William Yeates Hurlstone
Life
Born: 1876
Died: 1906
Biography
William Yeates Hurlstone was born at Richmond Gardens (now Empress Place), Fulham, London, and from a young age, suffered from bronchial asthma. His father was a surgeon with a strong interest in music and the arts. He received piano lessons, played the clarinet, and was self-taught in composition. He would organize home concerts in which he and his sisters would play his compositions. Entering the Royal College of Music, he studied composition with Sir Frederick Bridge and Sir Charles Stanford. His family suffered significant health and financial difficulties causing him to give up a career as concert pianist. The family was helped by the generosity of a close family friend, Captain Alexander Spink Beaumont (1843–1913). An amateur violinist and composer, Beaumont was a major benefactor throughout Hurlstone's life. Hurlstone also co-founded the popular Century Concerts, which promoted chamber music by British composers. He held positions as Professor of Music at Croydon Conservatoire, as Examiner for Royal Academy of Music Associated Boards for the Croydon District, and Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the RCM at age 29. In his first year at the RCM, he caught a chill while waiting at Victoria Station and died nine days later from complications with his lifelong asthma. Most of his works were for chamber ensembles, but also they also include a few orchestral works. Stanford considered him the most talented of all his students, above others like Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst.
View the Wikipedia article on William Yeates Hurlstone.
List of choral works
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Publications
External websites:
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