Even though he wrote two exceptionally grand operas (The Canterbury Pilgrims (1916) and Rip Van Winkle (1919)) and always aspired to use a highly refined style when composing, Reginald (Henry Louis) De Koven became known in his day as one of America's foremost composers of light operas and it is in these works that his reputation was founded. Born in the United States, he moved to England with his father, a clergyman, and the rest of his family in 1872. Five years later, he received his B.A. degree in modern history from St. John's, Oxford University, then immediately commenced serious musical training in Austria, France, and Germany. During this period, his teachers included Wilhelm Speidel for piano, Siegmund Lebert and Dionys Pruckner for piano and harmony, J.C. Hauff for theory, Luigi Vannuccini for singing, and Richard Genee and Léo Delibes for composition. Ten years after having left the U.S., De Koven returned and worked as a music critic for several periodicals: first for The Chicago Evening Post (1889 - 1890), then for Harper's Weekly (1895 - 1897), the New York World (1898 - 1900; 1907 - 1912), and finally for the New York Herald during his final years. Concurrently, he composed dozens of operettas, including The Begum (1887), The Paris Doll (1897), The Little Duchess (1901), The Jersey Lily (1903), The Girls of Holland (1907), and The Yankee Mandarin (1909). Surprisingly enough, his most well-known works, Robin Hood (1891), Rob Roy (1894), and The Highwayman (1897), were all composed early in his career and the first of the three achieved similar status of the finest comparable works of both Julian Edwards and Victor Herbert. In addition to his operas, Reginald De Koven is also remembered for his hundreds of published songs and choral pieces and for having founded the Washington Symphony Orchestra, which he conducted for three seasons (1902 - 1904). © Meredith Gailey, All Music Guide

Below are works by R.de Koven that every music lover should explore: