Sir Granville Bantock - The University of Birmingham - Edgbaston, Birmingham, U.K. - Blue Plaques on Waymarking.com

Sir Granville Bantock (1868-1946)

Sir Granville Bantock, composer and conductor, was appointed the University of Birmingham's second professor of music in 1908 following Sir Edward Elgar's resignation.

The plaque can be found to the right of the Bramhall Music Building on a brick column which is situated to the right of a flight of steps.

Granville Bantock is perhaps surprisingly not that well-known today given that he was the dedicate of Sibelius's Third Symphony. This was a “symbol Sibelius's gratitude for Bantock's promotion and understanding of his own music in Britain in the early years of the 20th Century. He wrote around 800 pieces in genres from opera to light music. His aesthetic combines some classic Celtic twilight inspirations - although Bantock had better reason than most: although he was born in London, his heritage was Scottish, so his Hebridean Symphony, Link for example, is a more genuine expression of Scottishness than a mere folklorist fantasy. But then, he also had a nice line in fin-de-siecle orientalist indulgences, above all in his gigantic epic for soloists, choir and orchestra, Omar Khayyam." Link Source

In 2013 The BBC's Proms concert season featured five works by Granville Bantock. Amongst the pieces that listeners heard there was music from 'the Sapphic Poem, a languorously meandering blend of cello concerto and tone poem' played by Raphel Wallfisch broadcast on 24 July 2013 and the Sea Reivers Link broadcast on the Last Night, " a discarded scherzo from the Hebridean Symphony, these works give a flavour of the 'luxurious but easily digestible range of Bantock's orchestral imagination: think colourful Wagnerian harmony with a dash of Celtic modality and a soupcon of Rimsky-inflected flair' other works broadcast in 2013 included 'The Witch of Atlas' Link and his 'Celtic Symphony' Link Source

Bantock's predecessor as professor of music at the university, Sir Edward Elgar, recommend his appointment 'as the first salaried principal of the Birmingham and Midland Institute of Music... he made a lasting impact on music and education in the city: his belief in a rounded musical education, in which university and music school are mutually complementary, informs the ethos of the University Department of Music.' Source

He helped found the City of Birmingham Orchestra (now CBSO) in 1920 and one of the first pieces the new orchestra performed was his overture: Saul'. Source Source