Disclaimer
This web page is tentative and embryonic at this stage, and any extra information will be gladly received!
Please contact Dan Rootham initially through our Feedback page.
Cyril Bradley Rootham (CBR) was director of music at St John's College, Cambridge from 1901 until his death in 1938. He was also a lecturer in composition at the University, and musical director of the CUMS. In his leisure time, he still managed to compose over 100 works: this page highlights the first performance or first broadcast of some major items.
Unfortunately CBR did not keep a diary or journal, so we have to track down first performance dates from CD booklet notes, old concert programmes, magazines, newspapers and the BBC Genome Project.
This web page is tentative and embryonic at this stage, and any extra information will be gladly received!
Please contact Dan Rootham initially through our Feedback page.
| Opus | Composed | Title | Genre | Instrumentation | Approx Duration | Date of First Performance | Performance Venue | Performers | Conductor | Sheet Music |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | ca.1890-1900 | How sleep the brave | Choral | Chorus and orchestra | unknown | 1901 | First performance: St. Mary, Tyndall's Park, Clifton, Bristol |
Choir of St. Mary's Church? | Frederick Rootham (organist and CBR's uncle) |
Manuscript only |
| 18 | 1903-05 | Andromeda | Choral | Soprano, contralto and baritone soli, chorus and orchestra | 65' | 1908 | First performance: Bristol Musical Festival |
Bristol Festival Chorus | Daniel Wilberforce Rootham? or Cyril Rootham? |
Typeset: available soon |
| 33 | 1908-09 | The Lady of Shalott | Choral | Mezzo-soprano solo, chorus and orchestra | 33' | 1999-09-18 | First performance: School Hall, Eton College |
Broadheath Singers, Windsor Sinfonia | Robert Tucker | Typeset: available soon |
| 36 | 1910 | A Passer By | Orchestral | Full orchestra | 10' | 1911-10-03 | First performance: Queen's Hall, London (Prom 45) |
The New Queen's Hall Orchestra | Henry Wood | Typesetting |
| 39 | 1911 | Hear the voice and prayer | Anthem | Voices SATB and organ | 06' | 1911 | First performance: Chapel of St John's College, Cambridge - anthem written for 400th anniversary of the College |
Choir of St John's College | Cyril Rootham | 54093 Stainer & Bell |
| 47 | 1913 | Song from Theocritus 15th Idyll | Voice & chamber orchestra | Soprano, strings and harp | 07' | 1914 | First performance: Bedford College, London (from the manuscript:) "Composed for the representation of the 15th Idyll of Theocritus at Bedford College, Regent's Park, London, at the meeting of the British Classical Association, Jan. 1914" |
unknown | Cyril Rootham | Typeset: proofreading |
| 49 | 1914 | String Quartet in C major | Chamber music | Violins, viola and cello | 25' | 1915 | First performance | Philharmonic Quartet: Arthur Beckwith (violin), Eugene Aynsley Goossens (violin), Raymond Jeremy (viola), Cedric Sharpe (cello)
The work is dedicated "To the Philharmonic Quartet" |
Typeset: proofreading | |
| 1934-01-28 | First broadcast: BBC National Programme |
The International String Quartet: André Mangeot (violin), Walter Price (violin), Eric Bray (viola), Jack Shinebourne (violoncello) | ||||||||
| 51 | 1915 | For the Fallen | Choral | Chorus and orchestra | 20' | 1919-03-14 | First performance: Guildhall, Cambridge |
Cambridge University Music Society | Cyril Rootham | Cathedral Music: CM 1086 |
| 55 | 1916-20 | The Two Sisters | Opera | Soli, chorus and orchestra | unknown | 1922-02-14 | First performance: New Theatre, Cambridge |
Cambridge Operatic Society Soloists: Gladys Moger (Ellen), Dorothy Campbell Giles (Annot), Steuart Wilson (Rainald), Clive Carey (The Harper) Producer: Dennis Arundell |
Dennis Arundell | University of Rochester, NY, USA: (vocal score) |
| 57 | 1918 | The Two Sisters concert overture | Orchestral | Full orchestra | 10' | 1918-09-19 | First performance: Queen's Hall, London (Prom 35) |
The New Queen's Hall Orchestra | Cyril Rootham | Typeset: available soon |
| 1934-08-15 | First broadcast: BBC Regional London |
The BBC Orchestra, leader Laurance Turner | H. Foster Clark | |||||||
| 59 | 1919 | Weep not, beloved friends | Part song | Voices SATB a cappella | 02' | 1919 | First performance: Memorial Service in St John's College Chapel, autumn 1919 |
Cyril Rootham | Typeset: proofreading | |
| 60 | 1920 | Processional ("Procession in Scarlet") |
Orchestral | Full orchestra | 06' | 1920-06-15 | First performance: King's College Chapel, Cambridge - musical celebration in honour of the Chancellor of Cambridge University (Arthur Balfour) |
Cambridge University Musical Society? | Cyril Rootham | Typeset: proofreading |
| 65 | 1921-22 | Brown Earth | Choral | Chorus, semi-chorus and orchestra | 08' | 1923-03-14 | Royal Albert Hall | Combined musical societies of Oxford and Cambridge Universities | Cyril Rootham? | Typeset: available soon |
| 72 | 1923 | Jemima | Part song | Voices TTBB a cappella | 02' | 1924-11-13 | First broadcast: BBC All Stations relay from London |
The London Male Voice Octet | Typeset: proofreading |
|
| 75 | 1925 | Sonata in G minor | Chamber music | Violin and piano | 20' | 1925-11-09 | First performance | Bessie Rawlins (violin), Kathleen Long (piano) | OUP Archive | |
| 81 | 1921-22 | Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity | Choral | Soprano, tenor & baritone soli, chorus, boys' semi-chorus and orchestra | 42' | 1930-06-13 | First performance: Guildhall, Cambridge |
Choir and orchestra of the Cambridge University Music Society | Cyril Rootham | Stainer & Bell: HL167 |
| 1931-12-29 | First broadcast: BBC Regional London |
The Wireless Chorus, chorus of boys, The BBC Studio Symphony Orchestra | Cyril Rootham | |||||||
| 83 | 1930 | Septet | Chamber music | Viola, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and harp | 17' | 1933-09-21 | First performance: Pittsfield Music Festival in Massachusetts, USA |
Jules Lefranc (viola) with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra | Typeset: available soon |
|
| 1936-03-01 | First UK performance: Guildhall, Cambridge |
Lionel Tertis (viola), Frank Butterworth (flute), Joy Boughton (oboe), Stephen Waters (clarinet), Anthony Baines (bassoon), David Burditt (horn), Vera Pryce Tidman (harp) | ||||||||
| 1936-06-07 | First broadcast: BBC National Programme Daventry |
The London Wind Quintet (augmented): Robert Murchie (flute), Alec Whittaker (oboe), Frederick Thurston (clarinet), Frederick Wood (bassoon), Edmund Chapman (horn), Anthony Collins (viola), John Cockerill (harp) | ||||||||
| 86 | 1932 | Symphony No 1 in C minor | Orchestral | Full orchestra | 31' | 1936-10-30 | First broadcast: BBC National Programme |
The BBC Orchestra | Cyril Rootham | Manuscript only |
| 91 | 1934 | Praise the Lord, O my soul (Psalm 103) | Choral | Chorus and orchestra | 13' | 1938-06-16 | First performance: St Barnabas' Church, Cambridge |
Unknown | Unknown | Typeset: proofreading |
| 97 | 1936-38 | Symphony No 2 in D major | Orchestral | Full orchestra & women's chorus | 38' | 1939-03-17 | First performance & broadcast: BBC National Programme from the BBC's Maida Vale Studios download broadcast details and programme note (PDF file) |
The BBC Orchestra, BBC Women's Chorus | Sir Adrian Boult | Typeset: available soon |