Henry Louis Reginald De Koven

Background

Henry Louis Reginald De Coven was born on April 3, 1859 in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Dr. Henry de Koven, who was a brother of the Rev. James de Koven. His mother was Charlotte Le Roy of New York.

Education

Reginald de Koven took his degree at St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1879, with intermittent periods at Stuttgart, where he studied the piano with Speidel.

After his graduation he spent a year in Stuttgart, studying piano with Lebert and harmony with Pruckner.

These studies were supplemented by a six months’ course in composition with Hauff (Frankfort), by a vocal course with Vannuccini (Florence), and the study of operatic composition under Genée (Vienna, 1888) and Delibes (Paris, 1889).

Career

During the winter of 1887 his first comic opera, The Begum, was produced. It was followed by Don Quixote. On June 9, 1890, in Chicago, his one outstanding score, the romantic comic opera Robin Hood, was first heard; it was produced in London on January 5 of the following year under the title Maid Marian.

In Robin Hood he achieved a score to Harry Smith’s libretto which ‘‘is analogous in its melodic fertility to Sullivan. ” It had more than 3, 000 successive performances after its initial success in Chicago.

Similarly, the composer’s best-known and most popular song remains his “O Promise Me, ” interpolated in this score, and which for a number of years has been widely used as an organ number at weddings. Robin Hood at once established De Koven’s reputation, and in rapid succession a number of light, melodious comic opera scores flowed from his facile pen. They included: The Fencing Master (Boston, 1892), The Algerian (Philadelphia, 1893), Rob Roy (Detroit, 1894), The Tzigane (New York, The Mandarin (Cleveland, 1896), The Paris Doll (Hartford, 1897), The Highwayman (New Haven, 1897), and The Three Dragoons (New York, 1899).

In addition he was music-critic for the Chicago Evening Post from 1889 to 1890, and for the New York World from 1892 to 1897. In the latter year the De Koven family transferred its residence from New York to Washington, D. C. , and there, in 1902, the composer organized the Washington Philharmonic Orchestra, which he conducted for three seasons. During this time De Koven was the music-critic for the New York Journal (1898 - 1900). After his return to New York, he again became the music-critic of the New York World (1907 - 12), and produced Red Feather (New York, 1903), Happy Land (New York, 1905), Student King (New York, 1906), The Golden Butterfly (New York, 1907), The Beauty Spot (New York), The Wedding Trip (New York, 1911), and Her Little Highness (New York, 1913). His grand opera, The Canterbury Pilgrims (New York, 1917), with book by Percy Mackaye, was composed in Switzerland, in the first year of the World War. At the time, his wife wrote later, “we sometimes even heard the echo of the guns over the Lake of Geneva. ” It was a departure from his accustomed field, and achieved a succès d’estime. His last opera, Rip Van Winkle, which he wrote with the same librettist, was an essay in what he termed “folk-opera, ” developing an American subject. It was given for the first time in Chicago, January 2, 1920, and was favorably received. On the evening of January 16, the day on which he had received word that the house had been “sold out” for the third performance of Rip Van Winkle, De Koven was stricken with apoplexy at a supper party given in his honor, and died in ten minutes without regaining consciousness.

The originality of his melodies, in various instances, has been questioned; but though he did not create a distinctive type of operetta, like Sullivan, his Robin Hood is regarded as a classic of its kind; and his service in a legitimate musical cause will make him long remembered. As a critic and writer on musical subjects, he was consistently committed to a recognition of American composers and artists equaling that accorded foreigners.

Achievements

• Henry Louis Reginald De Coven wrote some 120 songs and a number of piano pieces of the salon variety. Among the individual songs, the setting of Kipling’s “Recessional” is probably the best-known.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Golden Butterfly. Selection. P. F.

    (The Golden Butterfly. Orchestra set. Sheet music Jan 01, ...)

  • Happyland; or, The King of Elysia. A Comic Opera in Two Acts. Book by F. Ranken. Vocal Score
  • Sleep on, my Heart. Song, words and music by R. de Koven
  • Gondolier's Song. Words & music by R. de Koven
  • The Wedding Trip. Selection from the Opera Bouffe ... Arranged by J. B. Lampe. P. F.
  • Down the Bayou. A Creole Serenade. P. F.
  • Washington beloved. University Song. S. A. T. B., words by E. S. Meany. Op. 205
  • Rip Van Winkle. Folk-Opera in three acts, the text by P. Mackaye. Opus 414. Vocal Score
  • Margery Daw. Song, words & music by R. de Koven
  • Robin Hood. A comic opera in three acts. Libretto by Harry B. Smith ... Vocal score

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• As his wife has said in her memoirs, “in the forty-one productions which succeeded this opera he wrote music quite as melodic, and often more mature, but for freshness and gayety, and for uninterrupted flow of happy inspiration, ‘Robin Hood’ is unquestionably preeminent”.

Connections

On May 1, 1884, he married Anna Farwell of Chicago.

Father:

Henry de Koven

Mother:

Charlotte Le Roy

Wife:

Anna Farwell