Hubert J. Foss
| Hubert James Foss | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hubert James Foss |
| Born | 2 May 1899 Croydon |
| Origin | London |
| Died | 27 May 1953 (aged 54) |
| Occupation(s) | Performer, composer, and editor |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Associated acts | First Musical Editor, Oxford University Press |
Hubert James Foss (2 May 1899 – 27 May 1953) was an English pianist, composer, and first Musical Editor (1923–1941) for Oxford University Press (OUP) at Amen House in London. His work at the Press was a major factor in promoting music and musicians in England between the world wars, most notably Ralph Vaughan Williams, through publishing and encouraging performance of their works. In doing this work, he made the Music Department of OUP a major publisher of music in the early- and mid-twentieth century.
Foss was born at Croydon, to the south of London, the youngest of the thirteen children of Frederick Foss (1850–1968), a solicitor, and Anne Penny Bartrum (1853–1924). His father's father, Edward Foss (1787–1870), had also been a solicitor as well as a historian and biographer of English law and judiciary. Foss's elder sister, Josephine (1877–1983), served as a missionary and teacher of English in Asia and Africa.
Foss's childhood aptitude for both music and language led to his undergraduate education at Bradfield College in these areas as well as in drama. After brief military service towards the end of the First World War, he took a variety of jobs in various teaching and journalistic positions, during which time he married (1921) his first wife, Kate Frances Carter Page (1900–1952), but the marriage only lasted about two years. It was also in 1921 that he was hired by Humphrey S. Milford of OUP's London branch (first at Amen Corner, from 1924 at Amen House) as a sales representative in education. Discussing the antecedents of the Music Department in his history of the Press, Sutcliffe says that Foss "was not particularly interested in education: he was passionately interested in music ... Milford had personal and business relations with cathedral organists and hymnologists. And he also had Hubert Foss."
Foss's experience in education and his musical talents and interest fused with Milford's when Foss brought to Milford a proposal in 1922 for a series or collection of essays on famous composers to be written by well-known contemporary musicians and musicologists. Originally conceived purely as an educational book for the broadcast, recording, and concert-going audience, it may have been the catalyst (Milford's motivation is not clear) for Milford to initiate the creation of a new music publishing department within the London offices. The proposed collection eventually became the first volume of the three-volume Heritage of Music; but upon the new department's undertaking publication of the Oxford Choral Songs series (1923, and still in publication today), Milford made Foss the in-house editor for the series. His work there apparently so impressed Milford that later that year, Foss was appointed the department's head with the title of Musical Editor. Foss also brought his mind to bear on the typographical design of the OUP's music publications at this period.
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