Sérénade peu sérieuse (Light Serenade)

Harry Farjeon was born on 6 May 1878 in Hohokus, New Jersey, about 20 miles from where I live! His parents returned to Britain when he was a baby, and he lived in Hampstead in London for the rest of his life. His younger sister, Eleanor, with whom he shared a rich imaginary life, wrote children's books and poetry, including the hymn, Morning Has Broken.

He studied music privately with Landon Ronald and John Storer, then in 1895 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition with Battison Haynes and Frederick Corder, and piano with Septimus Webbe. There he was a contemporary of Arnold Bax, York Bowen, Adam Carse, Eric Coates and Benjamin Dale.

He left the Royal Academy of Music in 1900, but in 1901 he returned to teach composition. Two years later, at the age of 25, he became the Academy's youngest ever professor, having become the family wage-earner after the death of his father. He also taught at the Blackheath Conservatoire.

In 1903 his Piano Concerto in D minor was performed at a Promenade concert. His Phantasy Piano Concerto and the St. Dominic Mass both won awards from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. He regarded the symphonic poem Summer Vision as his best work.

Harry Farjeon composed music throughout most of his life. His compositions are mostly for piano, but he also wrote songs, sonatas, concertos and a mass setting. He taught at the Academy for 47 years, despite developing Parkinson's disease in later life. He was still teaching thirty students a week when, at the end of the July 1948 term, he fell and broke his hip. He died in Hampstead on 29 December 1948.

Sérénade peu sérieuse (Light Serenade) was published by Cramer in 1925. It is innocently cooling and refreshing. You'll feel that are secretly peaking in at woodlands scene, with magical creatures splashing under cooling waterfalls!

Think I'm exaggerating?!? Then have a listen!

The score is attached below, as well as 2 photos of Harry Farjeon.