Leslie, Henry (David)
Leslie, Henry (David)
Leslie, Henry (David), English conductor and composer; b. London, June 18, 1822; d. Llansaintfraid, near Oswestry, Feb. 4, 1896. He was a student of Charles Lucas, and then began his career as a cellist in the Sacred Harmonic Soc. In 1847 he became active with the Amateur Musical Soc, and later was its conductor. With Heming, he founded an a cappella singing soc. in 1855, which eventually evolved into the Henry Leslie Choir. In 1878 his choir won the International Choral Competition at the Paris Exhibition. The choir was disbanded in 1887. From 1863 to 1889 Leslie was also conductor of the Herefordshire Phil. Soc, and from 1864 to 1866 principal of the National Coll. of Music He wrote the operas Romance, or Bold Dick Turpin (1857) and Ida (1864), the oratorios Immanuel (1853) and Judith (1858), the cantatas Holyrood (1860) and Daughter of the Isles (1861), the biblical pastoral The First Christian Morn (1880), a Sym., and the overture The Templar.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire