The work of the English composer and viola player Frank Bridge is now beginning to enjoy some favour, not least through the fact that he was the teacher of Benjamin Britten (one of whose earlier works is based on a composition by Bridge).

Orchestral Music

Bridge’s orchestral works make useful additions to the string-orchestra repertoire. These include his Lament of 1915, an earlier Suite, and the Christmas dance Sir Roger de Coverley, as well as versions of Sally in Our Alley and Cherry Ripe, originally designed for string quartet. More ambitious and demanding are his larger-scale orchestral works The Sea (a suite), Summer (a symphonic poem), and, in a style further developed, Enter Spring (a rhapsody).

Chamber Music

Himself a viola player and a member of the English String Quartet, Bridge wrote a quantity of chamber music. This includes his Phantasie Quartet, one of a number of such compositions by Bridge and others for the competition instituted by William Cobbett for ‘phantasies’ of various kinds.