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Discussion on NJ4237
This contemporary appreciation of Sir Frederick Bridge appeared in WHO's WHO IN MUSSIC (1913-15):
BRIDGE, Sir John Frederick, organist, composer, and conductor ; b. Oldbury, near Birmingham, Worcestershire, 5 Dec., 1844. His father, John Bridge, was not at that time connected with the famous old cathedral of Rochester that is now so intimately associated with his name. Six years later, in 1850, he became vicar-choral, and his son, not yet out of the nursery became a probationary chorister under Dr. John L. Hopkins, cousin of the more famous " E. J." It is a remarkable fact that among his fellow-choristers were no less than four other future cathedral organists : Armes of Durham, Crow of Ripon, Wood of Exeter, and his own brother Joseph of Chester, and now professor of Music at Durham University. A no less notable name was that of Joseph Maas, by whose premature death the world of music suffered a severe loss. The first notable event in his life, or nearly so, was his singing at the opening of the Crystal Palace, when Costa conducted the National Anthem in the presence of Queen Victoria and the little boy who was in time to be King Edward VII. While still living at Rochester, young Bridge accepted his first organ appointment, viz., at Shorne, a village 5 miles off. A year later he rose another step, and became organist of Strood parish church, and there he remained three years, until he became, in 1865, organist of Holy Trinity, Windsor; while here he took some further lessons from Sir John Goss, and in 1868 he took his Bachelor degree at Oxford, having previously taken his Fellowship (one of the first so taken) by examination of a newly-formed body, entitled The College of Organists, for it had not then attained the dignity of a Royal Charter. At last, in 1869, he achieved his early ambition, and became organist of Manchester Cathedral, where he remained for six years, during which period he became Doctor of Music and Professor of Harmony at Owens College ; six years later the road lay open to what may fairly be called the blue ribbon of English cathedral organist-ships. In August, 1875, he was appointed permanent deputy-organist of Westminster Abbey, under James Turle, and, seven years later, upon Turle's death, he became, at thirty-seven years of age, organist and master of the choristers of England's principal abbey. His energies, however, were not limited to the services of the Church, for he had accepted in 1878 the conductorship of the Highbury Philharmonic Society, as well as the Western Madrigal Society ; he is also conductor of perhaps the most venerable of all such bodies, the Madrigal Society; he has been Examiner for the R.C.O., the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, and Durham, and was in 1890 appointed Gresham Professor of Music. In 1896 he accepted the conductorship of the Royal Choral Society, vacated by the death of Barnby, and the following year he received the honour of knighthood. To enumerate the many historical services at which he has officiated would be impossible. The 1887 and 1897 Jubilees came first, but equal to them in importance were the never-to-be-forgotten Coronations of King Edward and His present Majesty; for these State ceremonies he received the Queen's Jubilee Medal and Clasp, and the M.V.O. After the Coronation of King George V he was promoted to be Commander of the Order (C.V.O.). In 1902 he was appointed King Edward Professor of Music in the University of London. His compositions include " Mount Moriah," oratoria, 1874; " Boadicea," cantata, Highbury Philharmonic Society, 1880; " Hymn to the Creator," Highbury, 1883, and Worcester, 1884 ; " Rock of Ages " (Gladstone's Latin translation), Birmingham Festival, 1885; " Callirhoe " cantata, Birmingham, 1888 ; " The Repentance of Nineveh ” oratorio, Worcester, 1890 ; " The Lord's Prayer " (from Plumpton's version of Dante's " Purgatorio "), Gloucester, 1892 ; " The Cradle of Christ," Hereford, 1894; choral ballads, "The Festival," " The Inchcape Bell," " The Flag of England," "The Forging of the Anchor," and " The Ballad of the Champion " ; concert overture," Morte d' Arthur," Birmingham, 1886 ; chamber music and sonatas for organ ; songs from Shakespeare, and a number of anthems and odes for State occasions. He is also a writer on theoretical and other musical subjects of exceptional erudition, including works on Counterpoint, Double Counterpoint, and Organ Accompaniment. He has, in his hours of leisure, compiled " The Shakespeare Birthday Book of Musicians," published by Messrs. Bosworth, containing a musical quotation from Shakespeare for every day in the year, together with the birthdays of eminent British and foreign musicians. He was married first, in 1872, to Constance Ellen, daughter of J. L. Moore, and second, in 1883, to Helen Mary Flora, daughter of E. Amphlett, by whose lamented death, in 1907, Sir Frederick Bridge was a second time left a widower. He has one son and two daughters, one of whom, Rosalind, is married to Dr. Edward Stainer, son of Sir John Stainer. Recreations : Fishing and shooting. Address : The Cloisters, Westminster Abbey ; Cairnborrow Lodge, Glass, N.B. Club : Athenaeum.