Born: December 23, 1869 - Reading, England
Died: February 20, 1946 - Oxford, England

The eminent English organist, conductor and music educator, Sir Hugh (Percy) Allen, studied with F. Read in Reading, and at Christ's College, Cambridge, as an organ scholar, and at the University of Oxford (Music Doctor, 1898).

At the age of 11, Hugh Allen acted as church organist in Reading. Thereafter he was an organist at various churches and cathedrals until the turn of the 20^th century. He was organist at New College, Oxford from 1901 to 1918, and later, from 1908 to 1918 director of music at University College in Reading. In 1918 he became professor of music at Oxford, and, in the same year, director of the Royal College of Music in London, from which he resigned in 1937.

Hugh Allen was knighted in 1920. In 1935 he was made a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. For many years he conducted the London and the Oxford Bach Choirs. He was an ardent promoter of British music.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (October 2004); Teri Noel Towe (Photo, June 2007)

Hugh P. Allen: Short Biography | Recordings

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