Herbert Antcliffe

Herbert Antcliffe was born on 30 July 1875 in Sheffield (England). His early musical training took place under several private teachers and advisers. He was a pupil in composition of his uncle T. Worsley Staniforth and in organ of T. W. Hanforth, organist at Sheffield Parish Church. He also received advice from Dr. John Duffell, Professor Ebenezer Prout, and Dr. Haydn Keeton of Peterborough Cathedral. During this period he developed his first practical musical skills as organist, teacher, and composer.
From 1895 onward Herbert Antcliffe worked as music critic for the Sheffield Telegraph. In parallel he held organist posts at St Matthew’s Church, Treeton Parish Church, and St Wilfrid’s Church in Sheffield. He also worked as a private music teacher in piano, organ, singing, and music theory.
In 1915 Antcliffe moved to London and joined the staff of the Evening Standard. He also served as organist at St Alban’s Church, North Finchley. After the First World War he relocated to The Hague in the Netherlands, where he continued his work as a journalist, critic, and writer. During the Second World War he remained in the Netherlands with his Dutch wife Helena Borsboom. In 1949 he returned to Britain and settled in St Leonards-on-Sea.
Alongside his journalistic work, Antcliffe contributed extensively to British, European, American, and South African musical journals from the early 20th century onward. He worked as author, translator, lecturer, editor, and occasional composer. His publications include Living Music (1912), The Successful Music Teacher (1912), The Amateur Singer (1920), How to Enjoy Music (1921), The Chorusmaster (1928), and Short Studies in the Nature of Music (1929), as well as translations of writings by Rene Lenormand and Philip Kruseman.
In 1939 he received the Queen Wilhelmina Honour for services to Dutch music, and later a Civil List Pension for services to British music.
His musical output includes songs, part songs, church music, choral works, and educational compositions. Among his known works is the choral setting of Wordsworth’s A Song for the Spinning Wheel (1914). He also contributed texts used in vocal and choral works by other composers.
Herbert Antcliffe died on 11 September 1964 in St Leonards-on-Sea (England).

In my possession is a handwritten manuscript of the song Wiegelied (Lullaby) for voice and piano by Herbert Antcliffe. The work sets a German text by Clemens Brentano to music. The manuscript appears to be in a copyist’s hand, although the dedication on the title page is written in a different hand and is very likely by Antcliffe himself. The inscription reads: “Dedicated, by gracious permission, to T.R.H. Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.” The work is undated, but must have been composed after the marriage of Juliana and Bernhard in 1937, and is most likely associated with the birth of one of their four children born between 1938 and 1947.