James and Constance Alsop Professor of Music explained

The James and Constance Alsop Professorship of Music at the University of Liverpool was established in 1946; prior to that time, music teaching had been confined to the Department of Education but the new chair marked an attempt to "coordinate the study of music within the University and stimulate interest by lectures and other appropriate instruction".^[1] The first holder was Gerald Abraham, who had been director of the BBC's Gramophone Department.^[2] The chair was named for Alderman James W. Alsop, OBE, a major figure in the university's establishment and early administration.^[3]

The chair replaced the James W. Alsop Lectureship,^[4] which had been established by Alsop's widow Constance in 1924; she endowed it with the sum of £3,000. Appointments were made for a year "it having been decided at present [by 1928] to invite each year a distinguished musician to deliver a course of public lectures on Music".^[5] The lectureship was suspended during the Second World War; once the chair was established, the lectures were given by the professor and after Basil Smallman's appointment in 1965 they were reformed into the Alsop Concerts.^[6]

James W. Alsop Lectureship

• 1925: Gustav Holst.^[5]
• 1926: Sir George Dyson, KCVO.^[5]
• 1927: William Gillies Whittaker.^[5]
• 1928: Sir Percy C. Buck.^[7]
• 1929: William Gillies Whittaker.^[8]
• 1930: Thomas F. Dunhill.^[9]
• 1931: Sir Hamilton Harty.^[10]
• 1932: Canon E. H. Fellowes, CH, MVO.^[11]
• 1933: Geoffrey Shaw.^[12]
• 1934: Ernest Newman.^[13]
• 1935: J. F. Toye.^[14]
• 1936: Sir Stanley Marchant, CVO, FSA.^[15]
• 1937: Sir Donald Tovey.^[16]
• 1938: Albert Coates.^[17]

James and Constance Alsop Professors of Music

• 1947–1962: Gerald Ernest Heal Abraham, CBE, FBA.^[18]
• 1964–1985: (Frederic) Basil (Rowley) Smallman.^[19]
• 1986–2003: Michael Owen Talbot, FBA.^[20]
• 2005–2015: Anahid Kassabian.
• 2017–present: Sara Cohen.^{[21] [22]}

References

Citations

Notes and References

1. "The new Alsop Professor", Liverpool Echo, 15 October 1947, p. 2.
2. "University news", The Times (London), 27 December 1946, p. 2.
3. http://sca-arch.liv.ac.uk/ead/search?operation=full&recid=gb141unibenefactors-p44-1-54 "Papers of Mr James W. Alsop concerning the University of Liverpool: Biographical information"
4. University of Liverpool Calendar (1972), p. 595.
5. The University of Liverpool Calendar 1928-29 (1928), p. 445.
6. Two Centuries of Music in Liverpool (Rockliff Brothers Ltd, 1976), p. 52.
7. "Liverpool University posts", The Scotsman, 23 May 1928, p. 14.
8. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-233410 "Whittaker, William Gillies"
9. "University news", The Times (London), 12 April 1930, p. 10.
10. "University news", The Times (London), 24 March 1931, p. 18.
11. "University news", The Times (London), 14 March 1932, p. 16.
12. "University news", The Times (London), 13 June 1933, p. 16.
13. "University news", The Times (London), 19 April 1934, p. 9.
14. Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, p. 109.
15. "University news" (London), The Times, 5 March 1936, p. 16.
16. "University news", The Times (London), 4 March 1937, p. 16.
17. "University news", The Times (London), 7 July 1938, p. 18.
18. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-161325 "Abraham, Gerald Ernest Heal"
19. The Times, 17 Nov. 1964, p. 12; "Education." Times, 9 Dec. 1985, p. 28.
20. http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-36968 "Talbot, Prof. Michael Owen"
21. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/music/news/stories/title,956204,en.html "Professor Sara Cohen awarded James and Constance Alsop Chair in Music"
22. https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/music/staff/sara-cohen/ "Sara Cohen"