Ethel Adelaide Parker (21 July 1886 – 1 February 1971) was an English concert organist and composer. Parker composed under a number of pseudonyms including Etelka d’Arba, Bruno d’Arba, Joan d’Arba and Joan McLeod.
Education Between 1905 and 1909 Parker studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and one of her tutors was Sir Walter Parratt. At a later date Parker continued her studies in Germany with Dr Karl Straube in Leipzig, and also the composer Max Reger.
Musical career As a concert organist Parker promoted English contemporary music in Europe, and was noted to be the first women organist to perform a solo in the celebrated Thomaskirche Saturday Motette series in Leipzig. In England Parker gave the first performance of Reger’s Fantasy and Fugue on Bach, which took place on 30 June 1910 at the Queen’s Hall in London. Parker is also credited with introducing the music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert to the British public, who composed specifically his In dulci jubilo Op 75 No 2 for Parker and dedicated it to her.
In the 1920s Parker became interested, through campanologist William Wooding Starmer, in carillon and bell music. It is believed that through the support of a Swiss millionaire, she continued her studies in performance under Antoon Nauwelaerts in Bruges. Around this time, she was known to travel Europe widely as a concert organist, often using the name Adelaide Parker.
As a composer, many leading publishers promoted the music of Parker including Novello & Co, J & W Chester, J. Curwen & Sons and Cramer Music. In writing music for the voice, she set texts by many poets including Christina Rossetti, W. B. Yeats, R. M. Rilke, as well as dedicating works to leading musicians including Elena Gerhardt and Maria Olenina-d'Alheim. Parker is often cited as being the first known women to have composed for the carillon, and letters survive between Parker and Percival Price concerning this area of interest.
Works The Royal College of Music houses an archive of manuscript and published scores by Parker. Name of work Instrumentation PublisherCattistockCarillonImages BretonnesCarillonThree PiecesCarillonSuite sur un vieux chant VendéenCarillonThème et VariationsCarillonChristmas in the forestChoirCramer Music, 1950Ave MariaChoirEvening Hymn to The Holy TrinityChoirImages BretonnesChoirOh, what shall lift the nightChoirTell me, my lamb of goldChoirVariations sur un air de la rue au Moyen-AgeHarpEditions HennDanceriesHarpFive ImpressionsHarpFantaisie fugueOrchestraVariations sur un theme russeOrganJ & W ChesterFantaisie fugueOrganSuite on the old London street-cry of the bellmanOrganIrrlichterOrganFugal FantasyOrganThème et Variations in G minorPianoChristmas eveSoloists and choirCramer Music, 1957Four graces from Herrick’s Noble NumbersSoloists and boys choirWilliam Elkin & Co, 1948Dainty rogues in porcelain
(3 duets)Soloists and pianoJ & W Chester, 1929Two Swedish Legends after Selma Lagerlöf
(tone poems)String orchestraJ & W Chester, 1958DreamString orchestraWhy fadest thou in deathVoice and orchestraFour SongsVoice and orchestraFrolleclaloonVoice and pianoA Fian lullabyVoice and pianoJ. Curwen & Sons, 1923Russian lullabyVoice and pianoJ. Curwen & Sons, 1925CloverVoice and pianoJ & W Chester, 1929Laudate eum, elementa, Christus natus estVoice and pianoNovello & Co, 1938CarolVoice and pianoJ & W Chester, 1939Two songs from Herrick’s Noble NumbersVoice and pianoWilliam Elkin & Co, 1954Slumber SongVoice and pianoWilliam Elkin & Co, 1954Wayfarers’ carolVoice and pianoWilliam Elkin & Co, 1957DecemberVoice and pianoWilliam Elkin & Co, 1957Away with us he’s goingVoice and pianoColdVoice and pianoIst ein SchlossVoice and pianoThe Lamb-ChildVoice and pianoLeuchtendes landVoice and pianoMärchenVoice and pianoThe New-yeeres giftVoice and pianoThe RuneVoice and pianoSlumber SongVoice and pianoZauberVoice and pianoWayfarers’ CarolVoice and pianoLes deux enfant de roiVoice and piano
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