Theodore Holland

Holland was born in Wimbledon, London and was educated at Westminster School before moving to the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with Frederick Corder. He later studied with Joseph Joachim at the Musikhochschule in Berlin.

Holland initially pursued a career in the theatre, but he won two mentions in dispatches and an OBE for his services during the Great War. The war, however, left him shell-shocked, a condition with which he suffered for the rest of his life.

In 1927 Holland was appointed Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the Royal Academy of Music, a position he would hold until he died. His students included Iris du Pré, mother of cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Holland's wife Isména became godmother to the young cellist.

His professional duties included those of Treasurer of the Royal Musical Association and as a member on the committees of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the Incorporated Society of Musicians.

His compositions included incidental music for Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, additional songs for Leo Fall's operetta The Merry Peasant (1909) and the children's opera King Goldemar (1902). He composed in almost all major classical forms.

For orchestra he wrote Gavotte Pastorale, for small orchestra the tone poem Evening on the Lake (1908), a violin concerto in one movement, Ellingham Marshes for viola and orchestra (premiered by Winifred Copperwheat with the London Symphony Orchestra under Henry Wood at The Proms in 1940), the Spring Sinfonietta (1943) and a threnody for cello and orchestra (1945). String quartets in C minor and E minor were published in 1933 and 1938, and piano trios in 1935 and 1943.

He also wrote Cortege for four cello (1939, published 1941) and a Suite in D for viola and piano (1938). Miniatures for violin and piano included Four Fancies (1923), Fireflies (Op. 18/20, the Variations (1927) and Autumn Voices written just prior to his death.

Holland's music for solo piano, included Variations on a Swedish Air (1906), Preludes (1944). A number of his works used remote keys, including Toccata in E-flat minor, the Sonatina in F-sharp minor (both 1938), and the Variations on an Original Theme, also in F-sharp minor.

Song compositions included the Opus 4 and Opus 6 sets, set to German words, two Shelley songs (1908) and three Flecker songs (1938). Scowcroft considers his most important vocal items to be The Songs from Nyasaland (Opus 20), for voice and orchestra, published with piano accompaniment, and the cantata A Pastoral Medley.

Holland's most popular work was a suite based on music for a children's play on Santa Claus. His style has been described as "idiosyncratic and colourful" and as "best suited to theatre". A small number of Holland's works achieved moderate success. These included Ellingham Marshes, for viola and orchestra, which was given its première at the 1940 Promenade Concerts and which was broadcast by the BBC in April 1941.