In 1898, Fryer had some lessons with
Ferruccio Busoni in
Weimar.[1] He also studied with
Tobias Matthay.[5] He made his London debut on 17 November 1898,[1] and then commenced a career as a touring recitalist as well as an examiner for the
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.[5] These tours took him all over Britain and Europe, and also to many parts of Canada, the United States,[6][7] Australia (including the goldfields of Western Australia)[8][9][10][11][12] South Africa, the Far East, and India.[1] He was also a competition adjudicator.[3] He was said to have travelled more than any other British pianist.[6] He gave 50 recitals in London alone, said to have been a record.[6] The King of Norway attended his recital in
Christiania.[8]
In 1905, he took up a teaching position at the RAM, where he continued until 1914. His first tour of North America came in 1914, and he stayed there for three years, teaching at the
Institute of Musical Art in New York (later merged with the
Juilliard School).[1][5] On his return to Britain in 1917, he was appointed Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music, remaining in that post for the next 30 years, until 1947.[1][3] Fryer's list of pupils was impressive. They included Mack Jost OAM, Senior Lecturer in Piano, The University Of Melbourne
Arthur Bliss,
Lance Dossor,
Colin Horsley,
Constant Lambert,
Harold Rutland,
Cyril Smith and
Kendall Taylor.[16] On retirement, he continued teaching privately above Blüthner's showrooms,[1] and died in London in 1957, aged 79.
Fritz Fryer (1944–2007), lead guitarist of the British pop group
The Four Pennies, was his grandson.[17]
Students
Herbert Fryer's students are his greatest legacy:[14]
Trevor Barnard (born 1938), British-born Australian pianist and teacher
Bourrée & Gigue from Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Sarabande from Suite for Suite No. 4 in E flat major, BWV 1010
Sarabande & Gavotte from Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012[37] (
Jonathan Plowright has recorded the Sarabande;[38] his live performance of it at the Wigmore Hall on 15 November 2008 can be heard
here on
YouTube)
Six Little Variations on a Rigadoon by H. Purcell, Op. 21 (1922)
piano arrangements of traditional Irish and English tunes[3]
^Brissenden, Alan. "Bishop, Lionel Albert Jack (John) (1903–1964)".
Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 18 November 2017 – via Australian Dictionary of Biography.