Sir Edward German (17 February 1862 – 11 November 1936) was an English musician and composer. He was born German Edward Jones in Whitchurch and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He was musical director of the Globe Theatre and composed popular music for plays such as Richard III, Nell Gywnn, and Henry Irving's production of Henry VIII.

German's early works were mostly orchestral, and he had little experience with opera or choral music. When Arthur Sullivan died in 1901, however, German finished Sullivan's uncompleted The Emerald Isle to good notices. He later wrote several operettas, the most famous of which were Merrie England (1902) and Tom Jones (1907). He also wrote the score for the unsuccessful A Princess of Kensington (1903) and collaborated with W. S. Gilbert on his final (and unsuccessful) opera, Fallen Fairies (1909).

German also composed music to several Rudyard Kipling texts, including Just So Song Book (1903) and a his well-received "Welsh Rhapsody" (1904).

Edward German was knighted in 1928. He died in London and is buried in the Whitchurch, Shropshire cemetery, where the grave is signposted.

References

External links

• Edward German at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte
• Sir Edward German Music Festival

1862 births | 1936 deaths | 20th century classical composers | English composers | Recipients of the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal | Romantic composers | Opera composers | Operetta composers | People associated with Gilbert and Sullivan