Opera Scotland

Frederic Cowen Suggest updates

Sir Frederic Cowen; Hymen Frederick Cowen.

Born Kingston, Jamaica, 29 January 1852.

Died London, 6 October 1935.

English composer, conductor and pianist.

Sir Frederic Cowen was one of the most prominent British musicians of the late Victorian era. After initial training under Sir Julius Benedict, he studied in Leipzig, where his teachers were Moscheles and Reinecke. He composed four mature operas, none with any great success.

Operas performed in Scotland are shown in bold:

1   Pauline (London 1876) (Hersee).

2   Thorgrim (London 1890) (Bennett)

3   Signa (Milan 1893) (A'Beckett, Rudall & Weatherly, tr Mazzucato)

4   Harold; or The Norman Conquest (London 1895) (Malet)