{{Short description|British violist and saxophonist (1905 – 1937)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist |birth_name = Henry James Berly |birth_date = {{birth date|1905|12|}} |birth_place = [[Battersea]], London, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] |background = non_vocal_instrumentalist |genre = Classical, dance band |instruments = Viola, Saxophone, Clarinet, Violin, Ocarina |occupation = Musician |past_member_of = International String Quartet, Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Ray Noble Band, Lew Stone Band, Jack Hylton Band |death_date = {{Death date |1937|03|25}} |death_place = [[London Borough of Lambeth]], United Kingdom }}
'''Harry Berly''' (December 1905 – March 1937) was a British violist, saxophonist, clarinetist and violinist, who played with a number of British Dance Bands in the 1920s and 30s. He also appeared at the Proms and played with the International String Quartet.
==Early life ==
Berly was born in Battersea, London in 1905 to James Henry Berly, a waiter in a club and Emily Osmond.
==Career== Berly had lessons on the violin with Ethel Martin at the Tower House School of Music in East Sheen,<ref name=White2006>>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=John |title=Lionel Tertis, The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola |date=2006 |publisher=Boydell Press |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |isbn=184383278X}}</ref> before gaining a scholarship, at the age of 14,<ref>{{cite news |title=Drama Of Young Man Who Fell Under Train | work=Reynolds' Newspaper |date=28 March 1937}}</ref> to study viola at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] in London with [[Lionel Tertis]]. Tertis stated that Berly was the best student he ever had, and had high hopes for him as a viola soloist.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tertis |first1=Lionel |title= My Viola and I |date=1974 |publisher=Elek Books Ltd |location=London |isbn=0236310402 |page=61}}</ref>
Berly received the [[Ada Lewis-Hill|Ada Lewis]] Scholarship at the RAM in 1920.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Academy Letter |journal=R. A. M. Club Magazine |date=Dec 1920 |volume=59 |page=16}}</ref> In 1922 he was awarded the Lesley Alexander Gift from the RAM, "''To be bestowed on a Viola or Violoncello student selected by the Principal.''", and received the award again in 1925.<ref>1926 Scholarships and Exhibitions Prospectus, Royal Academy of Music</ref>
In November 1922 he gave the first performance of William Alwyn's ''Three preludes for viola and piano'' with Alwyn, a fellow RAM student, at the piano.<ref>Concert Programme from the William Alwyn archive. Cambridge University Library.</ref> In 1923 and 1925 whilst a student at the RAM, his quartet won the Sir Edward Cooper Prize.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Royal Academy of Music |journal=The Musical Times |date=1 July 1923 |volume=64 |issue=965 |page=495}}</ref> The 1923 quartet was led by [[Jean Pougnet]], with Wynford Reynolds on second violin, Berly on viola and Frank Leonard<ref>Cellist with the London Symphony Orchestra 1927 – 1958</ref> on cello. The 1925 quartet was led by Enid Bailey, with Philip Burton on second violin and Doris Vevers on cello.<ref>1926 Scholarships and Exhibitions Prospectus, Royal Academy of Music</ref>
The quartet accompanied the soprano Miss Dora Stevens at a recital at the Wigmore Hall in London in April 1924.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Music World |work=Kensington Post |date=11 April 1924}}</ref> In December 1924, Berly performed the slow movement from [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s [[Harold en Italie|Harold in Italy]] at the Queen's Hall with the conductor Henry Wood.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Academy Letter |journal=R. A. M. Club Magazine |date=March 1924 |volume=68 |page=22}}</ref> In June 1925, Berly and the Pougnet quartet gave the first performance of [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]'s ''String quartet in G''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Royal Academy of Music |journal=The Musical Times |date=1 August 1925 |volume=66 |issue=990 |page=737}}</ref>
Berly played and broadcast with the Music Society String Quartet (later known as the International Quartet) with [[John Barbirolli]], [[André Mangeot]] and Boris Pecker<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cobbett |first1=Walter Willson |title=Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music |date=1963 |publisher=OUP |location=London |page=204}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Today's Broadcasting |work=Westminster Gazette |date=9 July 1926}}</ref> and the London Pianoforte Quartet also with Barbirolli, [[Kutcher String Quartet|Samuel Kutcher]] (violin) and [[Bartlett and Robertson|Ethel Bartlett]] (piano).<ref>{{cite news |title=Today's Broadcasting |work=Gloucestershire Echo |date=16 April 1925}}</ref>
Berly appeared at the [[Proms]] in 1925 and 1926, at the Queen's Hall. He and Jean Pougnet on both occasions played [[Mozart]]'s [[Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (Mozart)|Sinfonia Concertante in E flat major for Violin and Viola]] with the Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by [[Sir Henry Wood]]. The Musical Times critic noted that, "It was very well played by M. Jean Pougnet and Mr. Harry Berly respectively, both players being noteworthy for the beauty and purity of their tone."<ref>{{cite journal |title=London Concerts – The Promenade Concerts |journal=The Musical Times |date=1 Oct 1926 |volume=67 |issue=1004 |page=937}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Music. Mozart, Bax and Dyson |work=Truth |date=30 September 1925}}</ref>
In February 1926 he gave his first London recital at the [[Grotrian Hall]].<ref name=White2006/> At the recital he performed, with the pianist [[Harry Isaacs (pianist)|Harry Isaacs]], the complete [[Benjamin Dale|Dale]] Suite op.2 and sonatas by [[Arnold Bax|Bax]] and [[Rebecca Clarke (composer)|Rebecca Clarke]]. In March 1926 he appeared at the Wigmore Hall with the Pougnet Quartet comprising [[Jean Pougnet]] (1st Violin), Hugo Ringold (2nd Violin), Berly on viola and Douglas Cameron (Cello).<ref name=White2006/>
Berly also played with the Laurance Turner String Quartet,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Laurance Turner String Quartet |work=The Scotsman |date=6 January 1937}}</ref> with Walter Price (2nd violin) and Jack Shinebourne (cello), the Daventry Quartet<ref>{{cite news |title=Daventry String Quartet |work=Belfast Newsletter |date=17 December 1926}}</ref> and the Leslie Bridgewater Quintet.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tragedy of Player Tired of Jazz. |work=Sunday Tribune (Singapore) |date=18 April 1937}}</ref>
In June 1935, Berly, Tertis and Charles Lynch (piano) gave the first performance of Tertis's Variations for two Violas on the Passacaglia from the seventh Suite of Handel at the Wigmore Hall in London. The Musical Times critic wrote of Berly's performance: "Berly, as first viola in the Handel-Tertis Variations, exhibited a virtuosity equal to every sort of brilliance and legerdemain".<ref name=White2006/><ref>{{cite journal |title=London Concerts |journal=The Musical Times |date=August 1935 |volume=76 |issue=1110 |pages=741–742 |doi=10.2307/918590 |jstor=918590 }}</ref>
===Big Band=== Berly was also an accomplished jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist and played with a number of British Big Bands in the 1930s, mainly on saxophone and clarinet. He played and recorded with Ray Noble and his New Mayfair Orchestra, the Roy Fox Band,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chilton |first1=John |title=Who's Who of British Jazz |date=2004 |publisher=Bloomsbury |edition=2nd}}</ref> Geoffrey Goodhart and his Orchestra, the Lew Stone Band,<ref>{{cite news |title=Lew Stone and his famous Radio Band |work=Bromley & West Kent Mercury |date=28 December 1934}}</ref> Jack Hylton<ref>{{cite news |title=Over the Air |work=The Era |date=5 April 1933}}</ref>(Berly was considered Jack Hylton's No.1 violinist),<ref>{{cite news |title=Fred Hartley, Versatile Leader of a Popular Quintet |work=Coventry Herald |date=21 January 1939}}</ref> The Arthur Lally Band<ref>{{cite news |title=New Band at the Berkeley |work=The Era |date=2 April 1930}}</ref> and Harry Smead's Dance Orchestra.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dundee's 'Double-Barrelled' Dance Orchestra. Harry Smead's New Team is Equally at Home with Straight and Dance Music |work=Dundee Evening Telegraph |date=27 July 1933}}</ref> Berly regularly performed with recording artists such as Al Bowlly and Nat Gonella.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lew Stone and his Monseigneur Orchestra |work=Hull Daily Mail |date=1 September 1933}}</ref>
Berly took his own life on 25 March 1937.<ref>{{cite news |title=Harry Berly, Musician's Death Under Train |work=Daily News (London) |date=27 March 1937}}</ref> He [[rail suicide|jumped in front of a train]] at [[Oval tube station]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Gave Fifteen Years of Life for Friend |url=https://newspapers.com/article/daily-mirror/135138177/ |access-date=13 November 2023 |work=Daily Mirror |date=27 March 1937 |pages=2}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berly, Harry}} [[Category:1905 births]] [[Category:British classical violists]] [[Category:English classical violists]] [[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music]] [[Category:1937 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century British violists]] [[Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Wandsworth]] [[Category:People from Battersea]] [[Category:Suicides by train]] [[Category:Suicides in Greater London]]