Bertram Luard-Selby (1853-1918)

Bertram Luard-Selby (1853-1918) was an English composer and cathedral organist born at Ightham Mote, Kent.

He studied the organ at the Leipzig Conservatoire in Germany under Carl Reinecke and held a number of high profile positions as organist, in particular Salisbury Cathedral (1881 – 1884) and Rochester Cathedral (1900 – 1916). He was the musical editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern, published in 1904.

At the Three Choirs Festival of 1877, Luard-Selby’s Kyrie Eleison was premiered at a concert together with two other novelties, Sullivan‘s In Memoriam and Brahms‘s German Requiem. The Musical Times said of Luard-Selby’s work, “We failed to discover any originality of thought, but the writing throughout shows that its composer is an accomplished musician.”^[6] He composed two school cantatas, The Waits of Bremen and A Castle in Spain; chamber music including two piano quintets; a piano quartet; three sonatas for violin and piano; and many songs and part-songs. His church music includes two settings of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, 16 anthems, and a number of pieces for the organ.^[1][7]

Luard-Selby’s orchestral works included

• Village Suite, which premiered at the Henry Wood Proms in 1908
• An Idyll
• Incidental music to Helena in Troas, a drama by John Todhunter and E. W. Godwin (London, 1886).

He also wrote three operas:

• The Ring (1886)
• Adela (1888)
• Weather or No (1896) – first produced at the Savoy Theatre as a curtain-raiser for The Mikado.