Harrison Birtwistle: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|English composer (1934–2022)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=MayMarch 20212025}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}

{{Infobox classical composer

| honorific_prefix = {{pre-nominal style|size=100%|KB}}Sir

| name = Harrison Birtwistle

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH}}

| image = Harrison Birtwistle (cropped).jpg

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| birth_name = <!-- Use only if different from name in header -->

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1934|07|15}}

| birth_place = [[Accrington]], [[Lancashire]], England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2022|04|18|1934|07|15}}

| death_place = [[Mere, Wiltshire]], England

| occupations = <!-- Use this field *only* if the person was also **notable** for contributions in another discipline. If notable as a composer only, leave blank. -->

| alma_mater = [[Royal AcademyNorthern College of Music|Royal Manchester College of Music]]

| era = [[Contemporary classical music|Contemporary]]

| list_of_works = [[List of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle|List of compositions]]

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}}

'''Sir Harrison Birtwistle''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH}} (15 July 1934 – 18 April 2022) was an English composer of [[contemporary classical music]] best known for his operas, often based on mythological subjects.{{sfn|Cross|2012|loc="Introduction"}}<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last=Allen |first=David |date=18 April 2022 |title=Harrison Birtwistle, Fiercely Modernist Composer, Dies at 87 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/arts/music/harrison-birtwistle-dead.html |access-date=18 April 2022 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Among his [[List of compositions by Harrison Birtwistle|many compositions]], his better known works include ''[[The Triumph of Time (Birtwistle)|The Triumph of Time]]'' (1972) and the operas ''[[The Mask of Orpheus]]'' (1986), ''[[Gawain (opera)|Gawain]]'' (1991), and ''[[The Minotaur (opera)|The Minotaur]]'' (2008). The last of these was ranked by music critics at ''[[The Guardian]]'' in 2019 as the third-best piece of the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Clements |first1=Andrew |last2=Maddocks |first2=Fiona |last3=Lewis |first3=John |last4=Molleson |first4=Kate |last5=Service |first5=Tom |last6=Jeal |first6=Erica|last7=Ashley|first7=Tim|date=12 September 2019|title=The best classical music works of the 21st century|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/12/best-classical-music-works-of-the-21st-century|access-date=31 May 2021|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Even his compositions that were not written for the stage often showed a theatrical approach. A performance of his saxophone concerto ''[[Panic (Birtwistle)|Panic]]'' during the BBC's [[Last Night of the Proms]] caused "national notoriety".<ref name="Tilden" /> He received many international awards and honorary degrees.

==Life and career==

===Early life===

Harrison Birtwistle was born in [[Accrington]], a mill town in Lancashire around 20 miles north of [[Manchester]].{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=4}}{{refn|Regarding his name, Birtwistle stated that "in some reference books my name is down as Harrison Paul, which it isn't, and never has been. I don't have a second name."{{sfn|Birtwistle|Maddocks|2014|p=10}} Many people close to Birtwistle knew him as "Harry"<ref name="NYT"/> or "Harri".<ref name="Hewett2022"/>|group=n}} His parents, Fred and Madge Birtwistle, ran a bakery, and his interest in music was encouraged by his mother.<ref name="NYT"/>{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}} She bought him a clarinet when he was seven and arranged for him to have lessons with the local bandmaster.{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}} He attended [[Accrington Grammar School]].<ref name="Tomlinson">{{cite web| last=Tomlinson | first=John | title='How that music was created remains to me a complete mystery': John Tomlinson on fellow Lancastrian Harrison Birtwistle | website=The Arts Desk | date=20 May 2022 | url=https://theartsdesk.com/node/88156/view | access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> Much of his youth was spent roaming the countryside near his home, and his frustration with the disruption of the nature by modern technology would affect his later work profoundly.<ref name="Hewett2022">{{cite news |last=Hewett |first=Ivan |author-link=Ivan Hewett |date=18 April 2022 |title=Sir Harrison Birtwistle obituary |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/sir-harrison-birtwistle-obituary |access-date=18 April 2022 }}</ref> Other youthful activities included the construction of amateur theatrical sets, and the subsequent imagining of dramas taking place inside them.<ref name="Clements2022">{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=18 April 2022 |title=Harrison Birtwistle: an utterly distinctive composer who wrote music of delicate beauty |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/harrison-birtwistle-utterly-distinctive-music-of-delicate-beauty-andrew-clements |access-date=18 April 2022 }}</ref> Birtwistle became proficient enough to play in the local [[Concert band|military-style band]] and also played in the orchestra that accompanied [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] productions and the local choral society's performances of Handel's ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]''. From around this time Birtwistle first composed, later describing his early pieces as "sub-[[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]]".{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}}

In 1952 he entered the [[Royal Northern College of Music|Royal Manchester College of Music]] in Manchester on a clarinet scholarship. While there he came in contact with contemporaries including [[Peter Maxwell Davies]], [[Alexander Goehr]], the pianist [[John Ogdon]], and the trumpeter [[Elgar Howarth]].<ref name="NPR" /> HeBetween then1955 completedand two1957 yearshe ofcompleted National[[national Serviceservice]] in the [[Royal Artillery]] (Plymouth) Band, based in [[Oswestry]].<ref>N. Wilkins, ''Musical Encounters'', London, 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/arts/music/harrison-birtwistle-dead.html | title= Harrison Birtwistle, Fiercely Modernist Composer, Dies at 87 | work=The New York Times | first=David | last=Allen | date=18 April 2022 | access-date=25 May 2024}}</ref>

===Composing career===

Birtwistle served as director of music at [[Cranborne Chase School]] from 1962 until 1965, before continuing his studies at [[Princeton University]] on a [[Harkness Fellowship]], where he completed the opera ''[[Punch and Judy (opera)|Punch and Judy]]'' to a libretto by [[Stephen Pruslin]].<ref name="NPR" /> It was premiered at the [[Aldeburgh Festival]]; [[Benjamin Britten]] is said to have left during intermission.<ref name="Tilden">{{Cite news |last=Tilden |first=Imogen |date=18 April 2022 |title=Composer Harrison Birtwistle dies aged 87 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/composer-harrison-birtwistle-dies-aged-87 |access-date=19 April 2022}}</ref> This work, together with ''Verses for Ensembles'' and ''[[The Triumph of Time (Birtwistle)|The Triumph of Time]]'', led to greater exposure for Birtwistle in the classical music world. The orchestral work ''The Triumph of Time'', inspired by a woodcut by [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Pieter Bruegel]], premiered in 1972.<ref name="Tilden"/>

In 1972, he wrote the music to the film ''[[The Offence]]'', starring [[Sean Connery]], his only film score.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070468/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ql_1|title=Full Cast and Crew list of the movie 'The Offence' provided by IMDb|publisher=[[IMDb]]}}</ref> In 1975, he became musical director of the newly established [[Royal National Theatre]] in London, a post he held until 1983.<ref name="Tilden" /> He received a [[knighthood]] (1988) and was made a [[CompanionMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (2001). From 1994 to 2001 he was [[Henry Purcell]] Professor of Composition at [[King's College London]]. Birtwistle was the 1987 recipient of the [[University of Louisville]] [[Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition]]<ref name=grawemeyer.org>{{Cite web|url=http://grawemeyer.org/1987-harrison-birtwistle/|title=1987 – Harrison Birtwistle – Grawemeyer Awards|date=20 July 1987 |access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref> for his epic opera ''[[The Mask of Orpheus]]''.<ref name="NPR"/>

Though well-established in the classical music world, Birtwistle was relatively unknown to the general public until the mid-1990s, when two events increased his profile with the wider audience. In 1994 two anti-modernist musicians, [[Frederick Stocken]] and [[Keith Burstein]], calling themselves "The Hecklers", organised a demonstration at the first night of a revival of his opera ''[[Gawain (opera)|Gawain]]'' at the [[Royal Opera House]], London.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lister|first=David|date=1994-04-14 April 1994|title=First Night: Hecklers lose their first night joust: Gawain / The Hecklers Royal Opera House|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/first-night-hecklers-lose-their-first-night-joust-gawain-the-hecklers-royal-opera-house-1370068.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/first-night-hecklers-lose-their-first-night-joust-gawain-the-hecklers-royal-opera-house-1370068.html |archive-date=9 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2022-04-18 April 2022|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> The following year, Birtwistle's saxophone concertante work ''[[Panic (Birtwistle)|Panic]]'' was premiered in the second half of the [[Last Night of the Proms]], as the first piece of contemporary music ever,<ref name="Tilden" /> to an estimated worldwide television audience of 100 million.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 August 2007-08-09|title=Panic at the Proms|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/aug/10/classicalmusicandopera.proms20071|access-date=2022-04-18 April 2022|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> According to the ''[[The Daily Telegraph|Daily Telegraph]]'', it met with incomprehension from many viewers.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hewett|first=Ivan|author-link=Ivan Hewett|date=2017-07-14 July 2017|title=Harrison Birtwistle: the welcome return of a Proms maverick|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/harrison-birtwhistle-welcome-return-proms-maverick/|access-date=2022-04-18 April 2022|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

In 1995, he was awarded the [[Ernst von Siemens Music Prize]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.evs-musikstiftung.ch/preise/preise/archiv/hauptpreistraeger/sir-harrison-birtwistle.html|title=Sir Harrison Birtwistle|website=evs-musikstiftung.ch}}</ref> At the 2006 [[Ivor Novello Awards]] he criticised pop musicians at the event for performing too loudly and using too many [[cliché]]s.<ref>Nuala Calvi, [http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/12741/winning-composer-booed-off-ivors-stage-for "Winning composer booed off Ivors stage for criticising bands"], ''The Stage'', 26 May 2006. Retrieved 2 March 2011.</ref>

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=== Private life ===

Birtwistle had a low media profile,<ref>{{cite news |last=Maddocks |first=Fiona |date=3 May 2014 |title=Harrison Birtwistle: 'I don't think, with hindsight, I was a natural musician' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/03/harrison-birtwistle-hindsight-not-natural-musician-composers |work=[[The Observer]] |___location=London |access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref> but occasionally gave interviews. In 2019, he was interviewed for ''[[Composer of the Week]]'' on [[BBC Radio 3]].<ref name="BBC">{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009r3g |title=Composer of the Week}} BBC. Retrieved 19 April 2022.</ref> He married Sheila Duff, a singer, in 1958.<ref name="Hewett2022"/> The couple had three sons,<ref name="Hewett2022"/> two of whom, [[Adam Birtwistle|Adam]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp08148/adam-birtwistle |title=Adam Birtwistle – National Portrait Gallery |website=npg.org.uk |language=en |access-date=2 December 2019}}</ref> and [[Silas Birtwistle|Silas]], are artists.<ref name="NPR" /><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.ifad.org/newsroom/press_release/tags/p77/y2016/36289916| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170202000200/https://www.ifad.org/newsroom/press_release/tags/p77/y2016/36289916| archive-date = 2 February 2017-02-02| title = Giant heads sculpted from fruit and vegetables draw attention to rural communities at biodiversity summit |website=ifad.org}}</ref> Sheila died in 2012.<ref name="Hewett2022"/>

Birtwistle had a stroke in 2021 and died at his home in [[Mere, Wiltshire]], on 18 April 2022, aged 87.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="NPR">{{cite news |last=Tsioulcas |first=Anastasia |date=18 April 2022 |title=Harrison Birtwistle, an influential English composer, has died at age 87 |publisher=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/04/18/1093301810/harrison-birtwistle-composer-died |access-date=18 April 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url = https://www.thetimes.co.ukcom/article/sir-harrison-birtwistle-obituary-mh9fjr57g|title = Sir Harrison Birtwistle obituary|date = 18 April 2022|accessdateaccess-date = 18 April 2022|work = [[The Times]]|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

== Music ==

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* ''[[The Mask of Orpheus]]'' (1973–84)

* ''[[Gawain (opera)|Gawain]]'' (1990)

* ''[[The Second Mrs Kong]]'' (1993–94)

* ''[[The Last Supper (opera)|The Last Supper]]'' (2000)

* ''[[The Minotaur (opera)|The Minotaur]]'' (2008)

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* 1994 Honorary Fellow, [[Royal Academy of Arts]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/harrison-birtwistle|title = Sir Harrison Birtwistle &#124; Royal Academy of Arts}}</ref>

* 1995 [[Ernst von Siemens Music Prize]]<ref name="adk" />

* 2001 [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (CH), [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom]] in the [[2001 New Year Honours|2001 New Years Honours List]]<ref name="NPR"/>

* 2003 [[Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards]] Large-scale Composition in London<ref name="adk" />

* 2007 Foreign Honorary Member, [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artsandletters.org/honorary-members/|title = Honorary Members – American Academy of Arts and Letters|access-date=8 October 2020|archive-date=3 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203040439/https://artsandletters.org/honorary-members/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* 2015 [[Wihuri Sibelius Prize]]<ref name="adk" />

'''Honorary degrees'''

* 1994 [[University of Sussex]], [[Doctor of Music]] (D.Mus.)<ref>[https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=list-of-honorary-graduates.pdf&site=76 List of honorary graduates] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119063525/https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=list-of-honorary-graduates.pdf&site=76 |date=19 January 2016 }} Sussex.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2022.</ref>

* 1996 [[City, University of London]], D.Mus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.city.ac.uk/people/honorary-graduates/harrison-birtwistle|title=Professor Sir Harrison Birtwistle|website=City, University of London|date=23 November 2020}}</ref>

* 2008 [[University of London]], D.Mus.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ireland.anglican.org/news/2403/rt-revd-lord-eames-archbishop|title=Rt Revd Lord Eames & Archbishop Tutu Honoured by University of London|website=Church of Ireland|date=2 December 2008 }}</ref>

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* {{cite book |last=Adlington |first=Robert |year=2000 |title=The Music of Harrison Birtwistle |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |___location=Cambridge |isbn= }}

* {{cite book |last1=Birtwistle |first1=Harrison |last2=Maddocks |first2=Fiona |author-link2=Fiona Maddocks |year=2014 |title=Harrison Birtwistle: Wild Tracks - A Conversation Diary |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |___location=London |isbn= }}

* {{cite book |last=Cross |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Cross (academic) |year=2000 |title=Harrison Birtwistle: Man, Mind, Music |publisher=[[Faber & Faber]] |___location=London |isbn=978-0-8014-8672-2 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=2ESs5bbzfEcC}}}}

* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Cross |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Cross (academic) |year=2012 |orig-year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Birtwistle, Sir Harrison |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |___location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.03136 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003136}} {{Grove Music subscription}}

* {{cite book |last=Hall |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Hall (English musician) |year=1984 |title=Harrison Birtwistle |publisher=[[Robson Books]] |___location= |isbn= }}

* {{cite journal |last=Pace |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Pace |date=July 1996 |title='Secret Theatres' - The Harrison Birtwistle Retrospective, 12 April-4 May 1996 |journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]] |issue=197 |pages=25–27 |doi=10.1017/S0040298200004952 |jstor=944433 |s2cid=251414737 |url=https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/6569/1/Ian%20Pace%20-%20Panorama%20Finnissy%201.pdf }}

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* {{cite book |last=Hall |first=Michael |year=1998 |title=Harrison Birtwistle in Recent Years |publisher=[[Robson Books]] |___location=London |isbn=978-1-86105-179-0 }}

* {{cite journal |last=Henderson |first=Robert |date=March 1964 |title=Harrison Birtwistle |journal=[[The Musical Times]] |volume=105 |issue=1453 |pages=188–189 |jstor=950600 |doi=10.2307/950600 }}

* {{cite web |last=Northcott |first=Bayan |author-link=Bayan Northcott |date=11 November 2021 |title=Birtwistle, Harrison |work=[[BBC Music Magazine]] |access-date= |url=https://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/birtwistle-harrison/ |archive-date=20 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173834/https://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/birtwistle-harrison/ |url-status=dead }}

* {{cite journal |last=Smalley |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Smalley |date=Spring 1967 |title=Birtwistle's 'Chorales' |journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]] |volume=80 |issue=80 |pages=25–27 |jstor=942634 }}

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[[Category:1934 births]]

[[Category:2022 deaths]]

[[Category:20th-century classicalBritish composersArmy personnel]]

[[Category:21st20th-century English classical composers]]

[[Category:English20th-century classicalEnglish composersmusicians]]

[[Category:21st-century English operaclassical composers]]

[[Category:MaleAcademics operaof composersKing's College London]]

[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Manchester College of Music]]

[[Category:Brass band composers]]

[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]

[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]

[[Category:Composers awarded knighthoods]]

[[Category:Deutsche Grammophon artists]]

[[Category:AlumniEnglish ofmale theopera Royal Academy of Musiccomposers]]

[[Category:AcademicsEnglish ofopera King's College Londoncomposers]]

[[Category:Ernst von Siemens Music Prize winners]]

[[Category:Fellows of King's College London]]

[[Category:Harkness Fellows]]

[[Category:Honorary Membersmembers of the Royal Philharmonic Society]]

[[Category:Ivor Novello Award winners]]

[[Category:PeopleKnights from AccringtonBachelor]]

[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Manchester College of Music]]

[[Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music]]

[[Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society]]

[[Category:Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin]]

[[Category:EnglishMembers maleof classicalthe composersOrder of the Companions of Honour]]

[[Category:20th-centuryMusicians Englishfrom musiciansLancashire]]

[[Category:ErnstPeople vonfrom Siemens Music Prize winnersAccrington]]

[[Category:20th-centuryPeople Englisheducated composersat Accrington Grammar School]]

[[Category:21st-century English composers]]