Eli Hudson was born Eli Hudson Rennison in Worsley, Lancashire, in 1877. He was the son of John Capstack Hudson (a piano tuner and violinist) and Emma Rennison, who eventually married in 1891. In the meantime, Eli was known as Eli Rennison Hudson, and formally adopted that name in 1905. (By then, his mother had died and his father had remarried.)

Hudson studied flute and organ at the Royal College of Music, where he was regarded as 'an artist of outstanding merit' who had 'extraordinary executive ability' on the flute and 'a beautiful tone.' It was little surprise to his colleagues that he became first flute in the London Symphony Orchestra. He also held teaching posts at the RCM and at the Military School of Music, Kneller Hall.

On 30 March 1899, he married Welsh soprano Eleanor Jones (1874-1945). The couple had three sons, Richard, Hubert and Alfred.

As well as having a career as an orchestral musician and teacher, Hudson together with his wife and sister Winifred formed a trio, which performed on the music halls with considerable success. Instead of her usual 'Eleanor Jones-Hudson,' his wife became 'Olga' and Winifred called herself 'Elgar,' thus they were billed as 'Eli, Olga and Elgar Hudson.' As such, they made a number of recordings, which supplemented numerous solo recordings by Hudson (principally as a piccolo soloist) and Eleanor.

Hudson enlisted in January 1917 and subsequently served with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He returned home to England after the Armistace, but was in poor health. He was admitted to the Royal Alexandra Military Hospital in London, where he died of cancer on 18 July 1919. He was buried in the Military Section of Highgate Cemetery.

When some time ago I uploaded one of Hudson's early recordings, I wrote, 'One hundred years after his premature death, Hudson's artistry deserves to be appreciated by a new generation of listeners. His recordings have been written of as displaying 'his clean articulation, perfect intonation and brilliant, even scale passages'...The quality of Hudson's playing and the excitement it generates is simply breathtaking.'

I have no reason to do anything other than repeat these comments in relation to his recording of Eugene Damaré's 'The Wren.' Published in 1879, it is still in the flute repertoire. Recorded on 21 July 1911, Hudson's performance is a stunning display of virtuoso playing at its best. He was, without doubt, an amazingly talented musician, whose early death was a tragedy for the musical world.

Hudson's discs are no longer common, and my copy of this record has suffered significant damage at the beginning of the side, obviously as a result of a combination of sharp steel needles, heavy sound boxes and repeated playings. Because of the extent of the damage, I have resorted to patching, taking a repeat of the opening section from later in the disc and substituting it for the heavily-damaged original. It might be regarded as cheating, but had it not been for this I would probably have not uploaded the recording.

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