{{Short description|English composer and church organist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|Charles King Hall, circa 1880 '''Charles King Hall''' (1845–1895), often credited as '''King Hall''', was an English composer and church organist in Victorian London. He favored sentimental ballads, dance music, organ and piano pieces, and "much church music."<ref>''A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', edited by Theodore Baker, published in New York in 1905 by G. Schirmer, page 245</ref> He also specialized in arranging for the keyboard and voice the works of famous composers such as Handel, Gounod and Mendelssohn. Active in the London theatre, he contributed regularly to the German Reed Entertainments at St. George's Hall, Langham Place. King Hall's entry in ''A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' calls his German Reed operettas "his most popular works."<ref>245</ref>
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== Early life and family == Charles King Hall was born 17 August 1845, St Pancras, London.<ref>Birth Certificate for Charles King Hall, born at 33 North Street, Islington, to Charles Frederick Hall, professor of music, and Eleanor Eliza Jane Hall, formerly Vining, certified as a true copy by General Register Office in the Registration District of Clerkenwell, County of Middlesex, 5 March 2004</ref> His father, Charles Frederick Hall (1815–1874), was a violinist<ref>Dubourg, George. ''The Violin'', chapter 6, pp. 303–306, Robert Cocks & Company (1852 )</ref> who served as the musical director of the Adelphi Theatre and the music conductor of the Princess's Theatre in London.<ref>Nelson, Alfred L, Gilbert B Cross and Joseph Donohue (eds). [https://www.umass.edu/AdelphiTheatreCalendar/auth.htm#index03 "Authors and Titles: The Adelphi Theatre Calendar"], University of Massachusetts, 2016</ref> King Hall's mother, Eleanor Eliza Jane Vining, came from a family of well-known dramatic and comedic actors. King Hall's cousins included the English actor and stage manager George Vining (1824–1875) as well as the American actors Fanny Vining Davenport and her son, Harry Davenport.<ref>Ancestry.com, Penton family tree, administered by David Finnell</ref>
In February 1867, when King Hall was 21 years old, he was initiated into Enoch Masonic Lodge #11. The ceremony took place at the Freemasons' Hall, London on Great Queen Street. The newspaper covering the event described King Hall as "the promising young Professor of Music, and son of the well-known conductor at the Princess's Theatre." King Hall's father, Charles Frederick Hall, took part in the banquet's entertainment that followed his son's initiation.<ref>''The Era,''Sun, Feb 17, 1867 ·Page 7</ref>
In 1876, King Hall married Isabel Maud Penton (1852–1932) at All Saints Church, Gordon Square.<ref>Marriage certificate, 23 September 1876, between Charles King Hall, professor music, and Isabel Maud Penton, whose fathers were Charles Frederick Hall, professor of music, and George Anen Penton, custom house officer, certified on 18 December 2007 by the General Register Office</ref> thumb|King Hall's widow, Isabel, and youngest daughter, Grace, circa 1900 They had five children. The eldest, Edith Jane Gertrude King-Hall (1877–1963),<ref>Baptismal certificate, 8 October 1877, Saint Matthew, Saint Pancras, Camden (states date of birth 2 August 1877)</ref> is sometimes confused with the Edith King Hall (1864-1933) who wrote children's books. (That author was the daughter of naval officer Sir William King Hall.) The composer's younger son, Ernest Vincent King-Hall (1885–1941) was a Royal Navy officer who married Hylda May Shallard, a chorister in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1907 to 1909; he died during the Second World War.<ref>Marriage certificate, dated 20 February 1915, for Ernest Vincent King Hall, motor engineer, and Hilda May Shallard. Certified 13 May 1999, at the General Register Office, Islington</ref><ref>Stone, David. [https://www.gsarchive.net/whowaswho/M/MayHylda.htm "Hylda May"], Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 12 April 2004, accessed 18 September 2019</ref> King Hall's remaining three children were Lucy Harriet Greenfield King-Hall (1879–1900), Frederick Charles William King-Hall (1880–1963) and Grace Isabel King-Hall (1881–1960).<ref>Ancestry.com, Penton family tree, accessed 30 August 2019</ref>
==Career and later years== King Hall composed both sacred and secular music, especially sentimental ballads and organ voluntaries. He contributed regularly to the popular German Reed Entertainments at St. George's Hall, Langham Place. His obituary in ''The Musical Times'' called his German Reed music "his most popular works".<ref>''The Musical Times'', 1 October 1895</ref> Kurt Gänzl wrote that King Hall's music was "pretty [and] forgettable." Yet, it gave steady, reliable satisfaction over the course of nearly twenty years with the Reeds.<ref>Gänzl, Kurt. ''The British Musical Theatre'', Volume 1 (1865–1914), Oxford University Press, 1986</ref> King Hall collaborated with such librettists as Arthur Law, F. C. Burnand, Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, Walter Frith and J. Comyns Carr, composing the scores for ''Foster Brothers'' (1877), ''A Happy Bungalow'' (1877), ''Doubleday's Will'' (1878), ''A Tremendous Mystery'' (1878), ''The Artful Automaton'' (1878), ''Grimstone Grange'' (1879), ''A Christmas Stocking'' (1879–1880), ''A Merry Christmas'' (1880–1881), ''A Strange Host'' (1882–1883), ''The Naturalist'' (1887), ''The Verger'' (1889–1890) and ''Missing'' (1894).<ref>Ganzl, ''British Musical Theatre'', p. 136</ref> Most of these entertainments were accompanied by piano and harmonium only.<ref>Maitland, J A Fuller, ed. ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', Vol. 4, pg. 44, Macmillan, New York, 1909</ref>
King Hall was a prodigious composer throughout his career. From 1867 ("Golden Moments Gallop for the Pianoforte") to the year of his death ("An Emblem of Life; A Duet for Female Voices"), his work appeared regularly in both England and America. Examples of King Hall's original compositions include his score for Edward Oxenford's humorous cantata ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1890), published by the London firm of Hutchings & Romer, and his series of six "society dances" published by Joseph Williams in the 1890s.<ref>Sheet music in the collection of David Finnell</ref>
thumb|upright|"Barn Dance," the first of King Hall's society dances, circa 1890 [[File:Hall, Charles 1895.jpg|thumb|150px|Grave of Charles King Hall in Highgate Cemetery]] King Hall also supported his family as an organist, teacher, composer, and consultant to Chappell & Co., who published much of King Hall's sheet music. In the 1890s Chappell's Vocal Library numbered quite a few of King Hall's vocal arrangements and organ transcriptions, including "On Angels' Wings" (from Viviani's ''Silver Trumpets''), "Mighty Lord" (from Gounod's ''Marche Religieuse''), and "Soft and Low" (from Gounod's ''Mock Doctor'').<ref>Google e-books,''The Musical Times'', volumes 34 (1 Dec 1893) and 39 (1 Feb 1898)</ref> He specialized in arranging for piano and voice the theatre scores of other British composers, such as Arthur Sullivan's ''Haddon Hall'' and Ernest Ford's ''Jane Annie''.<ref>''The Musical News'', 4 January 1908, accessed 16 September 2019</ref><ref>Hall, King. [https://www.gsarchive.net/savoy/jane_annie/janeannie.pdf Piano/vocal arrangement of ''Jane Annie''], ''Gilbert and Sullivan Archive'', accessed 20 July 2012</ref> Examples of his adaptations were Alfred Cellier's "Andante Pastorale", which King Hall arranged for the organ in 1892<ref>Cellier, Alfred. "Andante Pastorale", Chappell & Company: London, 1892</ref> and Arthur Sullivan's ''Imperial March'', which King Hall transcribed for the organ in 1893.<ref>[https://rcm.koha-ptfs.co.uk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=117489&query_desc=kw%2Cwrdl%3A%20Imperial%20March "Imperial March"], Royal College of Music, accessed 16 September 2019</ref>
King Hall also wrote two primers for Estey Organ, the American maker of reed organs and harmoniums. Both were published in 1880.<ref>King Hall, Charles. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924021635200/page/n14 ''The Harmonium''], Novello, Ewer & Co. (1880)</ref> He included in the organ primer his own testimonial for the instrument, saying "The tone of the Stops individually is mellow and sweet, and entirely free from the harshness which so frequently characterizes Reed Instruments; while the ensemble stresses solidity and fulness, and resembles very closely that of a thoroughly good Pipe Organ."<ref>''Estey Organ Tutor'', published by the Estey Organ Company, with its London office in Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, in the private collection of David Finnell</ref> That same year, King Hall wrote a short piece for a popular girls' magazine about the challenge of playing the harmonium, urging frustrated novices to persevere and "not let your disappointment keep you from trying again."<ref>"How to Play the Harmonium," ''The Girls Own Paper'' (1880), pages 472-473, referenced in Iain Quinn, ''The Organist in Victorian Literature'', Palgrave Studies in Music and Literature: 2017, page 82</ref> King Hall was one of the few English composers writing specifically for the harmonium at the time.<ref>Review, "Irish Airs," ''The Musical Standard: A Newspaper for Musicians, Professionals and Amateurs'', 12 Apr. 1884, p.237, Reeves and Turner, London, e-books.google.com/books?id=TD80AQAAMAAJ&dq=the+musical+standard,+12+april+1884&source=gbs_navlinks_s</ref>
As church organist, King Hall served the Anglican parishes of St. Paul's, Camden Square, badly damaged in the Second World War; St. Luke's, Kentish Town, declared redundant in 1991 but reopened in 2011; and Christ Church, Brondesbury, now Christ Church with Saint Laurence Brondesbury.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3362155?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A53fbbf3f3647815f07d1c4e63852dd0d&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "Obituary: Charles King Hall"], ''The Musical Times'', vol. 36, issue 632, JSTOR, accessed 16 September 2019</ref> A newspaper review of one of King Hall's organ concerts in December 1884, in which the organist "gave evident delight to his audience," refers to him as the organist and choir director of St Clement Danes on the Strand in the city of Westminster, London, as well as "of the Royal Albert Hall."<ref>20 Dec 1884 issue of ''Southern Times and Dorset County Herald'', British Newspaper Archive, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/, accessed 7 Jun 2020</ref>
On 1 September 1895, King Hall died of throat cancer at the age of 50 at his home in Islington.<ref>Death Certificate for Charles King Hall, issued 1 September 1895, given at the General Register Office, Islington, County of London, Entry of Death Number 159</ref> He was buried in Highgate Cemetery.<ref>Burial Record for Charles King Hall, Grave Number 31585, St James' Cemetery in Swain's Lane, Highgate, Register Number 78620</ref> A notice of his death in a Scottish newspaper recalled King Hall's "connection with the old German Reeds’ entertainment, to which he contributed a large number of operettas and musical sketches."<ref>''Dundee Advertiser'', 5 Sep. 1895, Dundee, Scotland. The British Newspaper Archive, www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Charles King}} Category:1845 births Category:1895 deaths Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery Category:English Romantic composers Category:People from St Pancras, London Category:19th-century English composers Category:19th-century English male composers