Wilfred Bendall

Wilfred Ellington Bendall (22 April 1850–16 June 1920) was an English composer, pianist, conductor, arranger and teacher. After musical studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Leipzig Conservatoire, he pursued a varied career, based mainly in London. He composed several operettas, and a quantity of choral music and song. His other musical activities included conducting in the theatre and concert hall, playing piano accompaniments for recitals, serving as secretary to the composer Arthur Sullivan, and holding a professorship at the Guildhall School of Music. He died in London, aged seventy. Life and career Bendall was born at Watts’ Terrace, Old Kent Road, London, on 22 April 1850. He was the second son and fifth of nine children of Robert Smith Bendall and his wife, Elizabeth Kay, née Holmes. He was the only member of the family to pursue a musical career. and from January 1872 he spent two years at the Leipzig Conservatoire, where he was a student of Carl Reinecke, Oscar Paul and Salomon Jadassohn. After returning to London Bendall performed as accompanist to singers and instrumentalists, played in chamber ensembles, and conducted. By 1887 he was conducting for Ric