Biography and History

Frederick Herbert Trench was born in Ireland and educated at Oxford University. From his school days he was a writer of verse. His first volume of poems, Deirdre Wedded, appeared in 1901. This was followed by further poems, notably "Apollo and the Seaman," which was included in New Poems (1907) and became an opera written by Joseph Holbrooke in 1908. The staging of the performance was very innovative and unusual as it was performed in almost total darkness except for the light of a lantern, which made the The New York Times praise it as "an illuminated symphony of the highest order" (January 19, 1908.) Some other poems of Trench were set to music by Arnold Bax. Trench and his wife spent a lot of time travelling in Europe. He died in Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Source: From the finding aid for C1238