John Francis Barnett

John Francis Barnett (16 October 183724 November 1916) was an English composer, pianist and teacher. Life John Francis Barnett was born on 16 October 1837 at St John’s Wood, London. His father was Joseph Alfred Barnett (1810-1898), a professor of music, and his uncle was the composer John Barnett. John Francis carried on the traditions of the family as a composer and teacher. He obtained a Queen’s Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, London, in 1849 studying under William Sterndale Bennett and developing into an accomplished pianist. In 1857 he travelled to Leipzig to study composition and piano, playing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor at a Gewandhaus concert on 22 March 1860. His teachers at the Conservatoire in Leipzig were the great pianist Ignaz Moscheles (who had been a pupil of Beethoven), Moritz Hauptmann, Julius Rietz and Louis Plaidy. Whilst at Leipzig, Barnett formed a close friendship with his fellow-student Arthur Sullivan. Returning to London in 1860, Barnett enjoyed a successful career as a pianist for some years but concentrated increasingly on composition and teaching. He played Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto at a New Philharmonic Society concert i