Frank Mercer

Frank Mercer, (1891–1955), was the editor of the 1935 reprint of Charles Burney's A General History of Music (1776–1789), 2 volumes, published by G. T. Foulis. The American edition (from the English printing) was published by Harcourt Brace in 1935. This edition was reprinted in 1957 by Dover Publications, of New York.

For the inventor, see Frank Brian Mercer. For the English diver, see Frank Mercer (diver).

What drew Mercer to work on Burney remains to be discovered. He did his research in the library of the British Museum and the music library of the University of London. Dr Percy Scholes sent him a proof copy of his book The Puritans and Music (1934). The education departments of several Record Companies loaned him records.[1] In his work, he was much assisted by his wife.[2] Miss Burney, of Wandsworth,[3] allowed him to copy and include a number of Charles Burney's letters, which were in her possession.

Mercer was very painstaking in his work. His own footnotes are prefixed with an asterisk and show his profound reading of the literature. Throughout the original work, all the musical examples were type-set, or engraved; Mercer transcribed these for the new publication, where they were printed as illustration blocks.

The reprint was favourably reviewed by "H. G." in The Musical Times in 1935, who commented "Praise is due to Mr Mercer. He has wisely refrained from over-editing; his notes are helpful and not too numerous, and his laborious task has been performed with an unusual blend of scholarship and modesty".[4] Scott Goddard commented in Music & Letters, in 1936, "The book has long needed the very work which Mr Mercer has expended on it. His notes are excellent, as illuminating as they are copious, and as far as we have been able to verify them, trustworthy".[5]

Biography

Mercer was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, in March 1891.[6] He was the son of William and Martha Mercer, and his father was a clothing manufacturer. Nothing is yet known about his musical education, but he was an accomplished solo pianist,[7] giving concerts with the Bradford Permanent Orchestra, in Bradford in 1913, 1914 and 1922.[8] He served in World War I, and he married Annie M. Chew in 1924 in the parish church of Wyke, Yorkshire.[9] They had no children. By 1931, he had joined the music department of the North Western Polytechnic, Kentish Town, London, where he taught piano.[10] He must have spent much time preparing his edition of Burney's General History of Music, which was published in 2 volumes in 1935. In 1939, he was living with his wife at an address in Fulham Road, Chelsea, London.[11] They came to Bristol in 1944, perhaps because of a change of job, and moved to a house in Sefton Park Road. This was very near his brother in law and sister, James and Amy Briggs.[12] Mercer was involved with the Bristol Amateur Operatic Society as musical director until the early 1950s when he resigned due to ill-health. As well as his work on Burney he also wrote a Record of Concerts in the 17th and 18th Centuries which was unpublished.[13] As far as can be discovered he published nothing more. He died at Bristol, 17 January 1955, aged 64,[14] after a long illness, and was cremated at Arno's Vale crematorium.[15] He left no will.[16] His widow died in March 1967.[17]

Notes
  1. Columbia, HMV and Parlophone,Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 2 volumes, 1935, reprinted 1957, Vol. 2, p. 1053.
  2. Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 2 volumes 1935, reprinted 1957, Vol. 1, p. 6
  3. She was the great-great-great granddaughter of Charles Burney
  4. The Musical Times, vol. 76, No. 1113 (November 1935), pp. 981–984 (subscription required)
  5. Music & Letters, vol. 17, No. 2 (April 1936), p. 158 (subscription required)
  6. The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register
  7. The 1911 Census describes him as a musician.
  8. The Yorkshire Post, 7 April 1913, 16 February 1914 and 20 February 1922, published reviews of concerts in Bradford in which Mercer took part as a soloist.
  9. General Register Office, Marriage Certificate dated 1 January 1924
  10. North-Western Polytechnic: Prospectus and Class Time Table, Session 1931–32, p. 26, and later ones to 1938–9 (all that survive), originals in the archive of the London Metropolitan University.
  11. The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register
  12. The Public Record Office, London, 1939 Register. James Briggs managed a letterpress printer.
  13. Western Daily Press, Thursday 20 July 1950, article "Notes of the day: B.A.O.S. Need a New Musical Director".
  14. Death certificate from General Register Office, Sub-district of Bristol North in the County Borough of Bristol
  15. Bristol Evening Post, death notice 18 January 1955.
  16. He does not appear in the official list of wills probated in 1955.
  17. Her will is in the official list of wills probated in 1967.
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