Norman O'Neill

Norman Houston O’Neill
Born: 14 March 1875
London
Died: 3 March 1934
London

Norman O’Neill was born at 16 Young Street in Kensington, London, the youngest son of the Irish painter George Bernard O’Neill and Emma Stuart Callcott, the daughter of organist and glee composer William Hutchins Callcott. He studied in London with Arthur Somervell and with Iwan Knorr at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt from 1893 to 1897. His studies there were facilitated by Eric Stenbock. He belonged to the Frankfurt Group, a circle of composers who studied at Hoch’s Conservatory in the late 1890s.

He married Adine Berthe Maria Ruckert (29 July 1875 – 17 February 1947) on 2 July 1899 in Paris. Adine was a celebrated pianist (a pupil of Clara Schumann) and music teacher in her own right – she later became head music mistress at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith. O’Neill began to have some success with concert music, including a 1901 performance of his overture In Autumn given at the Henry Wood Proms. In 1904 he composed the incidental music to John Martin-Harvey’s production of Hamlet at the Lyric Theatre, London. In 1909 he began his long association with the Haymarket Theatre when he was appointed music director.

O’Neill was treasurer of the Royal Philharmonic Society from 1918 until his death and taught harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music. A very sociable man, he was a member of the Savage Club, where he liked to meet musical colleagues. He and Adine frequently hosted fellow composers and musicians at their house, 4 Pembroke Villas in Kensington, including Frederick Delius, Theodore Holland, Gustav Holst, Ernest Irving, Percy Grainger and Cyril Scott.

On 12 February 1934 O’Neill was walking East on Oxford Street on his way to Broadcasting House for a recording session. As he crossed Holles Street he was struck by a carrier tricycle. As a result he developed blood poisoning and died on 3 March. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, London, as was his wife in 1947. There is a plaque there in memory to both of them.

Norman O’Neill works available at SAXpress