British and Other Honours in Music

Introduction

Musicians have been honored by sovereigns and states for centuries (see some early examples). The transformation or creation of orders of knighthood as orders of merit has increased opportunities to reward or distinguish musicians, both composers and performers. This page records some of these honors bestowed on musicians.

This page was originally concerned only with British honors. I will extend it to other countries over time, but presently the British section is the most complete.

British Honours

Here is a listing of some British composers and musicians who earned knighthoods, baronetcies and peerages. The first musician to be knighted in Britain seems to be Stevenson in 1803, although the Penguin Dictionary of Music says Henry Bishop was "the first musician to receive knighthood at the hands of a British sovereign".

From the looks of it, composers were at least as frequently honored as conductors, if not more, and the practice began somewhat earlier for composers.

Sir Thomas Beecham was knighted on Jan 1, 1916, and inherited his father's baronetcy (which was 2 years old) in October 1916. So he wasn't even an heir when he "came into the business". I added RVW: it is said that he turned down knighthood but accepted the Order of Merit. Britten also turned down knighthoods repeatedly, but did accept a life peerage.

Corrections and additions welcome, of course. In particular, if anyone knows the coat of arms of Elgar, Britten or Menuhin, I'd be delighted. Elgar had no male heirs so the baronetcy became extinct with him. Britten's title was a life peerage, as was Menuhin's.

Concerning Period Instruments conductors: Roger Norrington was the first, and currently the only one to be knighted in 1997. Christopher Hogwood (b. 1941) was made CBE in 1989, John Eliot Gardiner (b. 1943) and Roger Norrington (b. 1934) in 1990, and Trevor Pinnock (b. 1946) in 1992. We can expect a slew of historically informed knights within a few years. Other conductors include Andrew Davis (b. 1944) CBE 1992. On the composer side, neither John Tavener, Gavin Bryars, Brian Ferneyhough or Alexander Goehr have yet been made CBE.

composers

conductors

vocalists

instrumentalists

Abbreviations: kt, kt bach=knight bachelor, bt=baronet, CBE=Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE=Dame of the OBE, KBE=Knight Commander of the OBE, GBE=Knight Grand Cross of the OBE, CVO=companion of the Royal Victorian Order, KCVO=knight commander of the RVO, GCVO=Knight Grand Cross of the RVO, OM=order of Merit, CH=Companion of Honour, AC=Companion in the Order of Australia, ONZ=Member of the Order of New Zealand.

A baron ranks above a baronet, who ranks above the knights grand cross, who rank above the knights, who rank above the knights bachelor. Knights of various orders are ranked between themselves. See the order of precedence in England and Wales for more information.

Roger Forder <100523.201@compuserve.com> writes:

The majority of musical knights will fall into the category of knights bachelor because it is the usual one for those knighted in recognition of distinguished activities outside the public service. The exceptions fall into three categories. The first are those who have been created KCVO or GCVO in recognition of personal service to the Sovereign. Most of these in your list were Masters of the King's or Queen's Music (spelt "Musick" until quite recently): Parratt, Elgar, Davies, Bax and Bliss. Cusins also held this position, but he had died by the time that the Royal Victorian Order was instituted in 1896. The second exception to the Knight Bachelor norm is the pair of knights who were honoured before they became British citizens, namely Solti and Menuhin. Such awards take the form of honorary membership of one of the orders of chivalry (as far as I know, there is no such thing as an honorary Knight Bachelor); Solti and Menuhin are therefore KBEs. The women form the third exception, since there are no Dames Bachelor (or Spinster!). All dames are Dames Commander or Dames Grand Cross of one of the orders, and thus far all musical dames have been created DBE.

OM is limited to 24, CH is limited to 65 (plus honorary foreign members). They are therefore highly regarded, the OM scarcely less so than Garter or Thistle. But neither CH nor OM use the title Sir, as they are not knights, nor (according to Debrett) do they have any explicit rank in the order of precedence. However, there is a agreed place for OM and CH when these designators are placed in a list of awards and decorations after the recipient's name: OM comes after GCB, while CH comes after GBE. In practice this implies an order of precedence which puts OM above all but the three most superior varieties of knighthood (KG, KT and GCB) and CH above all Knights Commander and Knights Bachelor; some books (eg the 1989 edition of Whitaker's Almanac) state this explicitly as a formal order of precedence.

Belgian Honours

Peeters, Flor (1903-86) was made a life baron in 1971, the third Belgian musician to receive the honor. Arthur Grumiaux (1921-86), a violinist, was made baron in 1973.

Dutch Honours

Grethe Krogh (b. 1928), Danish organist, received the Order of the Dannebrog in 1982.

Henriëtte Bosmans (1895-1952) received a posthumous Dutch knighthood. Elly Ameling (b. 1933) received a knighthood in 1971, Willem Breuker (b. 1944) in 1998.

Papal Honours

Knights of the Golden Spur

Source: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Order of Saint-Gregory the Great

Order of Saint-Silvester

Undetermined Papal Honors

French Honors

Under the Old Regime, the two main distinctions bestowed on musicians were ennoblement and the Ordre de Saint-Michel.

After 1789

Grand-Crosses of the Legion of Honor:

Composers

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was offered the Legion of Honor in 1920 but refused (Grove Music; but there is a file C/O/71 at the Grande chancellerie).

Performers

Other Countries

Brindis de Salas, Claudio José Domingo (1852-1911) made a baron by Wilhelm II of Germany.