Real name: 

Primary Discipline

Primary Discipline: 

  • Old HierarchyMusic

Biography: 

Valerie Langfield is a freelance musician: teacher, accompanist, composer, writer and editor. Her primary research interests are British music of the 19th and early 20th C, especially opera and song: her PhD thesis on and biography of the English song composer Roger Quilter together established her as the authority on his life and work. Her editions of a number of British operas have been recorded or performed, and as well as publishing numerous articles, she has contributed to leading music dictionaries and national biographies. She is a founder member and trustee of Retrospect Opera, which records British operas representative of their period, and is also a trustee of the Carl Rosa Trust, which promotes research into the leading British touring opera company of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and its social and cultural context. Current research projects include an edition of the diaries of the Cambridge musicologist Edward Dent, and one of Dent's letters to Jack Gordon, staff producer at Sadler's Wells Opera between the two world wars; and the life and music of Dora Bright.

Current research areas: 

English song of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, especially the songs of Roger Quilter, Cyril Scott and Dora Bright.
British opera of the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially the works of Balfe, Macfarren, Edward Loder, William Vincent Wallace, Goring Thomas, John Barnett, and Ethel Smyth.
The diaries of the Cambridge musicologist Edward Dent; also his letters, especially to Jack Gordon, staff producer at Sadler's Wells.

Recent publications: 

Editions of various operas by Balfe, Macfarren, Edward Loder, Smyth.
Contributor to Musicians of Bath and Beyond: Edward Loder (1809-1865) and His Family.

Forthcoming research: 

Contributor to a Companion to Cyril Scott (forthcoming).

Other activities: 

Editor and executive producer of the world première recording of Ethel Smyth's opera The Boatswain's Mate.

Company: 

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National Coalition of Independent Scholars