Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge (26 February 1879 – 10 January 1941) was an English composer.

Life

Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others. He played the viola in a number of string quartets, most notably the English String Quartet, and conducted, sometimes deputising for Henry Wood, before devoting himself to composition, receiving the patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. He privately tutored a number of pupils, most famously Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher's music and paid homage to him in the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (1937), based on a theme from the second of Bridge's Three Idylls for String Quartet (1906). Bridge died in Eastbourne.

Music

Among Bridge's works are the orchestral The Sea (1911), Oration (1930) for cello and orchestra (recorded in 1976 by Julian Lloyd Webber) and the opera The Christmas Rose (premiered 1932), but he is perhaps most highly regarded today for his chamber music. His early works are in a late-Romantic idiom, but later pieces such as the third (1926) and fourth (1937) string quartets are harmonically advanced and very distinctive, showing the influence of the Second Viennese School. His works also show harmonic influences by Maurice Ravel and especially Alexander Scriabin.
One of his most characteristic harmonies is the Bridge chord, for instance C minor and D major sounding at the same time, very poignant in There Is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook and the Piano Sonata (1922–25). He wrote this work to the memory of Ernest Farrar.

One of his most famous works is a piece for violin called Moto perpetuo (written 1900, revised 1911). Other frequently performed works are the Adagio in E for organ, Rosemary for piano, and the masterful Cello Sonata in D minor (1913–17). The Scherzetto for cello and piano was rediscovered in the library of London's Royal College of Music by the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

Although many refer to Bridge's late style as relating to that of the Second Viennese School, they are misguided. Analysis reveals techniques akin to Stravinsky through the use of the octatonic scale and many palindromic techniques. There are in fact five Bridge Chords that can be found frequenting the late idiom. These are all readily accessible through the British Library via the PhD of Robin Harrison (University of Wales Bangor).^{[citation needed]}

Works

See List of compositions by Frank Bridge.

External links

• The Lied and Art Song Texts Page created and mantained from Emily Ezust Original texts of the songs of Bridge translated in various languages.
• Free scores by Frank Bridge in the International Music Score Library Project
• FRANK BRIDGE (1879-1941)COMPOSER, COURAGEOUS REVOLUTIONARY AND PACIFIST by Rob Barnett MusicWeb International
• Frank Bridge pages Includes catalog of works, selective discography, biography
• Frank Bridge-sound-bites and discussion of several of chamber music works
• "Title index to songs and shorter instrumental works published by Thames Publishing". The Frank Bridge Bequest. http://www.cph.rcm.ac.uk/CPHBridge/Pages/Titleindex.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-17.  Supplements the above list of major works.
• 'Britten and Bridge', lecture and performance investigating the relation between the two composers, Gresham College, 5 February 2008 (available for download as text, audio or video file).
• PhD - The Late Style of Frank Bridge by Robin Harrison University of Wales Bangor (robin.harrison@talk21.com)
• Frank Bridge: A Life in Brief by Trevor Bray Biography and complete list of works