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Sir (Herbert) Hamilton Harty, conductor, composer and accompanist, was born December 4, 1879 in Hillsborough (Ireland). While he is best known for the unmistakeably Irish sound in many of his compositions, Harty was a respected and admired conductor, and at one time considered the premier accompanist in London.
The son of a church organist (William Harty), Hamilton played viola, piano, and organ as a child. Initially following in his father's footsteps, he held positions as a church organist from age 12. He moved to London in 1901 to pursue a musical career as accompanist, and accompanied an impressive list of soloists, among them John McCormack, W.H. Squire, Joseph Szigeti, Fritz Kreisler, and soprano Agnes Nicholls, whom he married in 1904.
Harty did most of his composing between 1901 and 1920, including his An Irish Symphony, his tone poem With the Wild Geese, his Violin Concerto, and his setting of Ode to a Nightingale for soprano and orchestra, premiered by Nicholls. After his retirement from conducting in 1936, he completed another tone poem, The Children of Lir, in 1938.
After short stints with the London Symphony Orchestra and elsewhere in England, Harty became permanent conductor of the Hallé orchestra in 1920, a position that he held until 1933. Under his baton, the Hallé became one of the premier orchestras in England. He was knighted in 1925. From 1931-1936, Harty toured in America and elsewhere, conducting in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Rochester, as well as in Sydney, Australia. Sadly, he fell prey to brain cancer in 1936, and died on February 19, 1941 in Hove (England).
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