Montague Fawcett Phillips (13 November 1885 – 4 January 1969) was a British composer of light classical music and songs, including the popular operetta The Rebel Maid of 1921.
During the First World War he was part of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in Scotland, where he was stationed with the librettist Gerald Dodson.
[7] His early work consisted mainly of ballad songs which he composed for his wife, the soprano Clara Butterworth, whom he met at the Royal Academy.
[2] In the first two decades of the century Phillips composed a series of extended concert works, such as the symphonic poem Boadicea (1907), the Symphony in C minor (1911), the Heroic Overture: A Shakespearian Scherzo (performed at the Proms five times between 1915 and 1926),[11] two piano concertos (1907 and 1919) and a string quartet.
It was conducted by Howard Ellis Carr with Clara Butterworth singing the lead role of Lady Mary Trefusis, the rebel maid of the title.
[18] But today he is best remembered for his light orchestral and piano pieces including suites of short, descriptive music such as Village Sketches (1932), The World in the Open Air (1933) and the Surrey Suite (1936), as well as single movements concert bands such as the overture Revelry (1937), the Empire March (1942, written for the Proms), and Hampton Court (1954, one of his last compositions).