Theodore Holland
Theodore Samuel Holland, OBE (25 April 1878 – 29 October 1947), was a British composer and academic. Theodore Holland was born in Wimbledon, Holland attended Westminster School and then the Royal College of Music, where his composition teacher was Frederick Corder. A further period of study followed at the Musikhochschule in Berlin under Joseph Joachim.
Also recorded as Theodore Samuel Holland
Theodore Holland
- Born
- 1878 · Wimbledon.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- composer · music educator
- Education
- Westminster School
- Honours
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Theodore Samuel Holland, OBE (25 April 1878 – 29 October 1947), was a British composer and academic. Theodore Holland was born in Wimbledon, Holland attended Westminster School and then the Royal College of Music, where his composition teacher was Frederick Corder. A further period of study followed at the Musikhochschule in Berlin under Joseph Joachim.
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Note VALÉORINE
Theodore Holland (1878–1947) was a composer and music educator, of British and British nationality. The composer was born in Wimbledon and died in London. Theodore Holland was educated at Westminster School.
Languages used include English. Honours include Officer of the Order of the British Empire.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 27 September 2026
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wikidata · Q1688868 · wikipedia · Theodore Holland
In this article
Selected works
Selected works
• Autumn Voices, violin and piano (1947) • Christmas Suite for orchestra or military band (1912) • Concerto for Violin in one movement • Cortege for four cellos (1939, published 1941) • Ellingham Marches for orchestra (1940) • Evening on the Lake, tone poem for small orchestra (1908) • Four Fancies for violin and piano (1923) • Gavotte Pastorale for orchestra • A Pastoral Medley, cantata • Piano Sonata in E major (before 1935) • Piano Sonatina in F-sharp minor (1938) • Piano Trio No 1 in E minor (1935) • Piano Trio No 2 (1943) • Preludes for piano (1944) • Spring Sinfonietta for orchestra (1943) • Songs (Op. 4) • Songs (Op. 6) • Songs from Nyasaland (Op. 20), for voice and orchestra • String Quartet in C minor (1933) • String Quartet in E minor (1938) • Suite in D major for viola and piano (1938) • Toccata in E-flat minor for piano (1938) • Three Flecker Songs (1938, text James Elroy Flecker, including 'The Piper') • Threnody for cello and orchestra (1945, fp. Watford, 1950) • Two Shelley Songs (1908) • Variations for violin and piano (1927) • Variations on a Swedish Air for piano (1906)
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Wimbledon.
Birth place
London.
Death place
Composition
War service (which earned him an OBE) interrupted his career in theatre music and afflicted him with shell-shock for the rest of his life. His address in the 1930s was 10, Eldon Road, London W8. Among his students were the composer John Joubert, and also Iris du Pré, mother of cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Holland's wife Isména, godmother to du Pré, bought the Davydov Cello in 1964 for $90,000 and presented it to her. Much younger than her husband, Isména survived him by nearly 60 years. She died in October 2004, aged 101.
Holland began as a composer of incidental music for the theatre. The orchestral Christmas Suite, based on music for a children's play, Santa Claus (produced at the London Scala in 1912) remained popular into the 1920s and 1930s. He composed a children's opera, King Goldemar in 1902 and wrote new songs for the operetta The Merry Peasant at the Strand Theatre in 1909. Chamber music was his main interest after the war. He composed two string quartets and two piano trios, as well as miniatures for violin and piano and many solo piano works and songs (two sets with German texts). Orchestral pieces include a tone poem Evening on the Lake, a one movement violin concerto, and The Songs from Nyasaland (Op. 20), for voice and orchestra. A series of substantial late orchestral works included Ellingham Marshes for viola and orchestra, performed at the Proms on 15 April 1940, the Spring Sinfonietta (1943) and the Threnody for cello and orchestra (1945). A modern recording of Ellingham Marshes was issued by Dutton in 2012.
Recordings
• Ellingham Marshes for viola and orchestra, on Dutton Epoch CDLX 7295 (2012) • Suite in D for viola and piano, Matthew Jones, Michael Hampton, on English Music for Viola, Naxos 5.572579 (2011) • Suite in D for viola and piano, Sarah-Jane Bradley, Christian Wilson, on English Music for Viola and Piano, Naxos 8.57276 (2012) • Cortege for four cellos. Performed by Quatricelli in 2015
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.Blom, Eric. 'Holland, Theodore (Samuel)', in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980)
- 2.Obituary, The Times, 31 October 1947, p.7
- 3.Wilson, Christian. Notes to Naxos CD 5.572579 (2012)
- 4.naxos.com. Theodore Holland (1878–1947).
- 5.Landon Ronald (ed.): Who's Who in Music (1935), p. 143
- 6.Jacqueline du Pré Her Life, Her Music, Her Legend by Elizabeth Wilson, 1997
- 7.Jacqueline du Pré’s cellos, Tarisio
- 8.'Court and Social', The Daily Telegraph, 15 April 2005, p.30
- 9.Radio Times, 8 June 1935
- 10.Scott, Derek B. German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End, 1900–1940, Cambridge University Press (2019)
- 11.Philip L Scowcroft. Two Academic Composers: Hugo Anson and Theodore Holland. Musicweb International.
- 12.BBC Proms performance archive
- 13.Dutton Epoch CDLX 7295 (2012)
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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 26 August 2026.
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