Norman O'Neill, aged 53
Norman O'Neill
Norman O’Neill (1875 –1934) was a highly successful and influential British composer who studied at Dr Hoch’s Conservatoire
in Frankfurt from 1893 to 1897 and became the most important composer
of incidental music for the Theatre in the first decades of the 20th century.
This website was created by a team of researchers at the Royal College of Music, where many of O’Neill’s manuscripts
are held, to make information about the composer and sheet music of his compositions easily accessible.
This painting by G. B O'Neill, Norman O'Neill's father, presents Norman, the little boy in the centre standing by the stage, with his family spread about the audience and performers.
'The Rehearsal' by G.B. O'Neill
Private collection, image courtesy of the Richard Green Gallery, London
Writing
for the Theatre
In 1909 Norman became Musical Director of the Haymarket Theatre, London, a position he was to retain for twenty-two years, resulting in a life- time’s work of writing for the theatre.
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The Blue Bird in 1909 (left)
The first English production of Maurice Maeterlinck’s children’s fairy play
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Mary Rose in 1920 (right)
J. M. Barrie’s ghost play