•
Adolf Borsdorf, horn player, was the father of three horn playing sons, Oskar, Francis and Emil, who all became professionals. The younger Borsdorfs changed their surname to Bradley because of anti-German sentiment. •
The Brains.
Alfred Edwin Brain Sr. was a horn player. Two of his children,
Alfred and
Aubrey became great horn players. Aubrey married Marion Beeley, a singer at
Covent Garden. His two sons were the world famous horn player
Dennis Brain and Leonard Brain, an oboist. •
The Carters. The brothers John Carter (1832-1916), George Carter (1835-1890), Henry Carter (1837-1901) and
William Carter (1838-1917) were all organist composers, taught by their father who was organist at
St Matthew's, Bethnal Green. •
The Chaplins. Sisters Eleanor Mary (or Nellie), pianist and harpsichordist; Kate Chaplin, violinist and player of the viola d'amore; and Mabel Chaplin, cellist and player of the viola da gamba formed
The Chaplin Trio, known for contributing to the revival of early music from 1889 until the late 1920s. •
Eugène Goossens (père) was the father of the conductor and violinist
Eugène Goossens (fils) and grandfather of the conductor and composer Sir
Eugene Goossens, the harpists
Marie and
Sidonie Goossens, the horn player
Adolphe Goossens and the oboist
Léon Goossens. •
The Hambourgs. Pianist Michael Hambourg (1855–1916) was the father of the internationally famous pianist
Mark Hambourg and his brothers
Boris Hambourg (cello),
Jan Hambourg (violin) and
Clement Hambourg (piano). Mark Hambourg's uncle Alexander Hambourg was also a conductor and his cousin Charles Hambourg (1895–1979) was a cellist and conductor. Mark's daughter Michal Augusta Hambourg (1919–2004) also became a pianist. •
The Harrisons. Four sisters:
May (violin),
Beatrice (cello),
Monica (mezzo-soprano) and
Margaret (violin). Inspired by the many performances of Brahms' Double Concerto by May and Beatrice,
Delius wrote his Double Concerto for the sisters, which they performed in 1920. •
The Hopkins’. Brothers Edward Hopkins (c1778-1866) and George Hopkins were both early clarinet players. Edward's sons were the organists Edward (at
Armagh Cathedral) and
John Larkin Hopkins. George's sons were
Edward John Hopkins, John Hopkins (born 1822, organist at
Rochester Cathedral) and Thomas Hopkins (organist at
St Saviour's Church, York, died 1893). • The
Lushingtons: Jane Lushington and her three daughters, Kitty, Margaret and
Susan, the subject of a painting exhibited by
Arthur Hughes in 1883,
The Home Quartet: Mrs Vernon Lushington and her Children. •
The Mukles. May Mukle (1880-1963) was a cellist. Her father was a mechanical musical instrument maker. Her sisters Anne (pianist), Lillian (trumpet), Flora, Louisa, and Clara were also musicians. Nora Mukle (niece of Mukle sisters?) was a double bass player, wife of
Vernon Elliott. •
The Novellos.
Vincent Novello and his wife, Mary Sabilla (née Hehl), had eleven children. His son
Joseph Alfred Novello was a singer who established the music publisher
Novello & Co and founded
The Musical Times in 1844. Five of his daughters survived to adulthood, four of them became gifted singers.
Clara Novello was a soprano, one of the best known vocalists in opera and oratorio, and on the concert stage, from 1833 onward. •
The Simonsens of St. Kilda. French soprano
Fanny Simonsen and her Danish husband, the violinist and conductor Martin Simonsen. In the
wider family, active in Australia and New Zealand from 1865, there were 12 professional singers and three violinists, including the world famous lyric soprano
Frances Alda. •
The Walenns. The scientist William Henry Walenn and his musical wife Skene Charlotte raised a family of 15, including many professional musicians. Herbert Walenn was a cellist and professor at the Royal Academy of Music;
Charles Walenn was a singer; another son was an organist, and
Gerald Walenn and Dorothea were violinists. Arthur Walenn, Dorothea Walenn, Herbert and Gerald formed the
Walenn String Quartet in the 1890s. •
The Winterbottoms. A family of military band musicians active in the British forces in the nineteenth and early 20th centuries. The founder of the dynasty was
John Winterbottom (1795 – 1855) and there were five bandmaster sons; Thomas, William, John, Henry and Ammon; and (through Ammon) two grandsons, Frank and Charles. ==See also==