Editorial de Música BOILEAU - Since 1913

SMITH, Sydney

England 1839 - England 1889

Sydney Smith (July 14, 1839 - March 3, 1889), was a leading English pianist and composer in Victorian England.
Sydney Smith grew up in a family of musicians. His father was the head of a music school and often gave concerts
with his two sons Sydney and Boyton.
Smith was born in Dorchester, Dorset. He studied piano in Leipzig with Moscheles and Plaidy, cello with
Grützmacher, and composition with Reitz. He returned to England in 1858, settling the following year in London,
where he remained until his death, highly regarded as a teacher and composer. He composed or transcribed about
400 works for the piano. These were extremely popular in salons in England in the 19th century, particularly the
early works. Many pieces were issued both as solo pieces and as piano duets.
His earliest compositions are piano accompaniments to three concertina pieces by Richard Blagrove. Apart from
these, he composed only for solo piano until the last few years of his life, when he wrote a small handful of songs.
Amongst his best known works are: The Fairy Queen op. 42, Gaîeté de Coeur op. 24, I Puritani op. 85, Lily of the
Valley op. 14, La Harpe Eolienne op. 11, Le Jet d’Eau op. 17 and the Tarantelle Brillante op. 8. He wrote many other
morceaux de salon for piano solo, and made many arrangements from popular operas. In addition to the works
published under his own name, he also published a number of piano works under the names Paul Beaumont and
Victor Delacour.