Roger Quilter

An English composer by birth, Roger Quilter received his early schooling at Eton before enrolling at Frankfurt’s Hoch Conservatory, where he trained with Knorr. Alongside Grainger, Scott, Balfour Gardiner and O’Neill he helped establish the circle later known as the Frankfort Group. By the opening years of the twentieth century his reputation as a songwriter had reached London audiences, and recitalists such as Denham Price and Gervase Elwes regularly programmed Songs of the Sea together with To Julia. Light orchestral scores added further acclaim, none more so than the widely performed A Children’s Overture. The opera Julia, by contrast, failed to win favor, leaving his songs as the works for which he is chiefly recalled. Quilter favored music of a light and graceful character and sustained a refined, seemingly spontaneous manner; yet the act of composing remained laborious, punctuated by bouts of poor health and despondency that found expression in Songs of Sorrow. Possessing independent means, he also acted as a generous supporter of fellow musicians.