Henry Coward
Sir Henry Coward (26 November 1849 – 10 June 1944) was a British conductor and composer. Born in Liverpool to parents in the entertainment industry, Coward took an apprenticeship to a cutler in Sheffield. Educating himself, he became a teacher and soon a headteacher. Coward's interest in music developed from a tonic sol-fa class, and in 1876 he founded the Sheffield Tonic Sol-fa Association. This was renamed the Sheffield Musical Union, and Coward was its director until 1933. His choral legacy is still visible in Sheffield, following Sheffield Music Union's 1937 merger with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, a choir which still performs to this day. In 1889, Coward obtained a B.Mus. degree at the University of Oxford, and in 1894, became a Doctor of Music. He returned to Sheffield, where he became the chorus master of the Sheffield Music Festival. He conducted societies in Leeds, Huddersfield, Newcastle and Glasgow, and toured worldwide with the Sheffield Choir. He also taught music at Sheffield Training College and lectured at the University of Sheffield. In 1897, having established a reputation for conducting large numbers of singers in Sheffield parks, he was invited to oversee a gathering of 60,000 school-children in Norfolk Park in Sheffield, to entertain Queen Victoria. Dan Godfrey wrote that "it is doubtful whether England has ever produced a better or more gifted choir trainer than Coward... He has evolved, formulated and put into practice a method of choral technique which has had the result of bringing about a revival of singing in chorus which has spread through the whole Empire." After World War I, Henry Coward faced criticism for being unable to conduct an orchestra, but was knighted in 1926 and, from 1929 to 1944, served as President of the Tonic Sol-fa College in London. A Blue plaque at 6 Kenwood Road, Nether Edge In Sheffield where he lived between 1931 and 1944. Coward was a white supremacist who campaigned against jazz, describing it as "atavistic, lowering, degrading and a racial question ... composed of ... unquestionably grotesque forms." Coward was an active Freemason being initiated in Furnival Lodge No.2558 Sheffield in 1896 and becoming a founding member of University Lodge No.3911 Sheffield in 1919. Sir Henry Coward died in 1944, aged 94. |
Birth and Death Data: Born November 26, 1849 (Liverpool), Died June 10, 1944
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1912 - 1926
Roles Represented in DAHR: conductor
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Columbia | 6236 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Halleluja chorus | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6238 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Glory to God in the highest | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6239 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Fire, fire, my heart | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6240 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | I'm going to my lonely bed | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6242 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | And the glory of the Lord | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6243 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | For unto us a child is born | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6244 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Surely he hath borne our grief | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6245 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | You stole my love | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6246 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Moonlight, part 1 | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6247 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Moonlight, part 2 | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6248 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Scenes from the Bavarian highlands : Dance | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6249 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Scenes from the Bavarian highlands : Lullaby | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6250 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | His yoke is easy | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6251 | 12-in. | approximately 1912 | Bells of St. Michael's tower | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6310 | 12-in. | approximately 1913 | On Himalay | Henry Coward ; Sheffield Choir | Chorus | conductor | |
Columbia | 6312 | 12-in. | approximately 1913 | Nightingale madrigal | Henry Coward ; Sheffield Choir | Female vocal chorus | conductor | |
Columbia | 6313 | 12-in. | approximately 1913 | The long day closes | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Chorus, with piano | conductor | |
Columbia | 6314 | 12-in. | approximately 1913 | A Franklynne's dog | Henry Coward ; Sheffield & Leeds United Choir | Male vocal chorus | conductor | |
Columbia (U.K.) | WAX1148 | 12-in. | between October and December 1925 | Hallelujah chorus | Henry Coward ; Sheffield Choir | Vocal chorus, with orchestra | conductor | |
Columbia (U.K.) | WAX1530 | 12-in. | between April and June 1926 | His yoke is easy and his burthen light | Henry Coward ; Sheffield Choir | Vocal chorus, with organ and orchestra | conductor | |
Columbia (U.K.) | WAX1531 | 12-in. | between April and June 1926 | Lift up your heads | Henry Coward ; Sheffield Choir | Vocal chorus, with organ and orchestra | conductor |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Coward, Henry," accessed November 5, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/357020.
Coward, Henry. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 5, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/357020.
"Coward, Henry." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 5 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Henry Coward
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Coward, Henry, 1849-1944 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no93011095
Wikidata: Henry Coward - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5719907
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
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