Charles Hubert Hastings Parry

Born Feb. 27, 1848, in Bournemouth; died Oct. 7, 1918, in Rustington. English composer, teacher, musicologist, and patron of the arts. Student of W. S. Bennett, H. H. Pierson, and E. Dannreuther and founder of the movement for the rebirth of national English music.

Parry taught at the Royal College of Music in London from 1883 to 1908. He became a professor there in 1891 and the college’s director in 1894. From 1900 to 1908 he was also a professor at Oxford University. He was chairman of many English music societies.

Parry’s oratorios, cantatas, and choruses on ancient and biblical themes were composed in the tradition of G. F. Handel. Examples include Scenes From Shelley’s “Prometheus Unbound” (1880; first composition), Judith, Job, and King Saul. Parry also wrote five symphonies, overtures, instrumental and vocal ensembles, church music, and music for the theater. Among his books are Studies of Great Composers (1886), The Art of Music (1893; 2nd ed.: The Evolution of the Art of Music, 1896), and Summary of the History and Development of Medieval and Modern European Music (1893).