bibliography of music composer paul beaumont Best answer on the web

Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
08 Jan 2009
  • bibliography on the composer Paul Beaumont who wrote the classical piece tarentella.


  • Sorry the answer was too late for your concert, but I'm glad you found it interesting anyway. If I ever solve the name mystery I'll add a comment here, of course.
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  • Hello sciencewhiz

    At last we have an answer for you!

    This question has been niggling me since I first saw it three weeks ago, as I had found library catalog entries saying Paul Beaumont was a pseudonym but not revealing his real name. Today I was able to find an answer to this puzzle, as I happened to be in a library with the right kind of reference books.
    Paul Beaumont is a name used by the English nineteenth century composer and music teacher, Sydney Smith.
    Edward Sydney Smith was born in Dorchester in 1839. His parents taught him music at first but when he was sixteen he went to Leipzig, in Germany, to continue his studies. There he studied piano, cello, harmony and composition.
    In 1859 he settled in London and "developed a considerable reputation" as a piano teacher as well as composer.
    His compositions included dances and what are now called "salon pieces", works to entertain and impress people at a social gathering in a salon or drawing-room. Many of his pieces gave the pianist a chance to show off technical brilliance, but he also composed pieces to help children learning to play, and arranged opera for piano performance.
    His work was very popular in England and continental Europe for some decades. The New Grove Dictionary of Music says that his knowledge of piano technique led him to compose pieces exhibiting "brilliance and showmanship", with "rapid scales, arpeggios, felicitous ornamentation and elaborate figuration".
    I found no explanation for his decision to take Paul Beaumont as a pseudonym, so that is still a puzzle. He died in 1889.

    Another surprise for me was that he wrote not one, but four, tarantellas. Like many of his works, he gave them French titles, so tarantella becomes tarantelle. They are:
    Tarentelle Brillante pour le Piano Op. 8 1862 (Sparkling Tarantella for piano) Deuxi me Tarantelle pour Piano Op. 21 1862 (Second Tarantella) Troisi me Tarantelle pour Piano Op. 66 1868 (Third Tarantella) Quatri me Tarantelle pour piano Op. 217 1886 (Fourth Tarantella)

    Considering how little information there is about Beaumont/Smith, I was interested to find that two of his tarantellas can be heard on the net:
    Tarantelle Brillante in E minor Op.8 :
    http://www.absolute.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/the_music.htm#Smith

    Another tarantella (don't know which)
    http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/markavitch5


    You can also hear part of the very romantic piece "Le Jet d'Eau" (The Fountain):
    Romantic Piano Discoveries
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000007P2G/qid=1055164617/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-5248369-5665708?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846
    "Le Jet d'Eau" and the "Tarantelle Brillante" in E minor are among his most popular pieces. The Grove Dictionary says they are the most successful of his works along with "La Harpe olienne" (Aeolian Harp), "The Spinning Wheel", and "Chanson Russe" (Russian Song).
    If you want a very long list of his compositions you can type "Smith, Edward Sydney" into the author search box at the British Library: http://blpc.bl.uk/

    Some of his work is available to buy from
    http://www.sheetmusicwarehouse.co.uk/

    They have "Caprice Espagnole" and "Con Amore" listed under Beaumont, and Tarantelle Brillante, the Harp and the Fountain with several others under Sydney Smith.


    There are a couple of other pieces of his you can listen to online:

    F te hongroise, mazurka l gante op. 43 (Hungarian Festival: elegant mazurka) Dances in French Salons in the 19th century
    http://w1.neuronnexion.fr/~goninet/danses.htm

    Smith's piano version of Carmen:
    http://www.tip.net.au/~apurdam/noteworthy.html


    Thanks for the question. I enjoyed getting to the truth of Beaumont's identity - though I still want to know *why* he published some work under a pseudonym.
    Please feel free to ask for clarification if any links don't work smoothly, or if anything is unclear.
    Regards - Leli



    reference books:

    Catalogue of Printed Music in the British Library to 1980 (volume 4)
    New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (volume 23) ed.Sadie Macmillan (2001)
    searches on his names combined with piano, composer, tarantella, tarantelle etc.: "paul beaumont"
    "p beaumont"
    "sydney smith" etc.


  • May be discography?


  • I would like a bibliography mainly on his life and may be a few works if available


  • Thanks for the research. It is better than expected.
    If you ever find out why he used the pseudonym,and why he choose Paul Beaumont please let me know.


  • Do want a biography (information on his life) or a bibliography (information on works that he published)?


  • "Bibliography" usually means a list of books and articles. Would one or more web pages be sufficient?
    By "a few works", do you mean a few recordings of his works?


  • The research is great, but came a little to late for my concert. Thanks a lot


  • I mean biography (the life) of Paul Beaumont. Sorry for the mispell.
    Few works means few song titles that he composes.
    Thanks in advance for the help