Edgar Hunt
Edgar Hubert Hunt was a British musician and musicologist. He was a key figure in the early music revival in Britain in general, and in the revival of the recorder in particular. He was a founding member of the Society of Recorder Players, of which he was musical director for more than fifty years, and of the Galpin Society, of which he was later president. He was head of the early music department at Trinity College of Music, which was the first conservatory in the world to introduce a diploma in recorder.
Early life
Hunt was born at 2 Upper Byron Place, Clifton, Bristol, on 28 June 1909, into a musical family. His father Hubert Hunt had since 1901 been the organist and master of choristers at Bristol Cathedral, and was conductor of the Bristol Madrigal Society and musical director of the Bristol Gentlemen's Musical Club, while his mother, Clara Harriett née Clements, had been a singer and teacher of music but had given it up on her marriage. Among his father's friends were Sir Walford Davies, Edmund Fellowes and Eric Marshall Johnson.Hunt went to Bristol Grammar School and in 1927 got a scholarship to study flute at Trinity College of Music, London, where he studied under Albert Fransella and Robert Murchie. He took his diploma in 1930 but continued to attend the college until 1933; he took further lessons, and tried without success to obtain a BMus degree from Durham University. From 1933 to 1936 he undertook an apprenticeship in the music printing works of the music publishing house Novello & Co., and when it was over worked there for a further year. In 1937 he began working at the London branch of music publishers Schott and Co. in Great Marlborough Street.