Percy Godfrey (composer)

NOTOC Percy Godfrey (16 August 1859 – 30 January 1945) was an English composer, organist and music teacher, mostly active in the county of Kent. Education and career Born in Croxall, Derbyshire, he studied at the University of Durham and the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Sir George Macfarren and Ebenezer Prout. The Dutch violinist and composer Berthold Tours, who became a friend, was also an important early influence. After graduating he became a schoolmaster in Bengeo, Hertford before being appointed music-master and organist at The King’s School, Canterbury. He conducted the East Kent Orchestra. Music Godfrey’s compositions extend up to 50 opus numbers. His prize-winning Coronation March, composed for Edward VII in 1902, was by far the best known of his works. It was the subject of extensive national press coverage at the time. The march was adapted as a hymn tune by Sir Frederick Bridge, and was also used at the overture for Leopold Wenzel’s Our Crown, an imperial ballet staged at the Empire Theatre in May 1902. There is a modern recording. Godfrey’s Symphony No. 1 in G minor was composed in 1903 and later performed by Dan Godfrey (no relation) in Bourn