Frank Bridge (February 26, 1879 – January 10, 1941) was an English composer. February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1879 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK... A composer is a person who writes music. ...

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. Brighton on the southern Sussex coast is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. ... The Royal College of Music from Prince Consort Road, London The front facade of the RCM The Royal College of Music is a prestigious music school located in Kensington, London. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Charles Villiers Stanford Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (September 30, 1852 - 29 March 1924) was an Irish composer. ... The viola (in French, alto; in German Bratsche) is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the lighter violin (soprano register) and the lower lines played by the heavier cello (bass) and double bass. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... See Conductor for other possible uses of the word. ... Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 1869 - 19 August 1944) was a British orchestral conductor, the founder of the famous Promenade Concerts. ... Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge (30 October 1864 - 4 November 1953), born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) was a British composer, conductor and pianist. ... // Eastbourne is a medium-sized town in East Sussex, on the south coast of Great Britain, with a population, according to the 2001 census, of around 90,000. ...

Works

Among Bridge's works are the orchestral The Sea (1911), Oration (1930) for cello and orchestra 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. However, his works also show harmonic influences by Maurice Ravel and especially Alexander Scriabin.
One of his most characterictic 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 (1922-5). He wrote this work to the memory of Ernest Farrar. Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... The Second Viennese School was a group of composers made up of Arnold Schoenberg and those who studied under him in early 20th century Vienna. ... Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 – December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist, known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his music and generally considered to be one of the major composers of the 20th century. ... Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (Russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Скря́бин, Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin; sometimes transliterated as Skryabin or Skrjabin) (6 January 1872–27 April 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist. ... A minor scale in musical theory is a diatonic scale whose third scale degree is an interval of a minor third above the tonic. ... D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F#, G, A, B, C# and D. Its key signature consists of two sharps. ... A piano sonata is a sonata written for unaccompanied piano. ... Ernest Bristow Farrar (July 7, 1885 - 1918) was an English composer, pianist and organist, born in Lewisham. ...

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 cello sonata in D minor (1913-7). In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for time) is the speed or pace of a given piece. ... A cello sonata usually denotes a sonata written for cello and piano, though other instrumentations are used, such as solo cello. ... D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B-flat, C-sharp, and D (harmonic minor scale). ...

External links

• Frank Bridge pages Includes catalog of works, selective discography, biography