Robert Ernest Bryson (30 March 1867 – 16 April 1942) was a Scottish composer and organist who spent much of his life in Oxton, Cheshire, England, working as a cotton merchant in Liverpool. He was the founder-chairman and later President of the Rodewald Concert Society in Liverpool.
Early life and education
Robert Ernest Bryson (known as a composer more often as just Ernest Bryson), was born in Milton, Glasgow, Scotland on 30 March 1867Scotland Select Births and Baptisms, 1564–1950 and died 16 April 1942 in St Briavels, Gloucestershire.Probate Bristol 12 August 1942. Some sources record his death as 20 April, but this in fact was the date of his burial He was the only son of Robert Bryson (1831–1886), a cotton merchant, and Margaret Bryson (née Young, 1839–1936). At an early age, he was brought to Tranmere, Birkenhead (then part of Cheshire, England) by his parents, along with his three sisters.England Census 1871 Bryson was educated at Birkenhead School (1877–81).Birkenheaad School Archives
He purchased Yew Tree Cottage at St Briavels, Gloucestershire, in 1907The Lydney Observer, 8 May 1942. as a country residence and was registered there as a voter from 1910. He, and his three sisters all died there unmarried, along with their widowed mother.Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.co.uk
Career Bryson joined his father's firm of Bryson, Cooper & Co, cotton brokers, of Liverpool as an apprentice at the age of 17. He became a partner on his father's death.The Lydney Observer, 8 May 1942. As there are several errors in this obituary we cannot be sure of this. In 1893 he was elected to the board of the Liverpool Cotton Association but resigned after only a few weeks for no known reason.Kelly p17
Bryson studied music with W. H. Hunt, a local music teacher,Grove Dictionary of Music and Musician, Ed Eric Blom, 1954, Vol 1, p990 along with Hunt's nephews, Frederic and Ernest Austin who both became composers. He was organistSource 3 of Christ Church, Birkenhead, St Saviour's Church, Oxton and later at St Mary the Virgin, St Briavels, Gloucestershire.Sheraton, Jean, A Country Church Organ and Robert Ernest Bryson, pp. 22–23, Gloucester Cathedral News, April 2016. He was also a composer.Grove p990Dent p68Musical Opinion, May 1923, p751
His earliest known composition was Allegro Moderato in D minor for organ, which was published by Reeves in 1889. His Symphony No 1 was performed in Liverpool by the Liverpool Orchestral Society under Bantock in 1908.Jürgen Schaarwächter, Two Centuries of British Symphonism from the beginning to 1945, Chapter 5 p 278 It was published by Breitkopf & Härtel and republished by MPH Group. There were further performances, in Bournemouth under James Lyon (1872–1949)Dent p307James Lyon was one of the founders of the Rodewald Concert Society in Liverpool, not to be confused with the American composer of the same name in February 1912,The Times 11 November 1811 p 10 and in Manchester by the Hallé Orchestra.The Times 27 September 1926 His Symphony No 2 appears to be lost, although it was performed in Manchester on 1 January 1928 by the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Hamilton Harty and broadcast.The Times 12 January 1928 It was also awarded a prize by the Carnegie Music Trust. Both symphonies were reviewed in detail by Leigh Henry.Musical Opinion, April and May 1923
As part of the Musical League Festival, Bryson's Idylls of a Summer's Day was performed in 1909.The Times, 27 September 1909 p 11 His next big success was Voices, a study for orchestra premièred by Sir Henry Wood at the Promenade Concert, London on 15 September 1910.The Times 15 and 17 September 1910 p 10 Next came The Stranger for Baritone, chorus & small orchestra, which was premièred by the Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra in 1917.Darren Henley & Vincent McKernan 'The Original Liverpool Sound, Liverpool University Press, 2000 His part-song Drum-taps was reviewed as a new publication in 1918.The Times 7 December 1918 His Fanfare for an Adventure was published in 1921 as a piano version.Fanfare: A musical Causerie, Vol 1, Issue 4, Goodwin & Tab, 15 Nov 1921
Bryson's opera The Leper's Flute with libretto by Ian Colvin was premièred in Glasgow on 15 October 1926 by the British National Opera CompanyThe Times 16 October 1926 p 10 and subsequently toured to Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool and London.The Times 12 Sep and 14 November 1927 Also that year Bryson's song cycle The Unfading Garden was introduced by Hugh Campbell at the Grotriau Hall.The Times 26 November 1926 A song cycle, A Last Harvest was played at the Reid Concerthttps://www.reidconcerts.music.ed.ac.uk/ at the University of Edinburgh on 19 November 1927.Reid Concerts: https://www.reidconcerts.music.ed.ac.uk/concert/reid-orchestral-concert-61 The Radio Times shows that on 27 August 1937 Bryson's The Field of Boliauns was broadcast; performed by the BBC Orchestra conducted by Clarence Raybould with Parry Jones (tenor).Radio Times 27 Aug 1937 p 60
Bryson claimed he had been the confidant of William J. Ridley in the design of the organ at Liverpool Cathedral.Bryson, Ernest, Liverpool Cathedral Organ, Musical Opinion, 1924. Ridley was an amateur organist and an enthusiastic member of the organ committee, who was determined that the organ at Liverpool Cathedral would be the biggest and best organ in the World.Meybrick-Roberts, R, The Organ of Liverpool Cathedral, Musical Opinion, London 1926. Ridley was credited with the inception of the project.Goss-Custard, H The Organ of Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, 1940.
Ridley left a legacy to Bryson which he used to found an organ fund to replace the little antiquated organ at St Mary the Virgin, St Briavels, Gloucestershire, where he was organist in his retirement. He is commemorated by a plaque on the organ.
Bryson was one of the founders of the Rodewald Concert Society, LiverpoolRodewald Concert Society Golden Jubilee 1911-1961, booklet published by the Society (780 RCS/8/1/2)Kelly p37 and after his retirement to St Briavels in 1924, he was invited to become its President.Kelly p128 He accepted only after Elgar had declined the honour,Liverpool Record Office, RCS archives, ref 780 RCS/1/5/3-5.Kelly, John E., Elgar's Best Friend: Alfred Rodewald of Liverpool, Carnegie Publishing Ltd, Lancaster, 2013, , p 128. describing Elgar as combining "stupidity and impertinence" in his reply to the society.
Compositions Published compositions are shown in the British Library Catalogue.
After his death, Bryson’s eldest sister, Jessie Frew Bryson (1862-1954) attempted to collect his manuscripts for safe keeping. Unfortunately it is not known where she lodged them.Musical Times, Vol 93, No 198 (Dec 1942), p 381 The Late Ernest Bryson: Missing Manuscripts
Operas
Opera The Leper's Flute (Goodwin & Tab, 1925)
Orchestral
Fantasia-Overture (1894) Idylls of a Summer's Day (1909) Symphony No 1 in D (Breitkopf & Härtel,Currently available from mph 1909 and MPH GroupMusicproduction Hoeflic, https://www.repertoire-explorer.musicmph.de/en/) undated) Symphony No 2 in C (1928) Vaila, fantasy for string orchestra (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1909) Voices, a study for orchestra (1910)
Cantatas and Oratorios
The Field of Boliauns for tenor and orchestra (1937) The Stranger for Baritone, chorus & small orchestra (Stainer & Bell, 1917)
Songs
A Last Harvest, a song cycle for voice and orchestra A song of long ago (Weekes & Co, 1890) Nae sae bad as it micht hae been for one or two baritones (Larway, 1927) So, the Year's done with (Oxford University Press, 1927) The Unfading Garden (1926) What the People Tell Old Büsen (Stainer & Bell, 1911)
Part Songs
Drum-taps, seven part songs for chorus with side-drum (J Curwen & Sons, 1918) Grey, Canzonetta for female voices (Stainer & Bell, 1914) Simple as a Daisy for male voices (Curwen, 1930) Six Silly Songs for sensible children, (with Ernest Austin), (J. H. Larway, 1916) The Angler (J Curwen & Sons, 1925) The Silent Town for female voices (1914)
Church music
Most Glorious Lord of Life, Anthem (London 1912) The Unison Chant Choir-Book, a collection of original chants designed to encourage congregational singing (with Arthur Wormald Pollitt, Henry Frowde 1909)
Chamber music
Adagio cantabile, trio for violin, pianoforte and harmonium or American organ (1895?) (Donajowski, 1916) String Quartet No 1 String Quartet No 2
Organ
Allegro Deciso in D (1895) Allegro Grazioso (Schott, 1922) Allegro Moderato in D min (Reeves) 1889) Fantasia-Overture in D (Donajowski, 1894) Introduction & Symphonic Finale (Larway, 1910) Invocation (Mayhew) Pæan (J. Williams}, 1940) Prelude & Fugue in D (Donajowski, 1893) Processional Fantasia in C (Donajowski, 1893) P†n for organ [sic] (1940) Rhapsody (J. Williams}, 1935) Sequence of 7 Miniatures (Schott, 1922)Reprinted: Contemporary English Organ Album, London Schott & Co 1932 Plate B.S.S. 33502 IMSLPIMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music Six Church Preludes (Novello, 1892) Six Pieces Op. 26 (Donajowski, 1895) Sonata in C min (Forsyth) Two Miniatures (Schott & Co. 1922)
Piano
Through the Little Meadows Dedicated to and first performed by Frederick BrandonFirst performance 28 October 1912 for the Rodewald Concert Society Fanfare for an Adventure arr. for piano (1921),Fanfare: A Musical Causerie Vol 1, Issue 4, Goodwin & Tab 15 November 1921 Remembrance, A melody for pianoforte (J. H. Larway), 1926)
Sources
Bryson, (Robert) Ernest, Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1954 and earlier editions (Grove) A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians, Ed. Eaglefield-Hull, Dent 1924 (Dent) Bryson, Ernest British Library catalogues Ernest Bryson Scottish Composers Biographical Dictionary of the Organ (Requires a subscription for composer details) Bryson, Ernest IMSLP Rodewald Concert Society archives Ancestry
References
External links British Library catalogue Organ Biography IMSLP Petrucci Music Library Ancestry Liverpool Record Office