Editing Hubert Parry (section)

===Peak years===
Now well established as a composer and scholar, Parry received many commissions. Among them were choral works such as the cantata ''Ode on Saint Cecilia's Day'' (1889), the [[oratorio]]s ''Judith'' (1888) and ''Job'' (1892), the [[psalm]]-setting ''De Profundis'' (1891) and a lighter work, ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' (1905), described later as "a bubbling well of humour."<ref name=hadow/> The biblical oratorios were well received by the public, but Parry's lack of sympathy with the form was mocked by [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], then writing musical criticism in London. He denounced ''Job'' as "the most utter failure ever achieved by a thoroughly respectworthy musician. There is not one bar in it that comes within fifty thousand miles of the tamest line in the poem."<ref>''[[The World (journal)|The World]]'', 3 May 1893.</ref> Parry, along with Stanford and [[Alexander Mackenzie (composer)|Alexander Mackenzie]], was regarded by some as joint leader of the "English Musical Renaissance";{{efn|1=The term originated in an article by the critic [[Joseph Bennett (critic)|Joseph Bennett]] in 1882. In his review in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' of Parry's First Symphony he wrote that the work gave "capital proof that English music has arrived at a renaissance period."{{sfn|Eatock|2010|p=88}} [[John Alexander Fuller Maitland|J. A. Fuller Maitland]], chief music critic to ''[[The Times]]'', became the most assiduous proponent of the theory, in his 1902 book ''English Music in the XIXth Century''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Burton|first=Nigel|jstor=1004730|title=Sullivan Reassessed: See How the Fates|journal=[[The Musical Times]]|volume=141|number=1873|date=Winter 2000|pages=15–22|doi=10.2307/1004730 }}</ref>}} Shaw considered them a mutual admiration society,{{sfn|Eatock|2010|p=90}} purveying "sham classics"; reviewing ''Eden'' by Stanford in 1891 he wrote
{{blockquote| But who am I that I should be believed, to the disparagement of eminent musicians? If you doubt that Eden<!--SHAW'S OWN IDIOSYNCRATIC PROSE STYLE FAITHFULLY TRANSCRIBED - NO ITALICS FOR TITLES--> is a masterpiece, ask Dr Parry and Dr Mackenzie, and they will applaud it to the skies. Surely Dr Mackenzie's opinion is conclusive; for is he not the composer of Veni Creator, guaranteed as excellent music by Professor Stanford and Dr Parry? You want to know who Parry is? Why, the composer of Blest Pair of Sirens, as to the merits of which you only have to consult Dr Mackenzie and Professor Stanford.{{sfn|Shaw|1989|p=429}}|}}

Contemporary critics generally regarded Parry's orchestral music as of secondary importance in his output,<ref>See {{harvnb|Hadow|1919}} and ''The Times'' obituary.</ref> but in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries many of Parry's orchestral pieces have been revived. These include five [[symphony|symphonies]], a set of Symphonic Variations in E minor, the ''[[Overture]] to an Unwritten Tragedy'' (1893) and the ''[[Elegy for Brahms]]'' (1897). In 1883 Parry wrote music to accompany the [[Cambridge Greek Play]] ''The Birds'' by [[Aristophanes]], a production which starred the mediaevalist and ghost-story writer, [[M. R. James]]. Parry received an honorary degree from [[Cambridge University]] in the same year.<ref>{{acad|id=PRY883CH|name=Parry, Charles Hubert Hastings}}</ref> Subsequently, he wrote music for Oxford productions of [[Aristophanes]]: ''[[The Frogs]]'' (1892), ''[[The Clouds]]'' (1905) and ''[[The Acharnians]]'' (1914). He had also provided elaborate incidental music for a West End production by [[Herbert Beerbohm Tree|Beerbohm Tree]], ''Hypatia'' (1893).{{sfn|Dibble|1992|pp=292, 403, 467, 305}} Among Parry's considerable output of music for the theatre, there was only one attempt at opera: ''Guenever'', which was turned down by the [[Carl Rosa|Carl Rosa Opera Company]].<ref name=dnb/>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |bgcolor=#E0E6F8|salign=right| quote=A composer who counts is rare enough anywhere, any time. Do not try to use him as a mixture of university don, cabinet minister, city magnate, useful hack, or a dozen things besides. A great blow was delivered against English music when Parry was appointed to succeed Sir George Grove as director of the RCM | source = Robin Legge, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' music critic, 1918<ref>Legge, Robin H. "Charles Hubert Hastings Parry", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', 1 November 1918, pp. 489–491.</ref>|align=right| width=250px}}
When Grove retired as director of the Royal College of Music, Parry succeeded him from January 1895 and held the post until his death. In 1900 he succeeded [[John Stainer]] as Heather Professor. In an obituary tribute in 1918 Robin Legge, music critic of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', lamented these academic calls on Parry's time, believing that they got in the way of his principal calling – composition. [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], who studied at the RCM under Parry, rated him highly as both composer and teacher. Of Parry in the latter capacity he wrote:
{{blockquote|The secret of Parry's greatness as a teacher was his broad-minded sympathy; his was not that so called broadmindedness which comes of want of conviction; his musical antipathies were very strong, and sometimes, in the opinion of those who disagreed with them, unreasonable; but in appraising a composer's work he was able to set these on one side and see beyond them. And it was in this spirit that he examined the work of his pupils. A student's compositions are seldom of any intrinsic merit, and a teacher is apt to judge them on their face-value. But Parry looked further than this; he saw what lay behind the faulty utterance and made it his object to clear the obstacles that prevented fullness of musical speech. His watchword was "characteristic" – that was the thing which mattered.{{sfn|Vaughan Williams|2007|p=296}}|}}

As head of the [[Royal College of Music]], Parry numbered among his leading pupils Ralph Vaughan Williams, [[Gustav Holst]], [[Frank Bridge]] and [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]].<ref name=times/>

Despite the demands of his academic posts, Parry's personal beliefs, which were [[Darwinism|Darwinian]] and [[humanism|humanist]], led him to compose a series of six "ethical [[cantata]]s", experimental works in which he hoped to supersede the traditional oratorio and cantata forms. They were generally unsuccessful with the public, though Elgar admired ''The Vision of Life'' (1907), and ''The Soul's Ransom'' (1906) has had several modern performances.<ref name=grove/>

Following the death of his stepmother, Ethelinda Lear Gambier-Parry, in 1896, Parry succeeded to the family estate at Highnam.<ref name=parks/> He was created a [[Knight Bachelor]] in 1898.<ref name=dnb/> It was announced that he would receive a [[baronetcy]] in the [[1902 Coronation Honours]] list published on 26 June 1902 for the (subsequently postponed) coronation of [[King Edward VII]],<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation Honours |date=26 June 1902 |page=5 |issue=36804}}</ref> and on 24 July 1902 he was created a '''Baronet''', of [[Highnam Court]], in the parish of [[Highnam]], in the county of Gloucester.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27457 |date=25 July 1902 |page=4738 }}</ref>