Quick Facts
Biography
George Philip John Engisch (1882–1972), later English, was an Australian composer, tenor soloist and conductor, residing in Melbourne. He moved to Brisbane in 1940s and established the Brisbane Opera Guild. His two symphonies of early 1930s (No. 1 of 1932 and No. 2 of 1933) represent the late-Romantic style just like the better-known late symphonies by Alfred Hill.
English was born in Sydney.
He sang in JS Bach's St Matthew Passion and Christmas oratorios. In late 1910s he sung the tenor parts in Hector Berlioz's La damnation de Faust with Sydney Philharmonic. By 1920 he was tenor soloist at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne.
In May 1920 he participated in the Beethoven Festival organized by the New South Wales Conservatorium being the soloist in Beethoven's Missa solemnis (on 15 May). He married Marjorie Blanche, née Hodgson. They had a son, George Selwyn English, who became a composer. The pair divorced in 1929, which resulted in financial difficulties.
In 1935 the University of Melbourne decided to establish a Bach society under the direction of professor Bernard Heinze and the conductorship of George English.
In 1937 he spent 7 months unemployed before being engaged by the ABC in December. On 10 May 1939 he was before the bancruptcy court in Melbourne. In June he was transferred by the ABC to Sydney.
In 1942 he was appointed conductor of the Queensland State and Municipal Choir (in succession to E.R.B. Jordan). The first rehearsal took place at the beginning of August.
Compositions
Both Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 2 by George English were performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under his direction at the Melbourne Centenary Celebrations (1934). His oratorio Armageddon was performed on 9 November 1941. In 1947 he composed a String Quartet, which got its first public performance on 30 October 1950 in Brisbane Albert Hall by the Queensland State String Quartet. He also composed several songs.
- The Six-starred flag of Anzac for 2 voices and piano (1919)
- Symphony No. 1 in A major, Op. 4 (1932)
- Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 5 (1933)
- Armageddon, oratorio for SATB, mixed choir and orchestra (1941)
- String Quartet in F major (1947, premiered 1950)
- Six negro spirituals arranged as part songs (SATB)