In early March 1916 he was sent to France with a reinforcement draft to the Regiment's 1st Battalion on the Western Front, and was wounded in the leg by shrapnel fragments from the accidental detonation of a Mills Bomb on 28 June 1916 in the frontline village of Hebuterne during the prelude of the Battle of the Somme.
[1] Although Demuth studied for a time at the Royal College of Music under Thomas Dunhill and Walter Parratt, also receiving much encouragement from the Bournemouth conductor Dan Godfrey, he was essentially self-taught.
Further performances followed, mostly outside of London in the South East of England, where he was active as a conductor or orchestral and choral societies.
[4] Other pupils included Norman Fulton, King Palmer, Hugh Shrapnel and Bob Simans.
[5] Demuth was active in the Home Guard and received a commission with the rank of lieutenant in the British Army on 23 October 1942.
[10] In a scathing review in Tempo, Hans Keller, noting the hostility towards Teutonic music (especially the British émigré composers), observes that "Mr Demuth's all too transparent personal prejudices come into play" and feels obliged to sign himself off with the words "The present writer is an Austrian-born British Jew".
[12] Mason[2] characterises his melodic style as somewhat austere, "in which definable tunes have little part", and his harmony as ranging from intense late Romantic Franckian chromaticism (the Threnody for strings of 1942) to more brittle Stravinskian neoclassicism (Overture for a Joyful Occasion, 1946).
[13] Hugh Ottaway said of the work "Designed in two linked sections, one slowish, the other quick, it made an impression through its capable workmanship and sense of purpose but did not offer much of imaginative distinction.
A certain monotony of rhythm and texture was acutely felt, especially in the opening section, which is a rather busy meditation whose concertante viola part is inclined to fuss and fidget.