From 1849 to 1858 Gadsby was a chorister boy at St Paul's Cathedral at the same time as Sir John Stainer. He learnt basic harmony under the vicar-choral William Bayley but was otherwise self-taught.
In 1880 he was appointed as the first Professor of Harmony at the Guildhall School of Music, where he taught for the rest of his life.
His output consists of mainly orchestral works and church music.
Frederick Corder characterised Henry Gadsby as... a typical Victorian composer, whose works were always well received and never heard a second time." (Ironic to note that Corder was a pupil of Gadsby.)
Worse still, Herbert Howells was even more deprecating of Gadsby's work, saying that Stanford was revolutionary because he:.. swept aside the pretentious, empty gaudiness of the Victorian organist-composer of the Gadsby-in-C type".
Whilst there may be some truth in these seemingly harsh comments, the listener will obviously judge for themselves. In the absence of any recordings there follow some samples of his orchestral work.
The Forest of Arden (1886)
Entitled an "Orchestral Scene" this is a two movement work, Intermezzo and Tantarra which was composed for and performed under the auspices of the Philharmonic Society, London.
The Intermezzo features semiquaver string pizzicato initially:
followed by a 'soto voce' hunting horn passage
SAMPLE: 1. Intermezzo "An Autumn morning" - ending
SAMPLE: 2. Tantarra - start
This leads to a calmer episode in which a solo clarinet sings a contrasting legato melody.
The hunt returns signified by the same repeated 6/8 rhythm and a short coda ends the movement.
SAMPLE: 2. Tantarra "The hunt is up" - ending