Norman Houston O'Neill (14 March 1875 – 3 March 1934) was an English composer and conductor of Irish background who specialised largely in works for the theatre.
He married Adine Berthe Maria Ruckert (29 July 1875 – 17 February 1947) on 2 July 1899 in Paris. Adine was a celebrated pianist (a pupil of Clara Schumann)[4] and music teacher in her own right - she later became head music mistress at St Paul's Girls’ School in Hammersmith.[5] O'Neill began to have some success with concert music, including a 1901 performance of his overture In Autumn given at the Henry Wood Proms.[6] In 1904 he composed the incidental music to John Martin-Harvey’s production of Hamlet at the Lyric Theatre, London.[7] In 1909 he began his long association with the Haymarket Theatre when he was appointed Music Director.
On 12 February 1934 O'Neill was walking East on Oxford Street on his way to Broadcasting House for a recording session. As he crossed Holles Street he was struck by a carrier tricycle.[4] As a result he developed blood poisoning and died on 3 March. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, London, as was his wife in 1947. There is a plaque there in memory to both of them.
In 1910, O'Neill became the first British composer to conduct his own orchestral music on record, directing the Columbia Graphophone Company's house ensemble, the "Court Symphony Orchestra", in a suite taken from his Blue Bird music on two double-sided gramophone discs.[12] He received personal congratulations from Sir Edward Elgar[13] on his music for the innovative central ballet sequence of the 1924 revue The Punch Bowl, which ran for over a year with O'Neill's contribution being widely singled out for praise in press coverage.[14]
His concert works include a number of symphonic suites, chamber and instrumental music, most of it written pre-war, before his theatre music career took off.[3] There are two piano trios, Op. 9 (1900) and the single movement Op. 32 (1909),[15] and the Piano Quintet in E minor, Op. 10.[16] Adine O'Neill, who frequently gave first performances of her husband's piano compositions, performed the Quintet for the first time at the Steinway Hall on 16 February 1903.[17] The String Quartet in C, which has been recorded, was derived from manuscripts of various movements held at the Royal College of Music.[16]
Solo piano works such as the Four Songs without Words[18] and the four-movement suite In the Branches[19] are still occasionally heard. The Deux Petites pièces, Op. 27[20] were recorded in 2019 by Richard Masters.[21]La Belle Dame Sans Merci (1908) for baritone and orchestra was recorded by the BBC Concert Orchestra with Roderick Williams in 2024.[22]
Selected works
Concert works
1895 - Variations on Pretty Polly Oliver op 1, for piano, violin and cello
1898 - Four Compositions for piano, op 4. A Norse Lullaby (song)
1899 - Romance in A for piano. Variations and Fugue on a Theme by A.R (Adine Rückert) for piano
1900 - Trio in A minor, op 7
1901 - In Autumn, orchestral overture, op 8
1903 - Piano Quintet in E minor, op 10
1904 - Hamlet overture. Death on the Hills, ballade for contralto and orchestra op 12
1905 - Variations and Fugue on an Irish Air for two pianos op 17. Waldemar, fantasy for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, op 19
1906 - In Spring-time, orchestral overture. Six Miniatures for small orchestra. Three pieces for piano, op 20
1907 - Five Rondels for medium voice, op 18. Two French Songs, op 26
1908 - La Belle Dame sans Merci, baritone and full orchestra, op 31. Deux Petites pièces for piano, op 27
1909 - String Quartet in C Major. Piano Trio in one movement, op 32. Four Dances from The Blue Bird
1911 - A Scotch Rhapsody for full orchestra, op 30
1913 - Introduction, Mazurka and Finale op 43 (from A Forest Idyll)
1914 - Overture Humoresque for full orchestra op 47
1916 - Hornpipe, for orchestra, op 48 (also piano version)
1918 - Four Songs without Words for piano
1919 - Carillon for piano, op 50. In the Branches, piano suite
1920 - Prelude and Call for orchestra
1921 - Celtic Legend and Nocturne for violin and piano. Eight 18th Century dance arrangements for piano
1924 - Blossom Songs (from the Japanese) with piano quartet
1926 - Echoes of Erin: Twelve Irish songs
1927 - Festal Prelude for orchestra (also piano version)
1928 - Two Shakespearean Sketches: Nocturne and Masquerade for orchestra
1930 The Farmer and the Fairies (Asquith), recitation.
