1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bridge, Frank

BRIDGE, FRANK (1870–⁠), English musical composer, born at Brighton Feb. 26 1879, was musically educated at the Royal College of Music, which he entered as violin student in 1896, but gained a scholarship for composition three years later. For many years subsequently he was equally in demand both as composer and as viola player, in which latter capacity he was quite first-rate. Often he was called upon to play the viola in quintets with the Joachim Quartet. Bridge was at one time or other a member, as violist, of the Crimson and the Motto quartets. A vast number of songs were produced by him, but it is as a composer of chamber music for strings that his reputation stands. In this category there are four quartets for pianoforte and strings or for strings alone and a sextet; a phantasy trio; a quartet in E minor, which was crowned by an honourable mention at Bologna in 1906. His sonnet, Blow out, you bugles, has been sling ubiquitously. Among the other works of real importance are his orchestral compositions, Isabella (1907); Dance Rhapsody (1909); a suite, The Sea (1912); A Dance Poem (1914); a suite for stringed orchestra and A Lament for the same; a tone-poem, Summer. As a conductor Bridge also established his reputation. In 1910-11 he conducted at the Savoy theatre for Marie Brema, and was at Covent Garden with Beecham in 1913.