Rêverie

Frederic Cowen was born at Kingston, Jamaica, moving to London when his father became treasurer of Her Majesty’s Opera and subsequently of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Frederic showed an early aptitude for music, being encouraged by Sir Henry Bishop, taking lessons with John Goss and Julius Benedict, before eventually studying at Leipzig and Berlin with Ignaz Moscheles, Carl Reinecke, Louis Plaidy and Friedrich Kiel. His career was to be mainly as a conductor, notably of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the Halle, Liverpool Philharmonic and Scottish orchestras, and of the Handel Triennial Festival. It was through his conducting that Cowen became acquainted with Liszt, Rubinstein, Brahms, Grieg, Dvořák and many other contemporary musicians.

As a composer, he achieved most success with his songs (more than 300 of them) and choral works, but he regarded his six symphonies as the pinnacle of his output. The Third Symphony (“The Scandanavian”) was his most successful (MPH score 749) and all six show a comfort with large structures, as well as a genuine flair for orchestration. That said, none could be said to be ‘forward looking’, and each is a good example of a post-Mendelssohn, post-Schumann European symphony.

Reverie dates from 1903, and is a reminder that Cowen had a flair for the sort of light music that was thought de rigeur in the days when it was common to play encores at most concerts.

Phillip Brookes- list text here

For performance material please contact Boosey & Hawkes, Berlin