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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Lodge Ellerton (11 January 1801 - 3 January 1873) was an English composer of classical music.
Ellerton was born in Cheshire with the name of John Lodge. According to the Dictionary of National Biography of 1889, he attended Rugby School and graduated with an MA from Brasenose College Oxford University in 1828. Between 1829 and 1831 he studied under Pietro Terziani in Rome, where he wrote 7 operas in Italian. In 1837 he adopted the name of Ellerton and on 24th of August that year married Henrietta Barbara Lumley, the sister of the 8th Earl of Scarbrough. His English opera "Domenica" was produced at Drury Lane in 1838, but this was unsuccessful; his oratorio Paradise Lost (op. 125; for soloists (SSAATTTBB), chorus (SATB) and orchestra.), published in 1857, had more critical success although apparently few performances.
In 1835 and 1838 the Catch Club awarded him prizes for glees ; he was involved with choral and vocal composition throughout, but his major contribution was in the realm of chamber music.
In 1855 he entertained Richard Wagner in London. In his memoirs Wagner accorded Ellerton "a fine, amiable mind".
Ellerton died at his home in Connaught Place, Hyde Park, London, in 1873.
His musical output includes
Six symphonies No. 3 "Wald-Symphonie", op. 120, D minor (ca. 1857)
Approximately fifty string quartets (sources quote numbers ranging from 44 to 55. At least 20 were published during his lifetime and the manuscript parts of a further 28 unpublished quartets are in the library of London's Royal College of Music).
A string quintet, opus 100, in F minor (string quartet + cello)
9 Operas: (in English) Domenica (premiered 7 June 1838, London, Drury Lane)
The Bridal of Triermain (1831, not performed?); in German: Lucinda
His string quartet opus 122 received a performance in 1852. The composition's mostly negative review was republished in the Boston journal Dwight's Journal of Music.
He also produced two books of poetry, "The Bridal of Salerno" (1845) and "The Elixir of Youth" (1864). The latter features a short poem, possibly self-referential, entitled "Neglected Genius".
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