Percy Pitt (1869-1932)
“A life on the podium, a composer in the shadows”
Percy Pitt helped shape British musical life from the concert platform, the opera house and the broadcasting studio. Born in London in 1869, he trained in Leipzig with Reinecke and Jadassohn and continued his studies with Rheinberger in Munich. Returning to London in 1893, he became closely associated with Queen’s Hall, working as pianist, organist and accompanist.
Opera increasingly occupied his working life. At Covent Garden he served as musical adviser and assistant conductor before becoming Director of Music in 1907. He later worked with the Beecham Opera Company and the British National Opera Company. His move into broadcasting brought another influential appointment: he became the BBC’s full-time Director of Music in 1924 and remained until 1930.
Behind this public career was a substantial body of composition. His output included orchestral suites, concertante works and theatre music. The Concertino for clarinet was written for Manuel Gómez, while the violin Ballade was associated with Eugène Ysaÿe. Today the conductor’s achievements are much better remembered than the composer’s music.
Biographical references: Bayerisches Musiker-Lexikon; International Clarinet Association.
Orchestral worklist (Selected works; bold indicates a confirmed surviving orchestral score)
| 1891 | Suite in D major: Prelude and Bourrée |
| 1896 | Modern Suite (Suite de ballet), Op.20 |
| 1896 | Fêtes galantes, Op.24 |
| 1897 | Concertino in C minor for clarinet and orchestra, Op.22 |
| 1898 | The Taming of the Shrew – overture |
| 1898 | Hercules March |
| 1899 (publication) | Air de ballet for strings, Op.1 No.1 |
| 1900 (publication) | Ballade for violin and orchestra, Op.17 |
| 1901 | Dance Rhythms, Op.33 |
| 1902 (full-score publication) | Coronation March, Op.21 |
| 1902 | Paolo and Francesca – incidental music and symphonic impressions, Op.35 |
| 1904 | Three Old English Dances, Op.40, from Richard II |
| 1906 | Symphony (Sinfonietta) in G minor |
| 1910 | English Rhapsody |
| 1914–1915 | Sakura suites Nos.1 and 2 |
| 1915 | Ballet égyptien |
Dates distinguish publication where stated. Unbolded entries do not imply that the music is lost. The clarinet Concertino survives in a published piano reduction. Worklist reference; Concertino score.
Coronation March, Op.21
Royal occasions generated a considerable repertory of ceremonial music, much of which quickly disappeared from the concert programme. Pitt’s Coronation March offers a way back into this neglected corner of his orchestral output.
The full score was published by Novello in 1902. The Library of Congress’s contemporary catalogue records a 36-page orchestral score, so this is a work whose original orchestral form is documented. Research into the Novello printing records gives a particularly small initial issue: 50 full scores were printed on 13 June 1902, with 25 distributed immediately.
The date of that edition should not automatically be treated as the date of composition. Accounts of Pitt’s work place the march earlier in his career; the secure date here is the full-score publication of 1902.
Score record: Library of Congress, Orchestral Music, p.339. Printing history: Brio, volume 53, no.2 (2016).
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