Introduction

Biography

Somervell at­tend­ed King’s Col­lege, Cam­bridge (BA 1883); the Roy­al Col­lege of Mu­sic (RCM), stu­dy­ing un­der Charles Stan­ford, and at the Ber­lin Hoch­schule un­der Fried­rich Kiel and Wol­de­mar Bar­giel.

He taught at the RCM (1894), and be­came an in­spect­or of mu­sic in schools in 1901.

He earned a Doc­tor of Mu­sic de­gree from Cam­bridge in 1903, and was knight­ed in 1929.

After re­tir­ing in 1928, he be­came as­so­ci­at­ed with the Roy­al School of Church Mu­sic.