeds Rifles, was the musical director of the Leeds Grand Theatre and later conducted a band and the Spa Orchestra at Harrogate. Jones was the eldest son and second of six children. His youngest brother, Guy Sidney Jones (1875–1959), also became a conductor and composer whose musical scores included The Gay Gordons (1907).

In 1885, Jones married Kate Linley, an actress, and the couple produced five children.

Early career Jones gained his first professional experience playing the clarinet in his father's band and orchestra. He also gave piano lessons. In 1882, he was hired as a conductor for tours of operettas and other musical theatre pieces, such as Robert Planquette's Les Cloches de Corneville In 1886, actress/producer Kate Santley engaged Jones as musical director for the tour of her musical Vetah. The song became popular throughout the English-speaking world and inspired a drawing by Toulouse-Lautrec of Yvette Guilbert singing it. The piece figures prominently in Anton Chekhov's popular short story, The Lady with the Dog, and it was adapted as a Russian film in 1959 that featured its music, including "The Amorous Goldfish". As musical director at the Empire Theatre, Jones wrote the ballets, The Bugle Call (1905) and Cinderella (1906), which was danced at Christmas-time. Later, back at the light-hearted Gaiety Theatre, with The Girl from Utah in 1913, and at Daly's Theatre, with The Happy Day in 1916, Jones achieved two last successes. However, Jones, like his sometime collaborator Lionel Monckton, fell victim to changing musical fashions around the time of World War I, such as syncopated dance rhythms like ragtime, and retired from composition. 1905 The Bugle Call (ballet) 1906 Cinderella (ballet) 1906 See See 1908 King of Cadonia 1909 A Persian Princess 1913 The Girl from Utah 1916 The Happy Day