MONTAGUE PHILLIPS

Montague Fawcett Phillips (1885-1969) was born in Tottenham, London, starting his musical career as a choirboy at St. Botolph’s Church, Bishopsgate. He studied piano and organ. He attended the Royal Academy of Music where he studied composition with Frederic Corder and John B. McEwen, receiving several scholarships (Smart and Macfarren Scholarships) and the Charles Lucas Memorial Medal for a composition. He was organist at Theydon Bois, Essex and then Christ Church, Wanstead and finally Esher Parish Church where he remained for 43 years. In 1926 he became Professor of Harmony and Composition at the RAM. He was a freelance composer, but he gave himself performances as a pianist, accompanist and conductor. He is probably most well known for the opera The Rebel Maid (1921) and a very popular song from the opera, The Fishermen of England. His work developed after he met and married the singer Clara Butterworth and he wrote a great number of popular ballads and songs. Although he composed in almost all genres, he is still best known for its popular music he composed, especially in the interwar period.

All are mixed chorus; some contain divisi.