The Musicians of the Titanic

If I had to name some of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century, well I wouldn't actually. I would turn around and just walk out of the room, open up the door, walk across the front yard and keep right on going all the way down the road to the nearest bus stop so I could get as far away from dodge as I possibly could. I'm not even going to begin contemplating answering that question. How could I?

So many celebrated and talented artists have existed in the span of a century I don't even think it would be possible to really answer that question. And yet when you look at it from another angle, so far as I'm aware one of if not the greatest band of the twentieth century was the eight musicians who played on board the RMS Titanic.

Yes. The band that played on until the very end which consisted of these eight gentlemen, a combination of the Violin, Cello and Piano Trio of Georges Krins, Roger Bricoux and William Brailey, and the Quintet with Bandmaster and Violinist Wallace Hartley, John Clarke on Bass, Jock Hume playing Violin, and Percy Taylor and John Wesley Woodward on Cello.

Wikipedia explains some of their story: "They boarded at Southampton and travelled as second-class passengers. They were not on the White Star Line's payroll but were contracted to White Star by the Liverpool firm of C.W. & F.N. Black, who placed musicians on almost all British liners. Until the night of the sinking, the players performed as two separate groups: a quintet… that played at teatime, after-dinner concerts, and Sunday services, among other occasions; and the violin, cello, and piano trio… that played at the À La Carte Restaurant and the Café Parisien.

After the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink, Hartley and his fellow band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. Many of the survivors said that Hartley and the band continued to play until the very end. Reportedly, their final tune was the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee". One second-class passenger said: 'Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.' All eight musicians died in the sinking."

You can only imagine the conditions they were playing. Half of the passengers and crew members are going to die. Titanic has about two hours left before it sinks to the bottom of the ocean in the middle of the freezing Atlantic at two o'clock in the morning. The band plays on gallantly to the very end.

To me, this is a fine example of entertainment right here. You're comforting the listener. You're creating a world that the listener or audience member can experience and take away with them, for the rest of their lives even. In this case, many people would not live out the night. That was including all eight of the band members.

If these men were around today, it's fascinating to wonder what they might have been playing now, versions of famous songs recorded by some of the artists I mentioned above probably, but the thought of them playing "Hymn to the Sea" or "My Heart Will Go On" (from James Horner's 1997 "Titanic" soundtrack) is heart-wrenching. The thought of it giving at least some of the passengers some kind of comfort in those final hours is heart-wrenching.

I have so many artists and musicians I listen to. I have my favourites like anyone else. But musicians like the eight men on the Titanic are truly something extra special and truly worthy of mention in the annals of music history, not just of the twentieth century. I would like to tip my hat to them.

Thank you,

Ryan.