George Bainton

English minister in the Congregational Church (b. 1848 in London; d. 1925 at Winchester).

Edgar Bainton (1880-1956)
Son of George Bainton

George Bainton married his wife Mary in their native city of London in 1875. At this time George was a young minister in the Congregational Church, and he soon secured a more prominent position at the tabernacle in the city of Coventry, in central England. It was from here in 1892 that he wrote to Tchaikovsky, asking for a letter or musical autograph for his son Edgar, "who, though, only twelve years of age, has developed remarkable musical power, and gives promise of a useful musical career". The latter quotation is actually taken from a similar plea to Edvard Grieg, written at more or less the same time , and there is evidence to suggest that these were by no means the only two composers approached by the elder Bainton on his son's behalf.

We know that both Tchaikovsky and Grieg responded promptly and politely, and that the youngster's interest in music did bear fruit, since Edgar Leslie Bainton (1880–1956) went on to become a fine composer of church music and operatic works.

A letter from George Bainton to Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov dated "Coventry, Feb[ruary] 2. [18]98" has survived in the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg, in which Bainton, writing in French, explained that he was preparing an article on contemporary composers for an English magazine and asked Rimsky-Korsakov whether he could send a signed excerpt from the score of one of his works written in his own hand so that a facsimile reproduction could be featured in that article . It is not clear whether Rimsky-Korsakov replied to this request, nor whether Bainton's planned article was ever completed.

Correspondence with Tchaikovsky

One letter from Tchaikovsky to George Bainton has survived, dating from 1892, which has been translated into English on this website:

• Letter 4635 – 8/20 March 1892, from Saint Petersburg