Quilter, Roger (Cuthbert)

(b Hove, 1 Nov 1877; d London, 21 Sept 1953). English composer, best known for his songs. Quilter came from a wealthy family and was educated at Eton (which he hated), and at the Hoch conservatory, Frankfurt (c1897–c1901). He studied the piano there with Ernst Engesser, and, privately, composition with Ivan Knorr, who also taught Balfour Gardiner, Percy Grainger, Norman O'Neill and Cyril Scott. Though not there at the same time, these became known as the Frankfurt Group; as a group they were not influential, but individually they each made a distinctive contribution to contemporary musical life.

In March 1901, Quilter came to prominence as a songwriter, when Denham Price sang the Four Songs of the Sea at the Crystal Palace. For many years, major singers of the day took up his songs: Harry Plunket Greene, Ada Crossley, John Coates, and especially Gervase Elwes, who in 1905 gave the first performance of the song cycle To Julia, with Quilter accompanying. A founder member and benefactor of the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, set up in memory of Elwes' death in 1921, Quilter served on its committee until his death. Elwes ensured popularity for Quilter's songs; consequently, little other than songs was expected of him, and he seldom wrote for any other medium. A notable exception was the incidental music for the children's fairy play Where the Rainbow Ends, revived regularly at Christmas-time after its première in 1911. A Children's Overture (based on Walter Crane's illustrated book, A Baby's Opera) was originally intended as its prelude, and after revision was first performed at the Proms in 1919. Its felicitous weaving of skilfully orchestrated nursery rhymes made it very popular, and the BBC included it in its first broadcast concert, on 23 December 1922.

In 1934, Quilter made recordings of 17 of his songs with Mark Raphael. A light opera, The Blue Boar, was broadcast by the BBC in 1933 and another, Julia (a substantial reworking), was produced at Covent Garden in 1936. Neither was a success, although a memorable tune emerged in the waltz song Love Calls Through the Summer Night, fully in the tradition of British light music.

Quilter was frequently ill, and he found composition difficult, despite the polished grace and ease of the finished works. His wide circle of artistic friends included poets and painters, and he was close to Robert Allerton, the American millionaire philanthropist, before World War I. Diffident, well-travelled and cultured, his musical tastes ranged from Bach to Sullivan and Stravinsky. In later life he had severe psychological illness, and it is alleged that he was blackmailed for his homosexuality. He gave discreet financial help to young musicians, and in the 1930s further used his wealth to sponsor Jews fleeing Austria.

Despite his German training, Quilter's style was indisputably English, and his wistful lyricism was characterized by chromatic harmonies and highly vocal melodic lines. His songs rise well above the banality of the Edwardian ballad; they were extremely well known over a long period, and were regularly broadcast for 30 years, though most of the best were written before 1923. Many of his works were arranged for various popular combinations, both by himself and others. He excelled in small musical forms. Quilter's music has a lyrical charm, and Warlock acknowledged a debt to him more than once.

WORKS

songs complete, remainder selective

MSS in GB-Lbl, Boosey & Hawkes, London, and various personal holdings

Songs

for solo voice and piano unless otherwise stated

op.

—	Should one of us Remember (C. Rosetti), 1897, unpubd
—	Two songs (R. Quinton [Quilter]) (1897): Come Spring! Sweet Spring!, The Reign of the Stars
1	Four Songs of the Sea (Quilter) (1901): I have a Friend, The Sea-Bird, Moonlight, By the Sea; rev. as 3 Songs of the Sea (1911), omitting 1st song
2	Four Songs of Mirza Schaffy (F. Bodenstedt, trans. W. Creighton) (1903): Neig' schöne Knospe dich zu mir, Und was die Sonne glüht, Ich fühle deinen Odem, Die helle Sonne leuchtet; rev. with trans. by R.H. Elkin (1911)
—	Two Songs (1903): Come Back, A Secret (Quilter), 1898
—	The Answer (L. Binyon) (1904)
—	At Close of Day (Binyon) (1904)
—	A London Spring Song ([Quilter]), 1904, unpubd
3	Three songs: Love's Philosophy (P.B. Shelley) (1905), Now sleeps the crimson petal (A. Tennyson), 1897 (1904), Fill a glass with golden wine (W.E. Henley) (1905); all orchd, no.2 also with strings
—	June (N. Hopper) (1905), orchd
5	Four Child Songs (R.L. Stevenson) (1914): A Good Child, The Lamplighter, Where go the boats?, Foreign Children; nos.1 and 3 rev. 1945
6	Three Shakespeare Songs (set 1) (1905): Come away, Death, O Mistress Mine, Blow, blow, thou winter wind, 1905; no.1 orchd and with pf qt, no.2 orchd and with str, pf ad lib (1944), no.3 with strings and pf ad lib (1945) and orchd
8	To Julia (R. Herrick), 1905 (1906): Prelude, 1 The Bracelet, 2 The Maiden Blush, 3 To Daisies, 4 The Night Piece, 5 Julia's Hair, Interlude, 6 Cherry Ripe; nos.3 and 4 orchd, the set with pf qnt
10	Songs of Sorrow (E. Dowson) (1908): A Coronal, 1907; Passing Dreams, 1904; A Land of Silence, 1907; In Spring, 1907
12	Seven Elizabethan Lyrics (1908): Weep you no more (anon.), My Life's Delight (T. Campion), Damask Roses (anon.), The Faithless Shepherdess (anon.), Brown is my love (anon.), By a Fountainside (B. Jonson), Fair House of Joy (anon.); nos.1 and 4 orchd, no.1 also with str
14	Four Songs (1910): Autumn Evening (A. Maquarie), April (W. Watson), A Last Year's Rose (Henley), Song of the Blackbird (Henley)
15	Three Songs: Cuckoo Song (A. Williams) (1913), Amaryllis at the Fountain (16th century) (1914), Blossom Time (N. Hopper) (1914), no.3 also pubd as duet (1934)
18/1–3	Three Songs, Bar/T (1920): To Wine and Beauty (Earl of Rochester) (1914), Where be you going? (J. Keats) (1914), The Jocund Dance (W. Blake) (1914)
18/4	Spring is at the Door (Hopper) (1914)
18/5–6	Two September Songs (M. Coleridge) (1916): Through the sunny garden, The Valley and the Hill
20	Three Songs of William Blake (1917): Dream Valley, 1916, The Wild Flower's Song, Daybreak; no.1 orchd
22	Three Pastoral Songs (J. Campbell), 1v, pf trio, 1920 (1921): I will go with my father a-ploughing, Cherry Valley, I wish and I wish; arr. 1v, pf
23	Five Shakespeare Songs (set 2) (1921): Fear no more the heat o' the sun, Under the greenwood tree, It was a lover and his lass, Take, O take those lips away, Hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 1919; no.2 pubd singly (1919), no.3 orig. pubd as duet (1919), no.4 also with pf qt
—	Fairy Lullaby (Quilter) (1921)
24	Five English Love Lyrics: There be none of Beauty's daughters (Byron) (1922), Morning Song (T. Heywood) (1922), Go, lovely Rose (E. Waller), 1922 (1923), O, the month of May (T. Dekker), 1926 (1928), The Time of Roses (T. Hood) (1928)
25	Six Songs: Song of the Stream (A. Williams), 1921 (1922), The Fuchsia Tree (Manx ballad) (1923), An Old Carol (15th century), 1923 (1924), Arab Love Song (P.B. Shelley) (1927), Music, when soft voices die (Shelley), 1926 (1927), In the bud of the morning-O (J. Stephens), 1926 (1927)
26	Two Songs (1922): In the highlands, Over the land is April (Stevenson)
28	Five Jacobean Lyrics (1926): The Jealous Lover (Rochester), Why so pale and wan? (J. Suckling), 1925, I dare not ask a kiss (Herrick), 1925, To Althea from Prison (R. Lovelace), 1925, The Constant Lover (Suckling), 1925; no.1 pubd singly (1923), no.3 also with pf qt
29	I arise from dreams of thee (Shelley), serenade, T, orch, 1929, unpubd; arr. 1v, pf (1931)
30	Four Shakespeare Songs (set 3) (1933): Who is Silvia?, 1926, When daffodils begin to peer, How should I your true love know?, Sigh no more, ladies; no.1 pubd singly (1927)
—	The Passing Bell (W. Tasker), 2vv, pf, 1933, unpubd
—	Music and Moonlight (Shelley), 1935 (1948), arr. as duet; Spring Voices (R. Marsh [Quilter]) (1936); Wind from the South (J. Irvine) (1936); Come Lady-Day (M. Pemberton) (1953) [arr. from partsong]; Wild Cherry (O.M. Denson) (1938); Windy Nights (Stevenson), 2vv, pf (1938); Summer Sunset (R. Marsh [Quilter]), 2vv, pf (1938)
32	Two Shakespeare Songs (set 4) (1939): Orpheus with his lute, 1938, When icicles hang by the wall, 1938
—	Trollie Lollie Laughter (V.B. Neuburg) (1939); Freedom (R. Bennett) (1941) [arr. from choral work]; Drooping Wings (E. Sterling-Levis), 1944 (1945); The Cradle in Bethlehem (Bennett), 1945 (1949); Hark, hark the lark (W. Shakespeare) (1946); One word is too often profaned (Shelley), 1946 (1947); Tulips (Herrick) (1947) [arr. from partsong]; Music (P.B. Shelley), 1947 (1948); Come unto these yellow sands (Shakespeare) (1951); Tell me, where is fancy bred? (Shakespeare) (1951); Daisies after Rain (J. Bickle) (1951); The Walled-In Garden (A. Heald) (1952); April Love (Quilter) (1952); A Song at Parting (C. Rossetti) (1952); My heart adorned with thee (M. Schaffy, trans. Quilter), 1951 (1953), also for Mez and Bar (1953); Mond, du bist glücklicher als ich (anon.), unpubd; Far, far away (Shelley), unpubd; Full fathom five (Shakespeare), unpubd; If thou would’st ease thine heart (T.L. Beddoes), unpubd; Love is a bable (anon.), unpubd; Where the bee sucks (Shakespeare), unpubd

Stage

—	Where the Rainbow Ends (children's fairy play, [Mrs] C. Mills, J. Ramsay [R. Owen]), London, Savoy, 21 Dec 1911; suites: pf (1912), orch (1920); pubd extracts, incl. Slumber Song, 1v, pf (1911); Moonlight on the Lake, pf (1912); Rosamund, vn, pf (1918); Water Nymphs, pf, str (1922); Fairy Frolic, pf trio (1929); later arrs. for other inst combinations
21	As you Like it (incid music, W. Shakespeare), London, Old Vic, 17 Oct 1921; pf suite (1920); orch suite (1921)
—	The Rake, ballet [for C.B. Cochran’s revue On with the Dance], Manchester, Palace, 17 March 1925; orch suite (1925); pf suite (1925)
—	The Blue Boar (light op, R. Bennett), BBC, 23 Oct 1933; rev. as Julia, London, Covent Garden, 3 Dec 1936; rev. again as Love at the Inn (1940); probably rev. also as Rosmé, Love and the Countess and The Beggar Prince; pubd extracts, incl. Here’s a chapter almost ended (Bennett), SSATBB (1944); Love calls through the summer night, 2vv (1940); Concert Waltz, orch (1941); In Georgian Days, Gavotte, pf, str (1941); Youth and Beauty, 6vv (1941); Island of Dreams, Venetian Serenade (Quilter), 1v, pf (1946); If love should pass me by, 1v, pf (1948)
31	Titania, ballet

Choral

Verses from the Rubaïyat of Omar Khayam (trans. Johnson), ATTBB, 1902, unpubd; 2 Partsongs (R. Herrick), SATB: To Daffodils, To the Virgins (1904); 5 Lyrics of Robert Herrick, op.7, SATB (1905): Cupid, A Dirge, Morning Song, To Electra, To Violets; Lead us, Heavenly Father (J. Edmeston), T, chorus, orch, 1908 (1924); An Old Carol, unison vv (1924); What shall he have that killed the deer? (W. Shakespeare), TBarBB (1924); Non nobis, Domine (R. Kipling), SATB, orch (1934), arr. SSA/2-pt male chorus, str/orch; Blossom-Time (N. Hopper), 2-pt chorus (1935) [arr. from solo song]; Fairy Lullaby (Quilter), 3-pt female vv (1939) [arr. from solo song]; Madrigal in Satin (R. Bennett), TTBB (1939); Weep you no more, 2-pt female vv (1939) [arr. from solo song]; 5 Partsongs, SA: The Starlings (C. Kingsley) (1939), To a Harebell by a Graveside (Darley) (1938), Come, Lady-Day (M. Pemberton) (1938), Daisies after Rain (J. Bickle) (1952), Tulips (Herrick); Freedom (Bennett), unison vv, SATB, pf/orch (1941), arr. SSA (1942) [orig. titled A Song of Freedom]; The Sailor and his Lass (Bennett), S, Bar, SATB, orch, 1943 (1948); Hymn for Victory (A.P. Herbert), unison vv/1v (1945), arr. 4vv (1945); Farewell to Shan-Avon (Song of the Forlorn Warriors) (G. Darley), TTBB (1946); The pretty birds do sing (Nashe), chorus (1946); Tulips (Herrick), SATB (1946); Windy Nights (R.L. Stevenson), SA (1949); Summer Sunset (R. Marsh [R. Quilter]), SA (1949); The Cradle in Bethlehem (Bennett), unison vv/2-pt vv, str (1950) [arr. from solo song]; Dancing on the Green (Quilter), SATB (1954)

Instrumental

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