Sir Joseph Barnby (12 August 183828 January 1896) was an English composer and conductor.

Life

Barnby was born at York, as a son of Thomas Barnby, who was an organist. Joseph was a chorister at York Minster from the age of seven. His voice broke at the age of fifteen and he studied for two to three years at the Royal Academy of Music under Cipriani Potter and Charles Lucas. He was narrowly beaten by Arthur Sullivan in competition for the Mendelssohn Scholarship. In 1862 he was appointed organist of St Andrew's, Wells Street, London, where he raised the services to a high degree of excellence. It was at St Andrew's that in 1864, Barnby and the choir performed two anthems by Alice Mary Smith; this is believed to be the first time that liturgical music composed by a woman was performed in the Church of England.

He was conductor of "Barnby's Choir" from 1864, at first giving concerts at St James's Hall and afterwards at Exeter Hall. In 1871 he was appointed, in succession to Charles Gounod, conductor of the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society, a post he held till his death. Meanwhile, he had left St Andrew's for a similar position at St Anne's, Soho. In 1875, he was precentor and director of music at Eton College, and in 1892 became principal of the Guildhall School of Music, receiving the honour of knighthood in July of that year. His works include an oratorio Rebekah, The Lord is King (Psalm 97), many services and anthems, and 246 hymn tunes (published in 1897 in one volume), as well as some partsongs and songs (among them, Now The Day Is Over, and the popular lullaby using Alfred, Lord Tennyson's words Sweet and Low) and some pieces for the pipe organ.

References

Bibliography

  • Gatens, William J. 1986. Victorian Cathedral Music in Theory and Practice. New York: Cambridge University Press. . See especially chapter 9.
  • Palmer, Fiona M. 2017. Conductors in Britain 1870-1914: Wielding the Baton at the Height of Empire. Music in Britain, 1600-2000 (Book 15). Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer. . See chapter 3.
  • Joseph Barnby, 1838–1896, biography and list of works at Cyber Hymnal
  • Sheet music for "Sweet and Low", Oliver Ditson Company, 1912.