# Algernon Ashton



## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

"*Algernon Ashton* (9 December 1859 - 10 April 1937) was born in Durham on 9 December 1859. His father, whose twelfth child he was, was the leading tenor at Lincoln Cathedral, with a voice that was widely admired. When Ashton was three years of age, his father died quite unexpectedly, leaving his widow in very straightened circumstances with four surviving children to care for. The composer's mother, Diana, decided at once to move her son and two surviving daughters to Germany since the eldest, also named Diana, was already studying music at the Conservatoire in Leipzig, where the family was to settle. On their arrival they were at once befriended by Clara Schumann and invited to her regular musical soirees where they met the leading composers of the day, including Moscheles, Rubinstein, Dvořak, and Brahms, the latter two taking particular interest in the precociously gifted youngster, who began to study music with Iwan Knorr at the tender age of seven. Ashton entered the Conservatoire, where he was to excel. From 1875 he studied with Reinecke, Jadassohn, and Richter and, after his graduation, with Raff and Knorr (again) in Frankfurt. He did not return to the United Kingdom until 1881 when he settled in Westminster, where he was to stay for the remainder of his life."

Having recently hosted an unknown composer thread on Ashton, I figured this would be a good place to continue discussion.


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