Shaw delighted in describing himself as a cockney, a title he could claim under Samuel Rowlands's definition of one born within the sound of the Bow Bells. He was the son of the Bohemian and eccentric James Shaw, composer of church music and organist of Hampstead Parish Church. He was the elder brother of the composer and influential educator Geoffrey Shaw and the actor Julius Shaw, whose career was cut short by the First World War – he was killed in March 1918. He studied under Stanford at the Royal College of Music, together with a generation of composers that included Holst, Vaughan Williams and John Ireland. He then embarked upon a career as a theatrical producer, composer and conductor, the early years of which he described as "a long period of starving along". However, he began his career as an organist, serving at Emmanuel Church, West Hampstead, from 1895 to 1903.
With Gordon Craig, he founded the Purcell Operatic Society in 1899, dedicated to reviving the music of Henry Purcell and other English composers of the period, many of whose works had fallen into long neglect. Their first production in 1901 was Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, at the Hampstead Conservatoire. This was well received and transferred to the Coronet Theatre, where it played alongside Ellen Terry's production of Nance Oldfield. It was also Craig's first outing as stage director. The POS's other productions were The Masque of Love from Purcell's semi-opera, Dioclesian (1901) and Handel's Acis and Galatea (1902). In 1903, Martin joined Ellen Terry's company at the Imperial Theatre, where he composed and conducted the music for productions of The Vikings and Much Ado About Nothing, also directed by Craig, Ellen Terry's son.
He proposed to Edith Craig, Craig's sister, in 1903 and was accepted. Edy was a successful, prolific but now largely forgotten theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. The marriage was prevented by Ellen Terry, out of jealousy for her daughter's affection, and by Christabel Marshall (Christopher St John), with whom she lived from 1899, according to Michael Holroyd in his book A Strange Eventful History (2008). A thinly fictionalised account of this episode appears in St John's autobiographical novel Hungerheart: The Story of a Soul (1915).
Shaw then toured Europe as conductor to Isadora Duncan, extensively described in his 1929 autobiography Up to Now published by Oxford University Press. During this period he gave music lessons and took posts as organist and director of music, first at St Mary's, Primrose Hill, where his vicar was Percy Dearmer 1908 or 1909 – 1920, later at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London 1920 – 1924. He was also master of music at the Guildhouse, London.
After his marriage to Joan Cobbold, he settled down to family life. The couple had three children: John Fallas Cobbold Shaw (1917–1973), Richard Brinkley Shaw (1920–1989), and Mary Elizabeth Shaw (1923–1977). Under the influence of his wife, and faced with the need to support his family, church music gradually became the focus of his life and work. In 1918 he co-founded the League of Arts, the Royal School of Church Music and was an early organiser of hymn festivals. He did much editorial and executive work in connection with popularising music, the encouragement of community singing and raising standards of choral singing in small parish churches.
In 1932 Shaw received the Lambeth degree of Doctor of Music. He was appointed an OBE in 1955 and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music (FRCM) in 1958.
His nephew was the actor Sebastian Shaw, who played the unmasked Darth Vader and the ghost of Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi (1983).
His published works include over 100 songs (some of them for children), settings for soli, chorus and orchestra of Laurence Binyon's Sursum Corda, Eleanor Farjeon's The Ithacans, John Masefield's The Seaport and her Sailors; a ballad opera by Clifford Bax, Mr Pepys, and Water Folk, written for the Worcester Music Festival held in September 1932. He composed the music for T.S. Eliot's pageant play, The Rock, (performed at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in May 1934), making him the only composer Eliot ever allowed to set his words to music. He later became the first editor of National Anthems of the World, published after his death.
His oratorio The Redeemer, for SATB soloists, chorus and full orchestra, was first broadcast by the BBC in March 1945. His cantata God's Grandeur, to words by Gerard Manley Hopkins, was composed for the first Aldeburgh Festival, receiving its first performance in the same concert as the premiere of Britten's St Nicholas.
Working with Percy Dearmer, Martin was music editor of The English Carol Book (1913, 1919) and, with Ralph Vaughan Williams, of Songs of Praise (1925, 1931) and The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). His tune Little Cornard is sung to Hills of the North Rejoice, and Marching is sung to Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow. While doing research for the English Hymnal (1906) in the British Library, he came upon the traditional Gaelic hymn-tune Bunessan in L. McBean's Songs and Hymns of the Gael, published in 1900. However, the tune was not included in the English Hymnal. It was used instead in the second edition of Songs of Praise (1931), set to the poem Morning Has Broken, which Martin Shaw commissioned specially from his old friend Eleanor Farjeon. This tune and words became a No. 1 hit for Cat Stevens in 1972. Martin Shaw also noted down the Czech carol Rocking and included it in The Oxford Book of Carols.
The Martin Shaw Archive was acquired by the British Library in February 2011. It includes his music scores and correspondence between him and his wife Joan. As well as letters from his friends Gustav Holst and John Ireland, letters from the world of literature and the arts are very widely represented, including Albert Schweitzer, Nancy Astor, Paul Nash, W.B. Yeats and his nephew Sebastian Shaw. The archive also contains major correspondence from Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Christian feminist and campaigner Maude Royden, with whom Martin established The Guildhouse Fellowship in Eccleston Square.
The following is a list of Shaw's theatrical productions, music for plays, cantatas and songs. Authors or collaborators are listed after the name of the production or piece in brackets. Publishers or performance venues are listed where known. A fuller list of works including editorial work, instrumental pieces, and sacred music can be seen at Musicweb International
As producer of the Purcell Operatic Society, created by Shaw with Edward Gordon Craig
1900: conductor and producer: Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) – Hampstead Conservatoire1901: conductor and producer: The Masque of Love (Purcell) – Coronet Theatre, Notting Hill1902: conductor and producer: Acis and Galatea (Handel, libretto by John Gay) – Great Queen Street TheatreProductions at the Imperial Theatre
1902: Music Director and conductor: Bethlehem, a Morality Play (Laurence Housman, music by Joseph Moorat) – at the Imperial Institute 1903: composer and conductor: The Vikings (Ibsen) – Imperial Theatre1903: composer and conductor: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare) – Imperial Theatre 1911 – 1915 with Mabel Dearmer and the Morality Play Society
1911 The Soul of the World (premiere at Imperial Institute 1 Dec.) – Joseph Williams1912 The Dreamer – The Biblical story of Joseph –1913 The Cockyolly Bird (premiere at the Court Theatre, Thursday, 1 Jan 1914 ) – Curwen (published 1930)1914 Brer Rabbit and Mr Fox, a musical frolic (premiere at the Little Theatre) – Joseph Williamswith George Calderon and William Caine
1912 The Brave Little Tailor 1926 – 1939
1926 Mr Pepys, a Ballad Opera on the life of Samuel Pepys (Clifford Bax) – Cramer Waterloo Leave, a Ballad Opera (Clifford Bax) – Maddermarket, Ipswich1926 Granite (Clemence Dane) premiered at Ambassadors Theatre, with Sybil Thorndike1929 The Silver Tassie (Sean O'Casey); Plainsong and songs for Act II – Apollo Theatre1929 Easter (John Masefield)1931 The Thorn of Avalon, an Opera for Toc H (Barclay Baron) – Crystal Palace1932 Philomel (Jefferson Farjeon, lyrics by Clifford Bax) premiered at Ambassadors Theatre, starring Phyllis Neilson-Terry and Arthur Wontner 193? At the Sign of the Star an Opera for Toc H – Royal Albert Hall1934 The Rock, a Choral Pageant (T.S. Eliot) – Sadlers WellsJudgement at Chelmsford (Charles Williams) – Scala1936 Master Valiant (Barclay Baron for Toc H 21st Birthday) at Crystal Palace – OUP1937 The Six Men of Dorset (Miles Malleson)1939 Thursday's Child (Christopher Fry) – Royal Albert HallChildren's plays and pageants 1916 – 1939
1916 The Pedlar (from Shakespeare) 6 songs, 2 dances – Evans Bros.1918 Fools and Fairies (from A Midsummer Night's Dream) – Evans1925 Children's Play: The Magic Fishbone (Joan Cobbold) – Curwen1925 A Christmas Pageant (words selected by Joan Cobbold) – Curwen1928 Pageant: The Months (Christina Rossetti, dramatised by Joan Cobbold) – Cramer1929 Christmas mime: At the Sign of the Star (Barclay Baron) – OUP1929 Musical Play: The Whispering Wood (Rodney Bennett) –1931 The Green Sky: a children's play (Joan Cobbold) – OUP1936 The Travelling Musicians (arr. Joan Cobbold, from the Brothers Grimm) – Novello1939 Thursday's Child (Christopher Fry) – CramerCantatas and song sequences
1910 Song Sequence: Fantastic Trio for voice, sung by the Albion Trio at the (Aeolian Hall)1931 Cantata: The Seaport and her Sailors (John Masefield) – Cramer1931 Song Sequence: The Ungentle Guest (Herrick, Drayton & Clifford Bax) – for Baritone, Harp and String Quartette – Cramer1932 Song Sequence: Water Folk (Heine) for voice, strings, quartette and pianoforte – Cramer1933 Cantata: The Ithacans (Eleanor Farjeon) [tenor, chorus and orchestra] – Cramer1933 Cantata: Sursum Corda (Laurence Binyon) [chorus and orchestra] – Novello1935 Cantata: This England (Shakespeare) – OUP1945 Cantata length Oratorio: The Redeemer (ed. Joan Cobbold) [soli, chorus and orchestra] – Joseph Williams1950 Cantata: The Changing Year (ed. Joan Cobbold) – Joseph Williams1953 Cantata: The Changing Year [arr.for flute and strings D. Shaw] – J Williams1898–1904
1898 Berceuse (Diana Gardiner) – The Dome.1899 The Song of the Palanquin Bearers (Sarojini Naidu) – The Page1902 The Land of Heart's Desire (WB Yeats) – Curwen1903 E'en as a lovely Flower (Heine) – The Page1904 Hymn To Diana [2 part song] (Ben Jonson) – Novello1904 Over the Mountains (traditional) [2 part song] – Novello1904 The Jolly Shepherd (John Wootton) [S.A., p.f.] – Joseph Williams1904 The Fairies Escape [SS song for female voices, p.f. acc.] – Joseph Williams1904 Weep you no More Sad Fountains [S.A. with p.f. acc.] – Joseph Williams1913–1920
1913 England, My England (W.E. Henley) [chorus for TTBB] – Boosey1914 6 Songs of War published by Humphrey Milford at Oxford University Press (OUP) 1: Battle song of the Fleet at Sea (Stella Callaghan) 2: Called Up (Dudley Clark) 3: England for Flanders (C.W. Brodribb) 4: Erin United (C.W. Brodribb) 5: Carillons (tr. From the French by D. Bonnard) 6: Venizel (W.A.Short)1914 The Cavalier's Escape (W Thornbury) – Stainer and Bell1914 Song of the Callicles (Matthew Arnold) 3 part song for female voices [SSA] – Joseph Williams1914 Conrad Suck-a-Thumb – in Geoffrey Shaw's Struwelpeter – Curwen1915 God Save the King with Faux Bourdon – Curwen1915 Cuckoo (traditional, 2nd verse by MS) – Curwen1915 Song: Clare's Brigade (Stephen Gwynn) – Humprey Milford at OUP1915 Four Pastoral Songs for Soprano and Contralto – Curwen 1: County Guy 2: Lubin 3: Sylvia Sleeps 4: Sylvia Wakes1916 A Christmas Song (Eugene Field) – Evans1916 Ships of Yule [unison song] – Evans1917 Lullaby (Christina Rossetti) – Curwen1917 Under the Greenwood Tree – Curwen1917 Sigh No More Ladies (Shakespeare) – Curwen1917 Trip and Go (traditional) – Curwen1917 Orange and Green (arr. Of AP Graves words to Lillibulero) – Curwen1917 Six Songs published by Curwen: 1: Bird or Beast (Christina Rossetti) 2: Easter Carol (Christina Rossetti) 3: The Land of Heart's Desire (Yeats) 4: Over the Sea (Christina Rossetti) 5: not currently known 6: Summer (Christina Rossetti)1917 Song of the Palanquin Bearers republished – Curwen1917 Lied der Sänftentrager [German translation of Palanquin Bearers] – Universal Edition1918 Serenade (Diana Gardner) – Curwen1918 Two Songs from Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll) – (Evans: 3rd Bk of the School Concert) 1: You are Old Father William 2: Will You Walk a Little Faster1918 The Bird of God (Kingsley) [2 part song] – Arnold1918 The Frogge and the Mouse (Deuteromelia) [2 part song] – Curwen1919 Bab-lock-Hythe (Laurence Binyon) – Curwen1919 Brookland Road (Rudyard Kipling) – Curwen1919 Child of the Flowing Tide (Geoffrey Dearmer) – Chappell1919 Down by the Salley Gardens (W.B. Yeats) – Curwen1919 Heffle Cuckoo Fair (Rudyard Kipling) – Curwen1919 Love Pagan (Arthur Shirley Cripps) – Curwen1919 Old Mother Laidinwool (Rudyard Kipling) – Curwen1919 Pity Poor Fighting Men (Rudyard Kipling) – Curwen1919 Refrain (Arthur Shirley Cripps) – Rogers1919 Stave of Roving Tim (George Meredith) – Curwen1919 The Egg Shell (Rudyard Kipling) – Curwen1919 The Bubble Song (Mabel Dearmer) – Chappell1920 The Knights Song (Lyon) – Enoch1920 Love me, I love you (Christina Rossetti) – Curwen1920 Charity (Christina Rossetti) – Curwen1920 Lullaby (Christina Rossetti) – Curwen1920 The Ferryman (Christina Rossetti) – Curwen1920 Up the Airy Mountains (William Allingham) [2pt song] – Augener; Edward Arnold1920 Invictus (W.E. Henley) – Curwen1920 O Falmouth is a Fine Town (W.E. Henley) – Curwen1921–1930
1921 Annabel Lee (Edgar Allan Poe) – Cramer1921 When Daisies Pied (Shakespeare) – Curwen1922 At Columbine's Grave (Bliss Carmen) – Cramer1922 Blow, Blow thou Winter Wind (Shakespeare) [unison] – Edward Arnold1922 Butterflies (Mabel Dearmer) [unison song] – Curwen1922 Crockle and Quackle (Darnley) [2pt. Song] –1922 Full Fathom Five (Shakespeare) – Cramer1922 I know a Bank (Shakespeare) [unison] – Cramer1922 Old Clothes and Fine Clothes (John Pride) – Cramer1922 The Cockyolly Song (Mabel Dearmer) [unison song] – Curwen1922 The Merry Wanderer (Shakespeare) – Cramer1922 Two songs of Spring – Boosey: 1: Through Softly Falling Rain (Sybil M.Ruegg) 2: The Herald (Geoffrey Dearmer)1923 I Cannot eat but little Meat (arr. For TTBB) – Curwen1923 I Know a Bank (Shakespeare) [SS] – Cramer1923 London Town (John Masefield) – Cramer1923 Over Hill Over Dale (Shakespeare) – Cramer1923 Peaceful Slumb'ring (Cobbe) [arr. Tenor Solo & TTBB] – Curwen1923 Ships of Yule (Eugene Field) [unison] – Curwen1923 The Grand Panjandrum – Novello1923 The Little Vagabond (William Blake, cover illustration by Paul Nash) – Cramer1923 Tides (John Pride) – Cramer1923 Two Nursery Rhymes – Evans Bros1923 With a voice of singing [SATB] - Curwen1924 The Dip (Judge Parry) – Cramer1924 Wood Magic (John Buchan) – Cramer1924 Glad Hearts Adventuring (Macdonald), the Girl Guide Anthem – Cramer1924 Cargoes (John Masefield) unison 1st published in 'Music and Youth', (2/- song) – Cramer1924 Two Water Songs – Cramer 1: The Little Waves of Breffney (Eva Gore-Booth) 2: The Rivulet (L. Larcom)1924 I know a Bank (Shakespeare) [Duet] – Cramer1925 Old Clothes and Fine Clothes (John Pride) – Braille1925 The Conjuration (from the Chinese poem of Hung-So-Fan) 2 keys – Cramer1925 The Caravan (W.B. Rands) – Cramer1925 The Pioneers (Walt Whitman) unison song – Cramer1926 Bridgwater Charter Song (Bruce Dilks) – Cramer1926 March (L. Larcom) [unison] – OUP1926 May Merry Time (Darley) 2pt song – OUP1926 Song & Mime: The Mummers (Eleanor Farjeon) unison – Evans Bros.1926 Trees (E. Nesbit) – Cramer1927 Avona (DB Knox) – Cramer1927 Budmouth Dears (Thomas Hardy) [SSCCTTBB] – Curwen1927 Gather up your Litter (Eleanor Farjeon) – Cramer1927 Ladybird (Mrs Montgomery) [unison] – Cramer1927 Lament: Johnny Braidislee from Ionica – Cramer1927 Little Trotty Wagtail (John Clare) [Unison] – Cramer1927 Over the Sea with a Soldier (Harold Boulton) – Cramer1927 St George's Day (arr. D.J. Clarke, words Geoffrey Dearmer) [Unison] – Cramer1927 The Accursed Wood (Harold Boulton) [Unison] – Cramer1927 Up Tails All (Kenneth Grahame) [Unison] – Cramer1927 The Mountain and the Squirrel (Emerson) [Unison] – Cramer1928 Service (words selected by Rudyard Kipling) [Unison] – Cramer1929 Song of the Music Makers (Rodney Bennett) Music and Youth (Jan) – Cramer1929 Two Shakespeare Songs: – Cramer 1: Come Away Death 2: When that I was1929 Sea Roads (Harold Boulton) [Unison] – Boosey and Hawkes [Winthrop Rogers]1930 Songs: New Singing Games (Cobbold) – Cramer 1: White Owl 2: Flower Game 3: Naughty Children 4: Walking Down the Lane1930 O Land of Britain (Stuart Wilson) [Unison] – Cramer1930 To Sea (Beddoes) – Cramer1930 The World's Delight – Cramer1930 Working Together (Percy Dearmer) [Unison] – Cramer1931 – 1940
1931 In Liverpool Where I was Bred (John Masefield) from the Cantata – Cramer1931 No (Thomas Hood) – Cramer1931 Three Calendar Songs for Children– Novello 1: 30 Days Hath September1931 Wood Fires [unison song] – Cramer1932 6 Songs (Eleanor Farjeon) – Cramer 1: Argus [Unison song] 2: Caesar [Unison song] 3: Hannibal [Unison Song] 4: Leonidas [two part canon] 5: Romulus and Remus [two part canon] 6: Queen Dido [two part canon]1932 Perilious Ways (Mordaunt Currie) – Cramer1933 Marketing Day (Derek McCulloch) [unison] – Novello1933 The Melodies You Sing (Clifford Bax) – Cramer1933 The Wind and the Sea (Clifford Bax) – Cramer1935 Garden Flowers (Mary Howitt) [Unison] – Child Education; Evans Bros1936 A Chant for England (Helen Gray Cone) [Unison] – Cramer1936 Two Cherry Songs [Unison] – Cramer1936 The Day's End [Unison] – Cramer1936 Would it were So (Elizabeth Wordsworth) [Unison] – Novello1937 Song: An Airman's Te Deum (F. McN. Foster) – Curwen1938 Come away, Death (Shakespeare) [SATB] – Novello1939 Choir Songs: Thursday's Child (Christopher Fry) [Unison Songs] – Cramer 1: A Song of Life 2: Leaving School 3: What is a House 4: Cooking 5: Housework 6: Rub-a-dub-dub 7: Ploughing 8: Sowing 9: Harvest1939 Two songs for Juniors – Cramer: 1: The Rain, 2: The Stream1939 The Mountain and the Squirrel – Cramer1939 The Caravan – Cramer1940 Song: Say not the Struggle Nought Availeth (A.H. Clough) [Unison] – Musical Times; Novello1941 – 1954
1941 Drake's Drum (Sir Henry Newbolt) [Unison] – Cramer1941 The Airmen (Margaret Armour, from The Times, May 28th 1940) – Cramer1942 Song: Jack Overdue (J. Pudney) – Cramer1944 The Path of Duty (Tennyson) [unison] – Novello1948 Kitty of Coleraine (anon) [arr. TTBB ] – Boosey and Hawkes1948 My Bonny Cuckoo [arr. SSA] – Cramer1948 Oft in the Stilly Night (T.Moore) [arr. Tenor solo & TTBB] – Boosey and Hawkes1948 The Elves (arr. SSA) – Cramer1952 Coronation Song (E. Montgomery Campbell) [Unison] – Cramer1952 Sing Three [10 Songs for S.A.B] – Cramer1953 Over the Hills (George Meredith) [Unison] – Cramer1954 Farm-yard Families (M Nightingale) [Unison] – Cramer1954 The Sea Shore (Geoffrey Dearmer) [Unison] -Cramer1954 The Sweet of the Year (George Meredith) [2 part song] – OUPPosthumous publications
1987 Martin Shaw, Seven Songs for Voice and Piano – Stainer and Bell 1: Annabel Lee 2: Cargoes 3: No. 4: When Daisies Pied 5: The Cuckoo 6: Song of the Palanquin Bearers 7: Down by the Salley Gardens1969 Garden of Earthly Delights based on work by Philip Rosseter and arranged by Mont Campbell on the album Arzachel by Prog Rock group Uriel