Sam Hartley Braithwaite

Sam Hartley Braithwaite (20 July 1883 – 13 January 1947) was a British composer and artist.

Braithwaite was born in Egremont, Cumberland. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music, studying piano, organ and clarinet, as well as composition with Frederick Corder[1] An exact contemporary there was Arnold Bax. They became close friends and Bax dedicated his piano piece Apple Blossom Time (1915) to Braithwaite.[2][3] While still in his twenties he began teaching piano at the RAM, where his pupils included Eric Coates, only three years his junior.[4] He was musical director of the Passmore Edwards Settlement (Mary Ward Centre) in London from 1910 to 1913, succeeding Holst.[3] Braithwaite lived most of his life in Bournemouth and many of his works were performed there, often conducted by him.[5][6] Later in life he shifted his activities towards etching, painting and printmaking.

Two of his works - the characteristically pictorial Snow Picture for orchestra (1924) and the Elegy for orchestra (1927) - won Carnegie Trust awards and were published as part of the Carnegie Collection of British Music.[7] (There's an arrangement of Snow Picture for keyboard, two players by Leslie Woodgate).[8] His Overture for military band was written for a Pageant of Empire at the Crystal Palace. The 14 minute long orchestral scherzo A Night By Dalegarth Bridge was performed for the first time in Bournemouth in 1921,[9] and repeated the following year.[10] There is currently only one modern recording of his music, the Pastoral Lullaby for horn and organ [11]

As an artist Braithwaite made etchings of landscapes in Dorset and Lancashire. He exhibited with the New Forest Group formed in 1923[12] and was a member of the Lake Artists Society in the 1940s.[13] Some of his paintings, such as Foxtrot and Pavan (both exhibited at the Arlington Gallery, Old Bond Street, London in 1927)[14] were more abstract with musical themes. He died in Arnside, Westmorland, aged 64.[5]