William Cusins
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use shortened footnotes Sir William George Cusins (14 October 1833Template:Spaced ndash31 August 1893)Template:Sfn was an English pianist, violinist, organist, conductor and composer. He served as Master of the Queen's Music from 1870 to 1893.
Biography
Born in London, Cusins entered the Chapel Royal in his tenth year and studied music in Brussels under François-Joseph Fétis and later at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, under Cipriani Potter, William Sterndale Bennett, Charles Lucas and Prosper Sainton.Template:Sfn
He toured widely, in England, Leipzig, Berlin and other places, as a concert pianist and as a composer. He was appointed organist to Queen Victoria's private chapel. He also played the violin in various orchestras in London. In 1851 he became assistant professor at the RAM, and later full professor. In 1867 he succeeded Sterndale Bennett as conductor of the Philharmonic Society and remained in this post until 1883.Template:Sfn
He was appointed Master of the Queen's Musick by Queen Victoria in 1870, succeeding George Frederick Anderson, who had retired. He was knighted on 5 August 1892 (the only Master to be knighted during his term of office) and received the Cross of Isabella the Catholic in 1893.Template:Sfn
He died at Remonchamps, Ardennes, France on 31 August 1893, of influenza, and was buried at Kensal Green, London.Template:Sfn
Works
Sir William Cusins produced editions of the piano music of Robert Schumann.Template:Sfn Among his works as a composer are Royal Wedding Serenata (1863), concert overture Les Travailleurs de la mer (1869), the oratorio Gideon (produced Gloucester, 1871), overture to William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (1875), Piano Concerto in A minor, marches and songs.Template:Sfn
References
Works cited
General references
External links
- The collected compositions of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort. edited by Cusins; from Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
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Template:England-musician-stub
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- English classical pianists
- British male classical pianists
- English composers
- English conductors (music)
- British male conductors (music)
- Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music
- Musicians from London
- 1833 births
- 1893 deaths
- Masters of the Queen's Music
- Composers awarded knighthoods
- Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods
- Knights Bachelor
- Musicians awarded knighthoods
- Artists' Rifles soldiers
- Deaths from influenza in the United Kingdom
- Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery
- 19th-century British composers
- 19th-century British conductors (music)
- 19th-century British classical pianists
- 19th-century English musicians