Mantle Childe

George Mantle-Childe was born on 17 December 1912 in Sutton Coldfield.{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=David C. F. |title=A Second Set of Pianists |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/47831777/a-second-set-of-pianists-dr-david-wright |website=Yumpu |access-date=21 April 2025}} He started his study of the piano aged four.{{cite web |last=Engle |first=Phyllis |title=Interview with Mantle Childe |url=https://mosaic.messiah.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1235&context=studentnews |website=Minnemingo Whispers |publisher=Messiah University |page=4 |date=14 December 1949}} At age 11, in 1924, he made his first piano broadcast on the BBC; in 1927 he gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, studying under Leonie Gombrich. He continued his studies in Berlin. He gave several radio recitals for the BBC at their Birmingham studio between the wars. He was the piano soloist with the City of Birmingham Orchestra for various Bach concertos. His Sextet was broadcast in 1934, performed by himself, with Victor Fleming leading the sextet.{{cite web |title=The Mantle-Childe Sextet |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b0f4bfba04d549568346f53670ccff86 |publisher=BBC |date=8 July 1934}} He is known for his "Child's Play" for young musicians,{{cite web |last1=Scowcroft |first1=Philip L. |title=A 175th Garland of British Light Music Composers |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/175.htm |website=Music Web International |date=2023}} and for his settings of "Lazy Sheep" to an old French melody in 1947, and "Suo Gan" to a Welsh lullaby tune in 1949.{{cite web |title=Some British Instrumentalist Composers |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/July01/britinst.htm |website=Music Web International |access-date=31 March 2025}} He gave numerous concerts in different countries. He became a professor at the Guildhall School of Music, and head of the Conservatory of Music in London. He did not marry. He made no recordings of his performances.

"Lazy Sheep" was used in the 1936 Songs for the Philologists as the melody for J. R. R. Tolkien's song "Bagme Bloma", written in the Gothic language.{{cite web |last=Collier |first=Pieter |title=Songs for the Philologists |url=http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/reviews/songsforthephilologists.htm |publisher=Tolkien Library |access-date=28 April 2021 |date=20 February 2005}}{{cite book |last=Shippey |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shippey |chapter=Appendix B "Four 'Asterisk' Poems" |title=The Road to Middle-Earth |date=2005 |edition=Third |orig-year=1982 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0261102750 |pages=399–408}}

• Childe, Mantle. Lazy sheep: a pianoforte solo based on an old French melody. Oxford University Press, 1947.
• Childe, Mantle. Suo-gan (Welsh lullaby): for piano. Oxford University Press, 1949.
• Childe, Mantle. Technical Aids to the Playing of Scales, Broken Chords, and Arpeggios. Oxford University Press, 1961.

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Category:20th-century British composers

Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music

Category:Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Category:1912 births