Frank Bridge

A fastidious craftsman, Bridge started as a composer of subtle and often surprising salon miniatures—then, after the trauma of World War I, became one of the most modernistic composers of his generation. Born in Brighton in 1879, Bridge went to the Royal College of Music, but unlike the then-recent RCM graduates Williams and Holst, who followed with interest such modernists as Ravel and Stravinsky, Bridge seemed at first content to follow less colourful composers such as Brahms (much approved by his RCM teachers) and Fauré. Before World War I, he was best known for his miniatures, such as the wistful “Rosemary” (1906, originally for piano, later orchestrated), and for several songs, including the exuberant “Love Went A-Riding” (1914), with occasional excursions into larger-scale works, including his orchestral suite The Sea (1910-11). After the war, his works became more astringent and include There is a Willow Grows Aslant a Brook (1927)—an orchestral depiction of the final moments of the unhappy Ophelia from Hamlet—and his plangent Oration for cello and orchestra (1930). One of his final works, String Quartet No. 4 (1937), reflects his admiration of Alban Berg in the complexity of its parts and harmonic language. He died in 1941, leaving behind an unfinished symphony.