John Cope (1879-1962) - A brief biography of a Potteries lad who created an orchestra
Cope, was born in Milton, a small village on the eastern edge of Stoke-on-Trent, on 31st May 1879. He was the son of James Cope, a local coal miner. Not much is known of John's early life, but as a schoolboy, his musical talents attracted the attention of Madame Marie Reymond, a Dane and an excellent music teacher.
She gave Cope his preliminary training in organ and piano playing, harmony and counterpoint. She taught at her own private music school at Beethoven House, 76 Moorland Road, Burslem, where she had installed a pipe organ. The house still stands; in the middle of three houses in a Victorian redbrick terrace.
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| John Cope 1890s Studying the organ in Germany |
Madame Reymond also assisted Cope by sponsoring him to further study under Josef Rheinberger, professor of organ and composition at Munich Conservatory. Significantly, Cope also studied conducting and became a skilled conductor.
Returning to the Potteries he conducted the Burslem Orchestral Union which Madame Marie Reymond had established at her own expense.
She also organised a concert in Hanley to be conducted by her protégé, with Lady Hallé as soloist in the Mendelssohn Concerto for Violin. This event caught the attention of Ernest Newman, the renowned music critic for the Sunday Times. He reported 'the performances were highly creditable to the members of the orchestra and to Mr John Cope, the conductor. Mr Cope showed that he possessed a genuine ability as a conductor. His beat is decisive. He has a good sense of rhythm, and he clearly understands the music he is playing... and Mr Cope is a very promising young conductor.'
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| John Cope in 1906 |
The orchestra, after three name changes, became the North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra, a name which has lasted to this day.
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| John Cope in 1912 |
Cope conducted for the Carl Rosa Opera Company in Sheffield and other cities, and he joined this company in 1919. (http://www.carlrosatrust.org.uk/index.html)
In 1924 he returned to the Potteries and resumed conducting of the North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra. He was also organist at the Congregational church, Newcastle-under-Lyme, at St. Paul's church, Burslem and at Leek parish church. He was later appointed city organist to the Stoke-on-Trent corporation and was visiting music master at Newcastle High School and the Orme Boys’ School, Newcastle. He also acted as musical director and conductor of the Stoke-on-Trent Amateur Dramatic Society, and for some years was musical director of Sheffield Grand Opera.
In June 1923, Cope married Mary H. Montgomery in Brighton, Sussex. They had a daughter, Mary E. in 1924. Mary married her first husband James Davie in June 1946, in Hammersmith, London. Incidentally, her marriage was dissolved in 1956. She then married Gilbert Forrester-Warden in December 1956, in Kensington, London.
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| John Cope 1950s |
John Cope died on 6 April 1962 at his home in Charles Street, Hanley. He was buried in the same grave as Madame Marie Reymond and her parents in Hanley cemetery.
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| North Staffordshire Symphony Orchestra - John Cope through the years |
John Cope 1930 - The Stoke-on-Trent Historical Pageant
John Cope is seen in the following images conducting the NSSO who played at the 1930 Stoke-on-Trent Historical Pageant to commemorate the Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd., pottery company Bicentenary. Madame Marie Reymond had died 4 years earlier.
Many thanks go to Ray Johnson MBE, of The Staffordshire Film Archive, for kindly supplying the now-digitised 'official film' of the event, from which the screen shots were taken.
Many thanks go to Ray Johnson MBE, of The Staffordshire Film Archive, for kindly supplying the now-digitised 'official film' of the event, from which the screen shots were taken.
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| Wedgwood Portland vase costumes Photo: unknown source |
John Cope 1947
The Bronze Bust of John Cope
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| John Cope - founder conductor of the NSSO Presented by members of The Friends of the Orchestra October 1947 The bust is currently in store at The Potteries Museum, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent |