Hadow, Sir W (illiam) H (enry)

Hadow, Sir W (illiam) H (enry), English music educator, writer on music, and composer; b. Ebrington, Gloucestershire, Dec. 27, 1859; d. London, April 8, 1937. He studied at Malvern Coll. (1871–78) and Worcester Coll., Oxford (1878–82), receiving the degrees of M.A. (1885) and Mus.B. (1890). He was a lecturer at Worcester Coll. (1885–1909). After serving as principal of Armstrong Coll. in Newcastle upon Tyne (1909–18), he was vice-chancellor of the Univ. of Sheffield (1919–30). In 1918 he was knighted. He wrote a cantata, The Soul’s Pilgrimage, String Quartet, 2 violin sonatas, Viola Sonata, and a number of anthems. Hadow’s importance, however, lies in his books, written in a lively journalistic style. His book A Croatian Composer: Notes toward the Study of Joseph Haydn (London, 1897), claiming that Haydn was of Slavonic origin, aroused considerable controversy; later research disproved this theory. Of more solid substance are his other writings: Studies in Modern Music (2 vols., 1892-95; 10^th ed., 1921); Sonata Form (1896; 2^nd ed., 1915), The Viennese Period (vol. 5 of the Oxford History of Music, 1904; 2^nd ed., 1931), William Byrd (1923), Music (1924; 3^rd ed., rev., 1949, by G. Dyson), Church Music (1926), A Comparison of Poetry and Music (1926), Collected Essays (1928), English Music (1931), The Place of Music among the Arts (1933), and Richard Wagner (1934). He also ed. songs of the British Isles (1903) and was ed.-in-chief of the Oxford History of Music (1901-05 and 1929).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire