Frederick Cowen (1852-1935) He was born in the city of Kingston on the island of Jamaica. However, his family soon moved to London where he grew up and initially studied piano and composition before attending the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied with Carl Reinecke, Mortiz Hauptmann and Ignaz Moschelles. He then continued his studies in Berlin with Friedrich Kiel. Upon his return to England after briefly touring as a soloist, he concentrated on composing and conduction. During his lifetime, his symphonies and songs achieved quite a following and he was considered one of the leading conductors then active in England. Most of his works were for voice, opera and orchestra.

His Four English Dances in the Olden Style date from 1896. They were published in 2 versions--one for piano quintet, the other for orchestra. Each of the four dances have titles: Stately Dance, Rustic Dance, Graceful Dance and Country Dance. While one might, from the title, expect the music to be redolent of the Baroque or even earlier, it is not really but rather a charming late Romantic era version of these kind of dances.