Born: June 13, 1831 - London, England
Died: November 20, 1897 - Streatham, England

The English composer and teacher of harmony, Henry Charles Banister, was the son of John Banister, a violon-cellist. He entered the Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of 15, and was a pupil of Cipriani Potter there.

Following his studies, Henry Charles Banister became sub-professor, and from 1853 professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. From 1880 he was professor at the Guildhall School of Music, and taught at the Royal Normal College for the Blind. He was a prominent member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and a member of the Board of Musical Studies in Cambridge, etc.

Henry Charles Banister's compositions include symphonies, overtures, pianoforte pieces and songs, but none of them have the importance that attaches to his work as theorist. His Musical Art and Study (1888) went through 3 editions. His Life of Sir George Macfarren (1892) is a sympathetic and instructive work. And in the year of his death he published The Harmonising of Melodies, a very useful little treatise. Seven of the lectures delivered between 1891 and 1897 were published under the title Interludes, and edited by Stewart Macpherson.

Source: Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1952 Edition; Author: J.A. Fuller Maitland)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2007)

Bach-Banister: Henry Charles Banister | Works | Recordings

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