Henry Lazarus
British musician (1815–1895)
Henry Lazarus (1 January 1815 – 6 March 1895) was the leading British clarinet virtuoso of the 19th century. George Bernard Shaw wrote of Henry Lazarus:
He was the best clarionet [old spelling, now clarinet] player in England; when you were sitting behind Costa at the Opera you listened for certain phrases from the clarionet just as you did from the prima donna, except that you were much less likely to be disappointed in the former case.
Lazarus was born in London. Raised as an orphan in the Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea, he there learned the instrument from the bandmaster John Blizzard. He later studied under Charles Godfrey, bandmaster of the Coldstream Guards. His solo debut came in 1838.
"After fulfilling engagements in various theatrical and other orchestras, he was appointed second clarinet in the Sacred Harmonic Society in 1838. In 1840, he became first clarinetist at the opera, and at the principal concerts in London and the provinces, and was immediately recognized as the foremost clarinetist in all England." In 1871 he gave a highly successful concert tour of England and Wales with the pianist Stephen Kemp.
Lazarus was professor of clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music from 1854 to 1895 and at the Military School of Music (Kneller Hall) "for a considerable period" from 1858. He wrote a Method for the Clarinet based on the Boehm system, although he used primarily Albert System instruments, made by Eugène Albert, himself – some horns are even stamped, "Approved by Mr.
The public source identifies “Henry Lazarus” as british musician (1815–1895). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Henry, Lazarus and British.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5724751. VIAF identifies the subject as 50010659. The Library of Congress control number is n81133652. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1815, 1895, 1838 and 1840.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henry Lazarus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.