Alfred J. Clements
Alfred Joseph Clements (1858 – 6 January 1938) was the Organiser and secretary of the South Place Sunday Concerts in London for over 50 years, from 1887–1938.[1] During that period Clements arranged over 1,300 concerts featuring 1,500 artists.[2] The thousandth concert was played on 20 February 1927, and the two-thousandth concert was held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 9 March 1969.[3] They are still running every Sunday today.[4]
In 1901, he was a printer, living with his wife Dora Mary Clements née Varian at 10 Leighton Crescent, Kentish Town, London.[5]
When Clements died on 6 January 1938, he was living at 8 Finchley Way, Finchley London. Probate of his will was to his widow, Dora Mary Clements, and his effects totalled £995 10s.[6]
He is commemorated by a gold inlaid relief plaque at Conway Hall, London.[7] Both Clements and his wife are named in the Book of Remembrance in the Musicians’ Chapel at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
Clements Memorial Prize
In 1938 a chamber music composition prize was established in his name.[2] The initial prize was awarded to Frederick T Durrant for his Clarinet Quintet in E flat - subsequently performed at the Conway Hall in 1946.[3] Other prize winners have included:
- William Wordsworth, String Quartet No 1 (1941).
- Bernard Stevens, Piano Trio (1942)
- David Wynne, String Quartet No 1 (1944).[8]
- David Gow, Clarinet Quintet (1945).[9]
- Malcolm MacDonald, Trio in one movement (1946).
- Peter Racine Fricker, Wind Quintet (1947).[10]
- Doreen Carwithen, String Quartet No 1 (1948).[11] (joint winner with Jean Coulthard, String Quartet No 1).
- Iain Hamilton, String Quartet No 1 (1950).
- Reginald Smith Brindle, Quintet (1953).
- Geoffrey Winters, String Quartet No 1, Op. 10 (1956).
- Sebastian Forbes, Piano Quintet (1963).[12]
- Trevor Hold, String Quartet No 1 (1965).[13]
- Justin Connolly (1967)
- Geoffrey Poole, Algol Of Perseus, piano trio (1973).
- Christopher Bochmann, String Quartet No 2 (1978).
- Richard Steinitz, String Quartet (1981) (joint winner with Ian MacQueen, Wind Octet).
- Ian White, Undertones (in memoriam Tony Hancock) for tuba and string quartet (2000).[14]
The prize was put into abeyance in the late 1970s, and revived occasionally after that, most recently in 2021 when the winner was Noah Max with his Sojourn piano trio.[15]
References
- "Alfred J. Clements". Conway Hall. Conway Hall. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
- 'An Alfred J. Clements Memorial Chamber Music Prize', The Times, 7 April, 1938, p.12
- Frank V Hawkins. The Story of 2,000 Concerts (1969)
- Ian Duncan MacKillop (1986). The British Ethical Societies. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-521-26672-7.
- "1901 England Census". 1901 census. Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966". Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
- Memorial Plaque for Alfred Joseph Clements, ArtUK.org
- David Wynne biography, Oriana Publications
- Graham Melville Mason. David Gow obituary, The Independent, 1 March, 1993
- Stephen Gamble; William C. Lynch (2011). Dennis Brain: A Life in Music. University of North Texas Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-57441-307-6.
- Doreen Carwithen, Classical Music
- International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory (1986), p. 295
- Trevor Hold obituary, MusicWeb International
- Ian White, Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland
- Newly-written string trios in competition, The Arts Desk, 18 October, 2091