Malcolm Sargent: Difference between revisions

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Sir '''(Harold) Malcolm (Watts) Sargent''' ([[April 29]], [[1895]] – [[October 3]], [[1967]]) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[conducting|conductor]], [[organist]] and [[composer]].

Sargent was born in [[Ashford, Kent|Ashford]] in [[Kent]], but was brought up in [[Stamford, Lincolnshire]] where he won a scholarship to [[Stamford School]]. He worked first as an organist at [[Melton Mowbray]] Parish Church, Leicestershire before making his Proms onducting debut at a [[The Proms|Promenade]] concert at the [[Queen's Hall]] in [[London]] in 1921 with his own piece, ''Impression on a Windy Day'', which he had been commisionedcommissioned to write for a visit to conduct Sargent's Leicester Symphony Orchestra in the [[De Montfort Hall]], Leicester by Sir Henry Wood, but by failing to write the work in sufficient time for Wood to learn, Sargent had to conduct the first performance himself (he soon abandoned composition outright). Early in his career he worked at the [[Richard D'Oyly Carte|D'Oyly Carte]] Opera Company and with [[Serge Diaghilev]]'s [[Ballets Russes]] from 1927 to 1930. In 1928 he became conductor of the [[Royal Choral Society]], a post he retained until his death. He was chief conductor of the Proms from 1948 to 1966, and of the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]] from 1950 to 1957. [[knight|Knight]]ed in 1947, he performed in a great many numerous English-speaking countries during the postwar years, becoming thereby, as it were, a musical ambassador for (and within) the [[Commonwealth of Nations]].

Sargent tackled a wide range of repertoire (and committed much of it to recordings), but was particularly noted in choral pieces. A champion of British music above all, he conducted the premieres of [[William Walton]]'s [[oratorio]] ''[[Belshazzar's Feast (Walton)|Belshazzar's Feast]]'' in 1931 and his [[opera]] ''[[Troilus and Cressida (opera)|Troilus and Cressida]]'' in 1954. Particularly distinguished as a populariser of classical music, he conducted many concerts for school students.