Arthur Hervey

Arthur Hervey (26 January 1855 – 10 March 1922) was an Irish composer, music critic, and an expert in French music. Life Hervey was born in Paris of Irish parentage – his father was Charles J.V. Hervey who owned Killiane Castle in County Wexford, Ireland. He was educated at the Oratory, Birmingham, and studied in London with Berthold Tours and Edouard Marlois, two organist-composers with a French background. Hervey worked as music critic for Vanity Fair (1889–92) and The Morning Post (1892–1908). He died in London. Music Hervey composed in many forms including opera and orchestral music. Some of his larger works were written for and performed at major British music festivals at Cardiff, Norwich and Brighton. A French influence is detectable in his early chamber music. His wife Clare (née Harrison, widowed Webster) occasionally contributed the words to some of his songs and the libretto to his second opera Ilona (1914). In an obituary for the Musical Times, his musical language was described as being “always marked by melodiousness, straightforwardness of utterance, and polish of manner”. Since 1959, the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London is awarding an annual Arthur Hervey Priz