James Ord Hume - The March King
The name of James Ord Hume will be familiar to some brass banders. His name appears on a number of pieces particularly marches, which are still played today. Some of you however may not have known that he used quite a number of other names: Lillian Raymond, William German, Oliver Herzer, Eugene Verner, Jacques Lafont, Dora Hartness and Paul Haake for example. But why would he have written under so many pseudonyms? The answer is that during his composing lifetime there was so much music under his real name that he felt the public might grow fed up with him, whereas a new composer might arouse fresh interest. Where did he get these names from? - one of them Lillian Raymond was also the name of his daughter who was born in 1892.
