<<  -- 2 --  Trevor Hold    JOHN BISHOP (1931-2000)

Later on he turned to publishing books, ranging from short monographs and collections of memoirs to large-scale studies, such as Christopher Palmer's Centenary Celebration of Herbert Howells. The main composers to benefit from his enterprise were Peter Warlock and Frank Bridge, for both of whom he supplied virtually a Collected Edition, but there were scores of others. No composers were nearer to his heart than the songwriters of the Golden Age of English Romantic Song: not just the big names, such as Parry, Elgar, Holst, Quilter, Bax, Butterworth, Gurney and Moeran, but that shoal of minor talent: Denis Browne, Benjamin Burrows, Madeleine Dring, Robin Milford, Herbert Murrill and Landon Ronald. He capped his publishing career with the monumental 12-volume series, A Century of British Song, and Michael Pilkington's invaluable English Solo Song repertoire guides.

As for the books, it is difficult to know where to start. By an ironic coincidence, on the day of his death I received the latest Thames Publishing catalogue. The 'Backlist' alone includes memoirs by Bliss, Geoffrey Bush, Howard Ferguson and Robin Orr, all invaluable primary source material. The new publications for 2000 include Ronald Corp's The Choral Singer's Companion (already selling like hot cakes), Trevor Bray's Life of Frank Bridge and Stephen Varcoe's Sing English Song, a detailed discussion of some 150 songs from the repertoire. He could unashamedly boast that Thames was 'the only imprint concentrating solely on British classical music and musicians, particularly from the earliest part of the 20th Century'.

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