__NOTOC__ Percy Godfrey (16 August 1859 – 30 January 1945) was an English composer, organist and music teacher, mostly active in the county of Kent.
Education and career Born in Croxall, Derbyshire, he studied at the University of Durham and the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Sir George Macfarren and Ebenezer Prout. The Dutch violinist and composer Berthold Tours, who became a friend, was also an important early influence.'Musical Personalities: Percy Godfrey', Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 6 September 1930, p. 2 After graduating he became a schoolmaster in Bengeo, Hertford before being appointed music-master and organist at The King's School, Canterbury. He conducted the East Kent Orchestra. Philip L Scowcroft. A 207th Garland of British Light Music Composers (July, 2001
Music Godfrey's compositions extend up to 50 opus numbers. His prize-winning Coronation March, composed for Edward VII in 1902, was by far the best known of his works. It was the subject of extensive national press coverage at the time.'Mr Percy Godfrey, Composer of the Coronation March', Illustrated London News, 15 February 1902Daily Express, 20 March 1982, p. 6 The march was adapted as a hymn tune by Sir Frederick Bridge, and was also used at the overture for Leopold Wenzel's Our Crown, an imperial ballet staged at the Empire Theatre in May 1902.Europe, Empire, and Spectacle in Nineteenth-century British Music (2006), ed. Rachel Cowgill and Julian Rushton, pp. 128-29 There is a modern recording.The Crown Imperial, SOMM CD 0138 (2014)
Godfrey's Symphony No. 1 in G minor was composed in 1903 and later performed by Dan Godfrey (no relation) in Bournemouth and Hastings. There were three other symphonies, including the 3rd in A, performed in 1930 at the Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone.'Mr Percy Godfrey's Symphony', Folkestone Herald, 12 April 1930, p. 3 Other orchestral works included a symphonic ballad, the Spanish Suite for chorus and orchestra (performed in Dover in 1907)'Music in Dover', The Musical Times, Vol. 48, No. 772 (June 1907), p. 400 and a military band suite which was performed by Souza on his American tours and in London.A. Eaglefield-Hull. A Dictionary of Modern Musicians (1924), p. 189
Godfrey also composed chamber music, most notably his four movement Piano Quintet, op. 16, composed in 1900, which won the Lesley Alexander Prize.British Piano Quintets, SOMM CD0707 (2025) The suite A Dream of Dresden China is unusually scored for two violas, cello and piano. There were also three operas, organ pieces and part songs (such as The darksome night has gone).The darksome night is gone, published by Novello, 1890 An archive of his scores and other materials is held by the Worshipful Company of Musicians.'Coronation Prize March', Musicians' Company Archive
Later life In the 1930s he and his wife were living in Folkestone at 32, Bouverie Square. She died in 1935. In the early 1940s he moved to East Molesey in Surrey to live with his sister Ethel Weir at 25, Spencer Road. He died there in February 1945, aged 85.Musicians of Note: the recollections of John Edward Searle, Molesey History Society
References
External links
Worshipful Company of Musicians: Percy Godfrey Archive Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 16: I. Allegro. SOMM Recordings 'Invocation', from Feuilles d'album, op. 33 (1909), performed by Phillip Sear.