Sir (Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry

Composer, born in Bournemouth, Dorset, S England, UK. He studied at Oxford, was professor at the Royal College of Music (1883), and in 1895 became its director. He composed three oratorios, an opera, five symphonies, and many other works, but is best known for his unison chorus ‘Jerusalem’ (1916), words by William Blake, sung as an unofficial anthem at the end of each season of Promenade Concerts in London.

Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (February 27, 1848 – October 7, 1918) was an English composer, probably best known for his setting of William Blake's poem, Jerusalem, the coronation anthem I was glad and the hymn tune Repton set to Dear Lord and Father of Mankind.

Born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, and brought up at Highnam Court, Gloucestershire, he was the son of an amateur artist, and was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford. The first performance of the latter has often been held to mark the start of a "renaissance" in English classical music.

Parry joined the staff of the Royal College of Music in 1884 and was appointed its director in 1894, a post he held until his death. His later music includes a series of six "ethical cantatas", experimental works in which he hoped to supersede the traditional oratorio and cantata forms. He resigned his Oxford appointment on doctor's advice in 1908 and in the last decade of his life produced some of his finest works, including the Symphonic Fantasia '1912' (also called Symphony No.

Influenced as a composer principally by Bach and Brahms, Parry evolved a powerful diatonic style which itself greatly influenced future English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams. His own full development as a composer was almost certainly hampered by the immense amount of work he took on, but his energy and charisma, not to mention his abilities as a teacher and administrator, helped establish art music at the centre of English cultural life. He collaborated with the poet Robert Bridges, and was responsible for many books on music, including The Evolution of the Art of Music (1896), the third volume of the Oxford History of Music (1907) and a study of Bach (1909).

The site of his house in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, next door to The Square is marked with a blue plaque.