Bridge, Sir (John) Frederick
Bridge, Sir (John) Frederick
Bridge, Sir (John) Frederick, English organist, conductor, and composer, brother of Joseph (Cox) Bridge; b. Oldbury, near Birmingham, Dec. 5, 1844; d. London, March 18, 1924. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to John Hopkins, organist of Rochester Cathedral, and later studied under John Goss. He was principal organist at Westminster Abbey (1882–1918), and took the degree of D.Mus. at Oxford in 1874 with his oratorio Mount Moriah. He then taught harmony and organ at various music schools, including the Royal Coll. of Music (from 1883). He was conductor of the Highbury Phil. Soc. (1878–86), the Madrigal Soc, and the Royal Choral Soc. (1896–1922); also served as chairman of Trinity Coll. of Music. He was knighted in 1897. He publ, primers on counterpoint, canon, organ accompaniment, and other subjects; also A Course of Harmony (with Sawyer; 1899), Samuel Pepys, Lover of Music (1903), an autobiography, A Westminster Pilgrim (1918), 12 Good Musicians from John Bull to Henry Purcell (1920), The Old Cry es of London (1921), and Shakespearean Music in the Plays and Early Operas (1923); also ed. selected motets of Orlando Gibbons (1907).
Works
4 cantatas: Boadicea (1880), Rock of Ages (1885), Callirrhoe (1888), and The Lobster’s Garden Party, or The Selfish Shellfish (1904); dramatic oratorio, The Repentance of Nineveh (Worcester, 1890); concert overture, Morte d’Arthur (1896); choral ballades.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire