Hubert Parry
The composer who gave Britain its unofficial national anthem 'Jerusalem' and shaped a generation of musicians as a transformative educator.
1848–1918 (age 70)·British composer, teacher and historian·Birthday: February 27
Biography
Hubert Parry emerged from the shadow of the German musical tradition to help forge a distinct sound for British music at the turn of the 20th century. Though born into aristocracy, his passion was composition and teaching. His stirring choral works, like 'Blest Pair of Sirens' and the coronation anthem 'I was glad', captured a new public confidence. His setting of William Blake's 'Jerusalem' became an instant, enduring emblem of national spirit. As a professor and later director of the Royal College of Music, he was perhaps even more influential, mentoring a who's who of British composition including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, and Frank Bridge. He championed Bach and Handel, raising scholarly standards, and his own symphonies sought a grand, Brahmsian voice for England. Parry provided the artistic backbone for a musical renaissance, blending Victorian grandeur with a budding pastoral simplicity that would define the English style for decades.
#1 When Hubert Was Born
The biggest hits of 1848
Hubert's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1848Born
1853Started school
1861Became a teenager
President: Abraham Lincoln
1864Could drive
President: Abraham Lincoln
1866Could vote
President: Andrew Johnson
1869Turned 21
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1878Turned 30
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1888Turned 40
President: Grover Cleveland
1898Turned 50
Spanish-American War; US emerges as a world power
President: William McKinley
1908Turned 60
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1918Turned 70
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
Key Achievements
- Composed the music for 'Jerusalem', his setting of William Blake's poem, which became one of Britain's most beloved patriotic songs.
- Served as Director of the Royal College of Music, where he taught and influenced a generation of composers including Vaughan Williams and Holst.
- Wrote the monumental coronation anthem 'I was glad' for Edward VII, used in British coronations ever since.
- Authored influential studies of the music of Bach and Handel, elevating their status and scholarly understanding in England.
- Composed the choral ode 'Blest Pair of Sirens', a landmark work that reinvigorated English choral music.
Did You Know?
He was an accomplished mountaineer and sailor, and his love for the sea is reflected in works like his *Symphonic Variations*.
He composed the music for 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind', a hymn set to the tune 'Repton' from his oratorio *Judith*.
He wrote the official anthem for Newfoundland, 'Ode to Newfoundland', which is still the province's official anthem today.
He initially studied law and worked at Lloyd's of London before committing fully to music, graduating from the Royal College of Music in his late twenties.
“The only artistic success worth having is to have expressed one's self fully, and to have been understood by a few kindred spirits.”
