Leslie Woodgate

Hubert Leslie Woodgate (15 April 1900 – 18 May 1961) was an English choral conductor, composer, and writer of books on choral music.

He was born in London, and educated at Westminster School and the Royal College of Music. During the 1920s, he was organist at several London churches. In 1928, he joined the BBC; in 1934, was appointed BBC Chorus Master, taking responsibility for the BBC Chorus, the BBC's large amateur chorus, and the Wireless Chorus and Wireless Singers, made up of professionals.

That same year (1934), he conducted the world and broadcast premiere of A Boy Was Born by Benjamin Britten. During the 1930s, he was Musical Director of the London and North Eastern Railway Musical Society: it comprised several amateur male-voice choirs which combined annually for a performance in London; he wrote music for them. He was director of the Kentucky Minstrels, a popular singing group on BBC radio during and immediately after the War.

On Palm Sunday, 25 March 1945 Leslie Woodgate led the BBC Chorus is the world premiere of Poulenc's wartime cantata Figure humaine for unaccompanied double chorus, which was sung in English. In 1946, he conducted the Wireless Chorus at a Henry Wood Promenade Concert in William Walton's Where Does the Uttered Music Go? He was appointed OBE in 1959.

He married Lena Mason in 1926; they had one son. In the 1950s the family were living at 6, The Paddocks, Wembley Park in Middlesex. He died in 1961, at the age of 61.

Most of his compositions were choral works, but he sometimes wrote for instrumental and orchestral forces. His Op. 1, Hymn to the Virgin and The White Island for male soloist, male choir and orchestra, earned him a Carnegie Prize in 1923. He was an enthusiastic promoter of both amateur and professional singing: his Penguin Song Book of 1951 appears to have been the first musical score published by Penguin Books, and was directed at amateur singers.

Birth and Death Data: Born April 15, 1902, Died May 18, 1961

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1940

Roles Represented in DAHR: conductor

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Gramophone 0EA8983 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" ; Derek McCulloch Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  
Gramophone 0EA8984 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" ; Derek McCulloch Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  
Gramophone 0EA8985 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  
Gramophone 0EA8986 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  
Gramophone 0EA8987 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  
Gramophone 0EA8988 10-in. 11/28/1940 More "Uncle Mac's nursery rhymes" Greenbank Co-operative Children's Choir" Talk, children's choir, and instrumental ensemble conductor  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Woodgate, Leslie," accessed April 26, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/354888.

Woodgate, Leslie. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved April 26, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/354888.

"Woodgate, Leslie." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 26 April 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/354888

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