Herbert Fryer
George Herbert Fryer (21 May 1877 – 7 February 1957) was an English pianist, teacher and composer.
Also recorded as George Herbert Fryer
Herbert Fryer
Ernest Walter Histed · The Sketch, Vol. XLII, No. 534, April 22, 1903, page 34 · Public domain
- Name
- Herbert Fryer
- Birth Name
- George Herbert Fryer
- Born
- 21 May 1877
- Birthplace
- Hampstead, London, England
- Died
- 7 February 1957
- Place of death
- London, England
- Occupation
- * Pianist
- Education
- * Royal Academy of Music
- Nationality
- United Kingdom · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
George Herbert Fryer (21 May 1877 – 7 February 1957) was an English pianist, teacher and composer.
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Herbert Fryer (1877–1957) was a composer, music educator and pedagogue, among other activities, of British and British nationality. The composer was born and died in London.
Herbert Fryer was educated at Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music. The composer worked for Royal Academy of Music. Languages used include English.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495
Died In · outgoing
London
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Pencil sketch by George Henry Harlow, 1814, http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/largerimage.php?mkey=mw05495
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wikidata · Q5734131 · wikipedia · Herbert Fryer
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Herbert Fryer • Birth Name — George Herbert Fryer • Born — 21 May 1877 • Birthplace — Hampstead, London, England • Died — 7 February 1957 • Place of death — London, England • Occupation — * Pianist • teacher • composer • Years Active — 1898–1947 • Education — * Royal Academy of Music • Royal College of Music
Early life
Early life
Fryer was born in Hampstead, London in 1877, the only son of three children. His father George Henry Fryer was an insurance broker. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, then went on for two years study (1893–95) under Oscar Beringer at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). In 1894, Fryer won the Heathcote Long Prize. This was followed by four years of study (1895–1898) at the Royal College of Music (RCM), under Franklin Taylor. In 1898, Fryer had some lessons with Ferruccio Busoni in Weimar. He also studied with Tobias Matthay.
Career
Career
He made his London debut on 17 November 1898, and then commenced a career as a touring recitalist as well as an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. These tours took him all over Britain and Europe, and also to many parts of Canada, the United States, Australia (including the goldfields of Western Australia), South Africa, the Far East, and India. He was also a competition adjudicator. He was said to have travelled more than any other British pianist. He gave 50 recitals in London alone, said to have been a record. The King of Norway attended his recital in Christiania. He played at the Proms on six occasions between 1901 and 1918, performing such works as Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Concert Fantasia, and Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2. His knowledge of the Brahms concerto was informed by the fact that his teacher Oscar Beringer had given the British premiere of the work in 1882. From 1922 Fryer was also a frequent broadcaster during the earliest days of radio. In 1905, he took up a teaching position at the RAM, where he continued until 1914. His first tour of North America came in 1914, and he stayed there for three years, teaching at the Institute of Musical Art in New York (later merged with the Juilliard School). On his return to Britain in 1917, he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music, remaining in that post for the next 30 years, until 1947. Fryer's list of pupils was impressive. They included Arthur Bliss, Lance Dossor, Colin Horsley, Constant Lambert, Harold Rutland, Cyril Smith and Kendall Taylor.
Later life and death
Later life and death
On retirement, he continued teaching privately above Blüthner's showrooms, and died in London in 1957, aged 79. Fritz Fryer (1944–2007), lead guitarist of the British pop group The Four Pennies, was his grandson.
Compositions
His compositions are now little known. They include: • Intermezzo, Op. 1 (1903) • Étude-Caprice, Op. 9, No. 1 • Suite in Old Form, Op. 11, for piano (1910) • Deux Morceaux de danse, Op. 12 (No. 1: Valse en ré; No. 2: Petite danse) (1912) • Trois Préludes pour piano seul, Op. 16 (1914) • Three Preludes, Op. 17 • Country Side. Suite for pianoforte, Op. 18 (1918) • Transcriptions for Pianoforte of Old English Melodies from H. Lane Wilson's Collection, Op. 19 (1919) • The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn, Op. 20, No. 1 • Five Transcriptions from Bach, Op. 22 (all from his Suites for solo cello): • Bourrée & Gigue from Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009 • Sarabande from Suite for Suite No. 4 in E flat major, BWV 1010 • Sarabande & Gavotte from Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 (Jonathan Plowright has recorded the Sarabande; his live performance of it at the Wigmore Hall on 15 November 2008 can be heard) • Six Little Variations on a Rigadoon by H. Purcell, Op. 21 (1922) • piano arrangements of traditional Irish and English tunes • Ah, Willow! • My Love's an Arbutus He wrote Hints on Pianoforte Practice (New York: G. Schirmer, 1916).
Students
Fryer's students: • Trevor Barnard (born 1938), British-born Australian pianist and teacher • John Bishop (1903–1964), best known as founder of the Adelaide Festival • Arthur Bliss (1891–1975), composer • Richard Bonynge (born 1930), conductor and husband of Dame Joan Sutherland • David Buchan (1903–2000), blind British pianist, author of Memoirs of a Pianist • Alex Burnard (1900–1971), Australian composer • Philip Challis (1929–1996), British pianist • John Clegg (1928–2014), pianist • Lance Dossor (1916–2005), British-born pianist and teacher who emigrated to Australia in May 1953 • Philip Gammon, (b. 1940), pianist • Colin Horsley (1920–2012), New Zealand-born pianist and teacher resident in the UK • Leonard Isaacs (1909–1997), UK pianist and teacher who moved to Canada in 1963 • Mack Jost (1918–2000), Australian pianist from Melbourne • John Kuchmy (1912–1988), Canadian pianist who worked in the UK • Constant Lambert (1905–1951), composer • George Malcolm (1917–1997), pianist, organist, harpsichordist, and conductor • Anthony Milner (1925–2002), composer • David Parkhouse (1930–1989), pianist • Leo Quayle (1918–2005), South African pianist and conductor • Phyllis Schuldt (1911–1982), UK-born pianist who worked in Canada • Cyril Smith (1909–1974), pianist and teacher • Richard Smith (1928–2009), English pianist, teacher and concert director for Southport Arts Center • Kendall Taylor (1905–1999), pianist and teacher • Glyn Townley (1911–2012), South African pianist
Recordings
Herbert Fryer made some recordings, both Welte-Mignon piano rolls and 78 rpm acoustic recordings for Vocalion. These include: • Beethoven: Minuet in E-flat • Chopin: Trois nouvelles études; Prelude from Op. 28 • Dvořák: Humoresque in G-flat • MacDowell: Sea Pieces, Op. 55, recorded 1909 • Schumann: The Prophet Bird, from Op. 82
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Herbert Fryer”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q5734131: Herbert Fryer
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.British composers who were who in 1913. Unsungcomposers.com.
- 2.Herbert Fryer (Composer, Arranger) - Short Biography. Bach-cantatas.com.
- 3.Royal Academy of Music Prizes - Interesting Artefacts. Unsungcomposers.com.
- 4.Web(UK), Music on the. Some British Instrumentalist Composers by Philip Scowcroft : MusicWeb(UK). Musicweb-international.com.
- 5.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (London: Macmillan, 1954), vol. 3, p. 510: "Fryer, (George) Herbert".
- 6.http://libserv23.princeton.edu/princetonperiodicals/cgi-bin/princetonperiodicals?a=d&d=Princetonian19160513-01.2.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN-----
- 7.http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93893487?searchTerm=FRYER&searchLimits=
- 8.Herbert Fryer. Nla.gov.au. 3. 29 September 1920.
- 9.Herbert Fryer. Nla.gov.au. 3. 23 November 1920.
- 10.Herbert Fryer's Pianoforte Recital. Nla.gov.au. 2. 1 November 1920.
- 11.Herbert Fryer Recital. Nla.gov.au. 6. 3 November 1920.
- 12.Mr. Herbert Fryer. Nla.gov.au. 6. 28 October 1920.
- 13.404 Not Found. BBC Music Events.
- 14.Archived copy.
- 15.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. (1954), vol. 1, p. 644: "Beringer, Oscar".
- 16.Transmission to the Halifax Wireless Society, 21 October 1922, BBC Programme Index
- 17.Sir Arthur Bliss by John Sugden, Omnibus Press, 1998
- 18.Fritz Fryer - Biography & History - AllMusic. AllMusic.
- 19.Brissenden, Alan. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
- 20.The Papers of Alex Burnard. Libguides.newcastle.edu.au.
- 21.Cummings, David M. International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory: (in the Classical and Light Classical Fields). Psychology Press. 18 November 2017. 9780948875533.
- 22.Philip Gammon: Ballet Association meeting report. Balletassociation.co.uk.
- 23.Smith, Charlotte. Obituary: Colin Horsley, pianist. Gramophone.co.uk. 7 August 2012.
- 24.Leonard Isaacs. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
- 25.John Kuchmy. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
- 26.Constant Lambert- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music.
- 27.Artist Biography: George Malcolm, Harpsichordist. Baroquemusic.org.
- 28.Anthony Milner - Short Biography - Music Sales Classical. Chesternovello.com.
- 29.Parkhouse Award - International competition for chamber ensembles of piano with strings. Parkhouseaward.com.
- 30.Phyllis Schuldt. Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.
- 31.Tribute to Glyn Townley. news.artsmart.co.za.
- 32.spencersrolls. Spencerserolls.com.
- 33.YouTube JlmFuHGudUQ
- 34.YouTube _-8Dp00g2Do Sea Pieces
- 35.The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn (Fryer, Herbert) - IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: Free Public Domain Sheet Music. imslp.org.
- 36.CDA67541/2 - Disc 2 Track 8 - Cello Suite No 6 in D major, BWV1012 - Hyperion Records - CDs, MP3 and Lossless downloads. Hyperion-records.co.uk.
- 37.Bach-Fryer: Piano Transcriptions of Bach's Works - Works. Bach-cantatas.com.
- 38.Herbert Fryer (1877-1957) on Hyperion Records. Hyperion Records.
- 39.Georg Solti Accademia. Georgsoltiaccademia.org.
References
Citations
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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