Bridge, Frank (1879-1941), was a gifted British composer of chamber and orchestral music and songs. His early works follow traditional lines, but his music after 1920 was more modern in idiom. One of his best-known works is The Sea (1910-1911), an evocative orchestral suite. Other major works include the Phantasie Piano Quartet (1910), the song “Love Went a-Riding” (1914), and the concerto Oration (1930) for cello and orchestra.
Bridge was born on Feb. 26, 1879, in Brighton (now Brighton and Hove), England. He studied composition under the Irish organist Sir Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music from 1899 to 1903. In the early 1900’s, Bridge established himself as an outstanding viola player in chamber groups and also as a conductor. Bridge later taught the English composer Benjamin Britten when Britten was 14 years old. Bridge died on Jan. 10, 1941.
