William Baines

William Baines (26 March 1899 – 6 November 1922) was an English pianist and composer who wrote more than 150 works for solo piano and a number of larger orchestral works before his death from tuberculosis at the age of 23. Life Born in Horbury near Wakefield, Yorkshire, Baines came from a musical family. His father was a cinema pianist and organist at a Primitive Methodist Chapel. Encouraged by his parents, Baines began piano lessons at a young age and had formal lessons at the Yorkshire Training College of Music in Leeds, although his later compositional style was largely self-taught. In 1913 the family moved to Cleckheaton and whilst there Baines attended Bradford Permanent Orchestral Society concerts and acquainted himself with the basic orchestral repertoire. The family moved to York in 1917 where, aged 18, Baines became a professional musician and gave his first public piano recital at which a number of his original compositions were heard. He wrote a symphony which was not performed until 1991. In 1918 Baines was conscripted into the British Army during the last months of World War I. Within a fortnight of being called up, he was hospitalised due to septic poisoning. The war was over by the time he was discharged, and his health, already delicate, never fully recovered. Meanwhile, his compositions were starting to be noticed. In March 1920 Dr Arthur Eaglefield Hull of Huddersfield wrote an article in the British Music Society Journal declaring him "a genius". The pianist Frederick Dawson (1868-1940) also took a great interest, including music by Baines in his recitals. He continued to compose and give recitals until a few months before his death, although his only major recital outside Yorkshire was in Bournemouth at the invitation of the conductor Sir Dan Godfrey in 1921.