Cedric Sharpe

{{Short description|British cellist, composer and music professor (1891 - 1978)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=January 2013}}

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Cedric Sharpe | honorific_suffix = ARCM, Hon RAM | image = Cedric sharpe cellist 01.jpg | caption = c.1930s – picture taken from The Violoncello by Jules de Swert, edited by Cedric Sharpe | birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|04|13}} | birth_place = Maida Vale, London, England | death_date = {{death date and age |1978|7|1 |1891|4|13 |mf=yes}} | death_place = Steyning, Sussex, England | genre = Classical | occupation = cellist, composer and music professor | instrument = Cello | years_active = 1914-1966 | label = His Master's Voice | past_member_of = {{hlist|London String Quartet|Philharmonic Quartet|Virtuoso Quartet|London Symphony Orchestra}} }}

'''Cedric Sharpe''', ARCM, Hon RAM (13 April 1891 – 7 July 1978) was a British cellist, composer and music professor of the early to mid-20th century. He studied cello at the Royal College of Music later becoming professor of cello at the Royal Academy of Music – the start of a teaching career that was to span almost four decades before he retired in 1966 at the age of 75. During the inter-War years he became a prominent player of both chamber and orchestral music; his repertoire included both British and European contemporary music. He recorded for His Master's Voice and was broadcast by the BBC. He composed a number of original pieces mostly for solo cello with piano accompaniment.

==Early life== Cedric Sharpe<ref name=BNAME/> was born in Maida Vale, London, England, in 1891,<ref name=BREG/> the son of Herbert Sharpe a professor of piano and composer at the Royal College of Music in London.<ref name=DENT/> From the age of seven he studied under Tennyson Werge,<ref name=DENT/> a cellist who had performed with his father in London concerts.<ref name=MTIMES1896/> He continued his studies with the cellist W. H. Squire at the Royal College of Music gaining a scholarship there in 1907 at the age of 16.<ref name=DENT/> After completing his studies he left the Royal College of Music in 1912.<ref name=DENT/> In 1913 he married Evelyn Blanche Jennings a composer of songs and settings of poems; they had a son and a daughter.<ref name=BREG/><ref name=WHO35/>

==Playing career== Sharpe became a prominent player of both chamber and orchestral music. In 1914 along with James Lockyer (viola) and the London String Quartet he performed in the first British public performance of Schoenberg's ''Verklärte Nacht'' at the Bechstein Hall in London.<ref name=JDOCTOR/>

In 1915 he formed the Philharmonic Quartet with Arthur Beckwith (1st violin), Eugene Aynsley Goossens (2nd violin) and Raymond Jeremy (viola).<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> The First World War interrupted their work as some of the members were called up for service; they re-formed in 1918 with Frederick Holding and Thomas Peatfield as 1st and 2nd violins.<ref name=KUTCHER/> The quartet was active until the early 1940s.<ref name=RAMUS/>

In 1924 Sharpe founded the Virtuoso Quartet with Marjorie Hayward (1st violin), Edwin Virgo (2nd violin) and Raymond Jeremy (viola). They made frequent tours of the British Isles sometimes forming quintets with other well-known players of the day, for example Leon Goossens (oboe), William Murdoch (piano), Harriet Cohen (piano) or Arnold Bax.<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> In 1926 with Dale Smith (baritone) and Sidonie Goossens (harp) they performed in a BBC concert of contemporary music which included "Ode to a Nightingale" by Eric Fogg and ''Aquarelles'' for string quartet by John Foulds; this was broadcast from the New Chenil Galleries studios in Chelsea over the radio station 2LO.<ref name=JDOCTOR/>

Sharpe was also a member of several other ensembles – the Chamber Music Players,<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> the Chamber Music Trio,<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> the English Trio,<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> the Trio Players with Eda Kersey (violin) and Gerald Moore (piano),<ref name=STRAD/> the Harp Ensemble<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> and the Cedric Sharpe Sextet (formed in 1930)<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> which was broadcast regularly by the BBC in the years leading up to the Second World War.<ref name=ARGUS1945/> The June 1932 issue of ''Gramophone'' magazine commented:<ref name=GRAMJUN32/> <blockquote>These are all interesting organisations, but one cannot help wishing that Cedric Sharpe, instead of making up the ensemble of so many different combinations, would devote himself exclusively to solo work; or, following the example of the Flonzaley and Lener Quartets, found a quartet whose members would devote themselves solely to their own organisation.</blockquote>

In 1933, the Trio Players along with Enid Cruickshank (contralto) performed three of Schoenberg's lieder: "Ewartung" and "Schenk Mir Deinen Goldenen" from Opus 2 and "Hochzeitslied" from Opus 3. These were broadcast over London Regional along with works solely for trio by Beethoven, Berlioz, Ireland and Schubert.<ref name=JDOCTOR/>

Sharpe also held the following positions as an orchestral player (with approximate dates where known): principal cello for the New Symphony Orchestra (1930s and 1940s),<ref name=WHO49/> director and principal cello for the London Symphony Orchestra (1930s and 1940s),<ref name=WHO49/> principal cello with the Royal Albert Hall orchestra<ref name=JOHNSTONE/> and principal cello with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden orchestra (1940s).<ref name=WHO49/> He played cellos by David Tecchler (dated 1701) and Charles Buthod (dated 1897).<ref name=GRAMJUN32/>

==Academic career== In 1928 Sharpe became professor of cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London.<ref name=OXFORD/> His teaching career was to span nearly 40 years before his retirement in 1966 at the age of 75.<ref name=OXFORD/> He contributed to books about cello technique, for example editing and revising "''The Violoncello''" a primer originally written by Jules de Swert in 1920.<ref name=JDSWERT/> The cellist Dennis Vigay (born 1926) was amongst Sharpe's pupils.<ref name=JOHNSTONE/>

==Compositions== Sharpe's compositions date mainly from between the two World Wars. He wrote a number of original pieces for cello and piano, a number of arrangements for cello and piano, some original and arranged songs in ballad style and two pieces for light orchestra.

His original cello and piano pieces (with dates where known) are:<ref name=WHO49/><ref name=JOHNSTONE/> ''Midsummer Song'' (1921), ''Gavotte in G minor'' (1927), ''The Angelus'' (1927), ''Chansonette'' (1928), ''An Old Time Dance'' (1928), ''Le Soir'' (1928), ''Five Little Solos for Cello and Piano'' (1928), ''Romance in A'' (1929), ''Valse Capricieuse'' (1933), ''An Old World Love Song'' (1933), ''Cradle Song'' (1939), ''Humoresque Rumbaesque'' (1939), ''Petite Valse Lyrique'' (1950), ''Nocturne'' (1951), ''Pavane'', ''The Vesper Bell'' (from an old Breton folk tune) and ''Five Little Songs''.

His cello and piano arrangements are of music by J. S. Bach and Thomas Arne.<ref name=JOHNSTONE/> He also arranged the following traditional folk tunes: ''Six Old English Airs'' (1921), ''Six Old Irish Airs'' (1923), ''Eight Welsh Melodies'' (1925) and a set of Scottish folk tunes originally arranged for solo piano by his father Herbert Sharpe.<ref name=JOHNSTONE/>

His ballad songs (with dates and lyricists where known) are:<ref name=WHO49/> "The year's at the Spring" (Robert Browning 1927), "The Fairy Fiddler" (N. Hopper arranged 1927), "Lullaby Song" (Gabriel Setoun 1933), "Love thy Mother", "Little One. Prayer." (Thomas Hood 1933), "It was the Time of Roses" (1933) and "In Praise of Ale" (1934).

His light orchestral pieces are:<ref name=WHO49/> ''Suite Pompadour'' (orchestrated by Hubert Bath 1934) and ''Holyrood Suite'' (1935).

==Recordings== Sharpe recorded for His Master's Voice starting in 1915 with a number of short pieces for solo cello, for example ''The Broken Melody'' by Van Biene (1915), ''Le Cygne'' by Camille Saint-Saëns (1916), ''Roses of Picardy'' by Haydn Wood (1918) and ''Salut d'Amour'' by Edward Elgar (1919).<ref name=CHARM/> Throughout the 1920s and 1930s he recorded with his ensembles, for example the Virtuoso Quartet recorded Beethoven's quartets in E minor Op. 59 No. 2 (in 1924), C major Op. 59 No. 3 and E-flat major Op. 127. They also recorded the Debussy quartet in G minor Op. 10, the Cesar Franck quartet in D major M.9, the Tchaikovsky No.1 in D major Op. 11 (in 1924) and the Ravel in F major (in 1929).<ref name=GRAMJUN32/><ref name=CHARM/>

==Death== He died in Steyning, Sussex, England, UK on July 1, 1978 at age 87.<ref name=BREG/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Cedric Sharpe |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/106549/Sharpe_Cedric |access-date=2024-01-02 |website=Discography of American Historical Recordings}}</ref>

==References and notes== {{reflist|2|refs= <ref name=BNAME>Sharpe's birth record shows the name "Cedrie Sharpe" – a name he appears to have used in his early career.</ref> <ref name=DENT>''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'', J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd, London 1924, p. 455</ref> <ref name=WHO35>''Who's Who in Music'', Ed. Sir Landon Ronald, Shaw Publishing Co. Ltd., 1935, p. 244</ref> <ref name=BREG>[http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates British General Register Office] – Birth certificate: 1891 Apr–Jun Vol. 1A Page 624, Marriage Certificate: 1913 Oct–Dec Vol. 1d Page 1098, Death certificate: 1978 Jul–Sep Vol. 18 Page 1932. Payment Required</ref> <ref name=GRAMJUN32>''Gramophone magazine'', June 1932, p. 35</ref> <ref name=KUTCHER>[http://www.jskutcher.name/Samuel_Kutcher/1920-to-1923 Website detailing the life of violinist Samuel Kutcher]. Retrieved 6 Jun 2012</ref> <ref name=RAMUS>[http://apollo.ram.ac.uk/emuweb/pages/ram/ The Royal Academy of Music – Museum & Collections] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121223062321/http://apollo.ram.ac.uk/emuweb/pages/ram/ |date=23 December 2012 }}. Retrieved 6 Jun 2012</ref> <ref name=STRAD>''The Strad'' Magazine, Vol. 95, No. 1129, May 1984</ref> <ref name=WHO49>''Who's who in Music'', Shaw Publishing, London 1949–50, p. 184</ref> <ref name=JOHNSTONE>David Johnstone – [http://www.johnstone-music.com/articulos_violoncello/cello/6016/vlc15-mini-encyclopedia-the-late-romantic-english-cello-school/ ''The Late Romantic English Cello School''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621094934/http://www.johnstone-music.com/articulos_violoncello/cello/6016/vlc15-mini-encyclopedia-the-late-romantic-english-cello-school/# |date=21 June 2012 }}. Retrieved 6 Jun 2012</ref> <ref name=OXFORD>''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'', Michael Kennedy, OUP, 1980, p. 590, {{ISBN|0-19-311315-5}}</ref> <ref name=JDSWERT>Novello's Music Primers No.22, ''The Violoncello'', Jules de Swert, Ed. and revised by Cedric Sharpe, Undated</ref> <ref name=CHARM>[http://www.charm.kcl.ac.uk/ The AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music]. Retrieved 6 Jun 2012</ref> <ref name=MTIMES1896>''The Musical Times'', 1 Mar 1896, p. 169 – Details of a London concert featuring Herbert Sharpe and Tennyson Werge</ref> <ref name=ARGUS1945>''The Melbourne Argus'', 2 Jun 1945, p. 4 – Details of a BBC broadcast of the Cedric Sharpe Sextet</ref> <ref name=JDOCTOR>Jennifer Doctor, ''The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922–1936'', Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 338,356 & 367, {{ISBN|0-521-66117-X}}</ref> }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Cedric}} Category:1891 births Category:1978 deaths Category:English classical cellists Category:British music educators Category:People from Maida Vale Category:Associates of the Royal College of Music Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:20th-century English composers Category:20th-century English male composers Category:Musicians from the City of Westminster Category:20th-century British cellists