Tony Duggan wrote:

>Yehudi Menhuin was given a Knighthood in the 1970s and so became Sir
>Yehudi

Born, of course, in New York City, Menuhin so endeared himself to the
British people (as well as to the people of many other countries) that it
is sometimes forgotten that he did not take British nationality until 1985.
Thus when he was knighted (KBE in 1965) this was an honorary knighthood
(like Paderewski's in 1925) and he was not known as "Sir Yehudi".
Actually, In 1970 he became an honorary citizen of Switzerland.

He was admitted to the elite circle of the Order of Merit (total membership
at any one time limited to twenty-four, not 50) in 1987.

Tippett also received the OM, in 1983.  He had been knighted in 1966, and
in 1979 was admitted to another order of knighthood, as a CH (Companion of
Honour).

Elgar was also awarded the OM.

And let us not ignore the ladies, who on receiving a similar honour to a
knighthood, are called "Dame".  Ethel Smyth comes to mind.  Some, including
Dame Ethel herself, asserted that she would have made her mark as a
composer more easily had she been a man.  Others have suggested that it is
only because she was a woman composer that she was noted at all.  The first
musician to become a Dame was Clara Butt in 1922, a year before Dame Ethel.

And you cannot include Sir Clifford Curzon without also mentioning Dame
Myra Hess.  (There are of course more Dames in the fields of opera and
ballet.  Also Dame Vera Lynn.)

Both Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were first knighted, then given a
baronetcy.  Baronetcies are hereditary (Beecham inherited one), knighthoods
are not.  The practice of granting a peerage to a musician (in ascending
order of precedence, barons, viscounts, earls, marquises and dukes are
peers) is much more recent.  Britten and Menuhin were given baronies (not
hereditary) and on becoming Lord Britten and Lord Menuhin were able (in
theory, at least) to represent the interests of music and musicians in the
upper chamber of Parliament, the House of Lords.

The lesser honours (e.g.  CBE, CVO etc.) are sometimes awarded to musicians
more for services to royalty than for outstanding merit.  Thus you are
likely to get something for being involved in the music for a great royal
occasion (weddings, funerals, coronations etc.) or perhaps for being the
organist or choirmaster at a 'Royal Peculiar' such as Westminster Abbey or
St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

One British conductor whose name, for reasons I cannot understand, has
AFAIK yet to appear even in the lower ranks of the British Honours List,
is Richard S.  Hickox, who has made an enormous contribution (in various
ways and in many different countries) especially to British music.  Even
his contemporary, Mark Elder, has received the CBE (Commander of the Order
of the British Empire).  Let's hear it for Richard!

Alan Moss