Robin Legge
Robin Humphrey Legge(28 June 1862 – 6 April 1933) was an English music writer, thechief music criticofThe Daily Telegraphbetween 1906 and 1931, often writing under the pen nameMusicus.[1]
Education
[edit]Born inBishop's Castle,Shropshire, Legge read law atTrinity Hall, Cambridgeand then went abroad to study music and languages in Leipzig, Frankfurt, Florence and Munich.[2]While in Europe he encountered many prominent composers and musicians includingEdvard Grieg,Frederick Delius,Percy Grainger,Raimund Mühlen,Arthur Nikisch(to whom he taught English),Ethel SmythandJulius Stockhausen.[1]
Music critic
[edit]From 1891 to 1906 he worked as assistant music critic forThe Times,under chief music criticJ A Fuller Maitland.During this time he also wrote for theDaily Mail,Life,and acted as Chess Editor ofThe Daily Courier.[3]He joinedThe Daily Telegraphin 1906 as chief music critic, succeedingJoseph Bennett,and stayed there until his retirement in 1931, establishing the paper's Saturday music page.[4]He was one of the first to recognise the genius ofEdward Elgar,[5]acknowledgedPucciniwhen he was unfashionable, and took the early days of the gramophone seriously.[1][6]
Legge was a sociable and humorous man who enjoyedbilliards(which he played on occasion withCompton Mackenzie)[7]andchess,and was an active member of theSavile Club.In 1926Basil Maineproduced a character sketch of Legge in hisMusical Timescolumn, in which he recalled that Legge's office, at the back of a building inPiccadilly,was a hub of the musical community in London during the 1920s. "He is visited there by all sorts and conditions – performers, composers, critics, agents, teachers, people with new ideas and people with old grievances". Legge, said Maine, "has striven for an amicable relationship between journalism and musical activity".[8]H. C. Colleswrote that Legge had "stimulated the general reader's interest in music and musicians to an uncommon extent".[9]
Other activities
[edit]Translations of musical texts include Wallaschek’s (now controversial)Die Musik der Naturvölker,published asPrimitive Musicin 1893,[10]Hofmann’sInstrumentationslehre(1893),[11]and A. Ehrlich'sCelebrated Violinists, Past and Present(1897).[12]As an author, Legge wrote (with W E Hansell) theAnnals of the Norfolk and Norwich Triennial Music Festivals(1896), and contributed articles to theDictionary of National BiographyandGrove's Dictionary of Music.He was the editor of theNorfolk Cricket Annualfor a decade and published many chess problems.[13]Legge was also an occasional composer: hisRomancefor cello and piano, marked Op.1 No 1, was published by Schott in 1904.[14]
At the end of his life his address was 33Oakley Streetin Chelsea.[15]He married Aimee Prior Standen (1867-1937) and there was one daughter, Ida Gwendolen (1887-1969).[4]Ida married Henry Burton Tate (of thesugar merchantfamily) in 1909, but later divorced him.[16]She then married Edward Thomas Walhouse Littleton, 5thBaron Hathertonin 1925 and became Lady Hatherton.[17]
References
[edit]- ^abcObituary,The Musical Times,Vol. 74, No. 1083 (May, 1933), p. 466
- ^Arthur Eaglefield Hull (ed.):A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians(1924). pp. 291–2
- ^The Musical Times,Vol. 72, No. 1057 (March 1931), p. 231
- ^ab"Obituary,The Times,7 April, 1933, p.18 "– via Wikisource.
- ^Hughes, Merion.The English Musical Renaissance and the Press 1850–1914(2017), p.61-4
- ^Dingle, Christopher (ed.):The Cambridge History of Music Criticism(2019), pp. 249–271
- ^Epperson, Bruce, D.More Important Than the Music: A History of Jazz Discography(2013), p.20
- ^The Musical Times,Vol. 67, No. 1001 (July 1926), pp. 597–8(reprinted in Maine, Basil.Behold these Daniels: being Studies of Contemporary Music Critics(1928)
- ^Colles. 'Robin Legge' inGrove 3(1929), vol.iii, p.129
- ^Wallaschek, Richard.Primitive Music: An Enquiry into the Origin and Development of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances and Pantomimes of Savage Races(1893)
- ^Hofmann, Richard.Practical Instrumentation(1893)
- ^Celebrated violinists,Worldcat entry
- ^Harley, Brian. 'Music and Chess', inMusic & Letters,Vol. 12, No. 3 (July 1931), pp. 276–283
- ^"Red Album of 12 Pieces for Cello and Piano, Vol. 1,Schott (1904) "(PDF).
- ^Robin H. Legge (1932)."Raimund Mühlen".The Musical Times.73(1071): 451.doi:10.2307/920542.JSTOR920542– via JSTOR.
- ^"FamilySearch.org".ancestors.familysearch.org.
- ^"Percival, Hon Mrs Joanna (Hon Joanna Ida Louise nee Littleton) 1926–2021".groups.google.com.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
