Editing Lennox Berkeley

{{short description|English composer (1903–1989)}}
{{use British English|date=July 2013}}
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'''Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley''' [[CBE]] (12 May 1903{{spaced ndash}}26 December 1989) was an English composer.

== Biography ==

Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in [[Oxford]], England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of [[James Charles Harris|Sir James Charles Harris]], former British consul in Monaco, and [[Royal Navy]] Captain Hastings George FitzHardinge Berkeley (1855–1934), the illegitimate and eldest son of George Lennox Rawdon Berkeley, the 7th [[Baron Berkeley|Earl of Berkeley]] (1827–1888).<ref name=":0">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-39902|title=Berkeley, Sir Lennox Randal Francis (1903–1989), composer|date=2004-09-23|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/39902}}</ref> He attended the [[Dragon School]] in Oxford, going on to [[Gresham's School]], in [[Holt, Norfolk]] and [[St George's School, Harpenden|St George's School]] in [[Harpenden]], Hertfordshire. He studied French at [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]], Oxford, graduating with a fourth class degree in 1926. While at university he coxed the college [[Eight (rowing)|rowing eight]]. He became an honorary fellow of Merton College in 1974.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|title=Merton College Register 1900–1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|location=Oxford|page=149}}</ref>

In 1927, he went to Paris to study music with [[Nadia Boulanger]], and there became acquainted with [[Francis Poulenc]], [[Igor Stravinsky]], [[Darius Milhaud]], [[Arthur Honegger]] and [[Albert Roussel]]. Berkeley also studied with [[Maurice Ravel]], often cited as a key influence in Berkeley's technical development as a composer.

In 1936, he met [[Benjamin Britten]], also a former pupil of [[Gresham's School]], at the [[ISCM]] Festival in [[Barcelona]]. Berkeley fell in love with Britten, who appears to have been wary of entering a relationship, writing in his diary, "we have come to an agreement on that subject."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Oliver|first1=Michael|title=Benjamin Britten|date=1996|publisher=Phaidon|location=University of Michigan|isbn=9780714832777|page=60}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928–1938|last = Evans|first = John|publisher = Faber and Faber|year = 2010|isbn = 9780571274642|pages = 366}}</ref> Nevertheless, the two composers shared a house for a year, living in the Old Mill at [[Snape, Suffolk|Snape]], Suffolk, which Britten had acquired in July 1937.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928–1938|last = Evans|first = John|publisher = Faber and Faber|year = 2010|isbn = 9780571274642|pages = 494}}</ref> They subsequently enjoyed a long friendship and artistic association, [[Classical music written in collaboration|collaborating]] on a number of works; these included the suite of Catalan dances titled ''[[Mont Juic (suite)|Mont Juic]]'', and ''[[Variations on an Elizabethan Theme]]'' (the latter also with four other composers).

He worked for the [[BBC]] during the [[Second World War]], where he met his future wife, Elizabeth Freda Bernstein (1923–2016) whom he married on 14 December 1946. Together they had three sons: their eldest son [[Michael Berkeley]], Baron Berkeley of Knighton, is also a composer, and their youngest son is the photographer [[Nick Berkeley]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{harvp|Dickinson|2003|p=77}}: "Colin Horsley remembered Berkeley's time at the BBC because he was reputed to have kept manuscript paper under his desk and was obviously longing to get more time to compose. Since it was there that he met his wife it is no wonder ..."</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Scotland|first1=Tony|title=Lennox Berkeley and his Music (biography)|url=http://www.lennoxandfreda.com/biography/lennox_berkeley|access-date=7 October 2014}}</ref><ref>Death notice, ''The Times'', London, 25 February 2016, p. 61</ref>

He wrote several piano works for the pianist [[Colin Horsley]], who commissioned the [[Trio for horn, violin, and piano (Berkeley)|Horn Trio]] and some piano pieces, and gave the first performances and/or made the premier recordings of a number of his works, including his third Piano Concerto (1958).<ref>Musical leader 1958 Page 21 "Lennox Berkeley launched his Third Piano Concerto with Colin Horsley, for whom the work was written, at the Royal Philharmonic Society's Festival Hall series recently"</ref>

He was Professor of Composition in the [[Royal Academy of Music]] from 1946 to 1968. His students included [[Richard Rodney Bennett]], [[David Bedford]], [[Adam Pounds]], [[Richard Stoker]], Clive Strutt, [[John Tavener]] and [[Brian Ferneyhough]]. Ferneyhough felt that he learned nothing from Berkeley because of the gap between their musical conceptions, remembering him as "a notably urbane and well-meaning presence" whose "Nadia Boulenger {{sic}} influenced gallic aesthetics were completely unable to deal with my compositional needs."<ref>[https://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/2016/08/brian-ferneyhough-composer-professor-new-complexity-stamford-university.html Brian Ferneyhough – An interview with the English composer/professor who now resides in California. "I am always actively thinking of current activities."]. Musicguy 247</ref>

1954 saw the premiere of his first opera, ''[[Nelson (opera)|Nelson]]'', at [[Sadler's Wells]]. He was knighted in 1974 and from 1977 to 1983 was President of the [[Cheltenham Festival]].

He resided at 8 Warwick Avenue, London, from 1947 until his death in 1989. On 20 March 1990 a memorial service was held for him at [[Westminster Cathedral]], London.<ref name=":0" />

== Honours ==
* '''1983''' : Member of the [[Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium]].<ref>Index biographique des membres et associés de l'Académie royale de Belgique (1769–2005)</ref>

==Musical style==

Berkeley's earlier music is broadly [[Tonality|tonal]], influenced by the [[Neoclassicism (music)|neoclassical]] music of Stravinsky.<ref name=Stevens>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Stevens |first=Douglas |date=2011 |title=Lennox Berkeley : a critical study of his music |publisher=University of Bristol}}</ref> Berkeley's contact and friendship with composers such as Ravel and Poulenc and his studies in Paris with Boulanger lend his music a 'French' quality, demonstrated by its "emphasis on melody, the lucid textures and a conciseness of expression".<ref name=MusicSales>{{cite web|last1=Rushton|first1=James|title=Lennox Berkeley – Five Short Pieces (1936)|url=http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/12080|website=Music Sales Classical|access-date=29 September 2015}}</ref> He maintained a negative view of [[Atonality|atonal]] music at least up until 1948, when he wrote:<ref>{{cite book|last=Dickinson|first=Peter|title=The Music of Lennox Berkeley|date=2003|publisher=The Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge|isbn=9780851159362|page=161|edition=2nd}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=I have never been able to derive much satisfaction from atonal music. The absence of key makes [[modulation (music)|modulation]] an impossibility, and this, to my mind, causes monotony [...] I am not, of course, in favour of rigidly adhering to the old key-system, but some sort of tonal centre seems to me a necessity.}}

However, from the mid-1950s, Berkeley apparently felt a need to revise his style of composition, later telling the Canadian composer, [[R. Murray Schafer]] that "it's natural for a composer to feel a need to enlarge his idiom."<ref>{{cite book|last=Dickinson|first=Peter|title=Lennox Berkeley and Friends : Writings, Letters and Interviews|date=2012|publisher=Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge|isbn=9781843837855|page=9}}</ref> He started including [[tone rows]] and aspects of [[serial technique]] in his compositions around the time of the Concertino, Op. 49 (1955) and the opera ''Ruth'' (1955–56). His shift in opinion was demonstrated in an interview with ''[[The Times]]'' in 1959:{{sfnp|Dickinson|2012|page=110}}

{{Blockquote|text=I'm not opposed to serial music; I've benefited from studying it, and I have sometimes found myself writing serial themes – although I don't elaborate on them according to strict serial principles, because I'm quite definitely a tonal composer. And there are some exceptions to the gospel of intellectualisation – I enjoyed listening to the record of Boulez's ''[[Le Marteau sans maître]]'' very much, because there the timbres of the music were attractive in themselves.}}

==Works==
===Opera===
* ''[[Nelson (opera)|Nelson]]'', (1951)
* ''[[A Dinner Engagement]]'', Op. 45 (1954)
* [[Ruth (opera)|''Ruth'']], Op. 50 (1955–6)
* ''Castaway'', Op. 68 (1967)
* ''Faldon Park'', (1979–85). Incomplete.

===Orchestral===
* ''[[Mont Juic (suite)|Mont Juic]]'', suite of Catalan dances, Op. 9 (written jointly with [[Benjamin Britten]])
* Serenade, for string orchestra (1938–9)
* Symphony No. 1 (1936–40)
* Divertimento (1943)
* Piano Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 29 (1947–8)
* Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 30 (1948)
* [[Symphony No. 2 (Berkeley)|Symphony No. 2]] (1958, revised 1976)
* Symphony No. 3, in one movement (1968–9)
* Sinfonia Concertante, for oboe and chamber orchestra (1972–3)
* Voices of the Night, Op. 86 (1973)
* Guitar Concerto, Op. 88
* Symphony No. 4 (1977–78)

===Choral===
* ''A Festival Anthem'', Op. 21, No. 2 (1945)
* ''Crux fidelis'', Op. 43, No. 1 (1955)
* ''I sing of a maiden'' (1966)
* ''Look up, sweet babe'', Op. 43, No. 2 (1955)
* ''Missa Brevis'', Op. 57 (1960)
* Mass for five voices, Op. 64 (1964)
* ''Magnificat'' for chorus and orchestra, Op. 71 (1968)
* Three Latin Motets, Op. 83, No. 1 (1972)
* Three Songs for Four Male Voices, Op. 67, No. 1 (1965)
* ''The Lord is my shepherd'', Op. 91, No. 1 (1975)
* ''Magnificat'' and ''Nunc dimittis'' ("Chichester service"), Op. 99 (1980)

===Solo vocal===
* Five Housman Songs, Op. 14, No. 3
* Four Poems of St Teresa of Ávila, Op. 27, for contralto and string orchestra (1947)
* Three Greek Songs, Op. 38 (1953)
* Five Poems by W. H. Auden, Op. 53

===Chamber===
* String Quartet No. 1, Op. 6 (1935)
* String Quartet No. 2, Op. 15 (1941)
* String Trio, Op. 19 (1943)
* Sonata in D minor for viola and piano, Op. 22 (1945)
* Introduction and Allegro, for solo violin (1949) (edited by [[Ivry Gitlis]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Introduction and Allegro for Solo Violin. .|date=21 April 2018|oclc = 498148650}}</ref>
* [[Trio for horn, violin, and piano (Berkeley)|Trio for horn, violin and piano]], Op. 44 (1952)
* Sextet for clarinet, horn and string quartet, Op. 47 (1954)<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/May08/Rawsthorne_Berkeley_srcd256.htm Review Sextet] May 2008, quote: Berkeley wrote his three movement Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet, Op. 47 in 1954 for the [[Melos Ensemble]].</ref>
* String Quartet No. 3, Op. 76 (1970)
* Introduction and Allegro, for double bass and piano (1972) (for [[Rodney Slatford]])
* Duo for cello and piano
* Sonata Op. 97 for flute and piano
* Sonatina Op. 13 for recorder and piano<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lennoxberkeley.org.uk/works.php?display=All+works&search=13|title=Works by Sir Lennox Berkeley (complete listing) (containing the keyword '13')|first=Thomas|last=Daly|website=lennoxberkeley.org.uk|access-date=21 April 2018}}</ref>
* Three Pieces for Solo Viola, WoO (Dedicated to Stephan Deák, discovered 2004.)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lennoxberkeley.org.uk/album.php?album_id=174|title=Three Pieces for Solo Viola|last1=Scotland|first1=Tony|first2=Terroni|last2=Raphael|publisher=Lennox Berkeley Society|access-date=20 October 2018}}</ref>

===Piano===
* Three Pieces, Op. 2 (1935)
* Piano Sonata in A major, Op. 20 (1941–5)
* Six Preludes, Op. 23 (1945)
* Three Mazurkas, Op. 31 No. 1 (1939–49)

===Guitar===
* Quatre pièces pour la guitare (1928)
* Sonatina, Op. 52, No. 1 (1957)
* Theme and Variations, Op. 77 (1970)

===Clarinet===
*Three Pieces for Clarinet, (1939)

=== Flute ===
* Sonatina for Flute or Treble Recorder and Piano (1940)

=== Violin ===
* Sonatina for Violin and Piano in A, Op. 17 (1942)
* Theme and Variations (1950)

===Film and radio===
'''Film Scores:'''
*''Sword of the Spirit'', December 1942
*''Out of Chaos'', January 1944, London Symphony orchestra
*''[[Hotel Reserve]]'', June 1944, BBC Northern orchestra/Muir Mathieson
*''[[The First Gentleman]]'', April 1948, Royal Philharmonic orchestra/Thomas Beecham, April 1948
*''Youth in Britain'', April 1958
'''Radio Scores:'''
*Westminster Abbey, 1941, Section of Northern BBC orchestra, London, BBC, 7 September 1941
*Yesterday and Today, 1943, Wireless Singers/Father
*J. B. Mc Elligott, Evesham, BBC, 19 April 1942
*A Glutton for life, 1946, ad hoc orchestra/Lennox Berkeley, London BBC, 21 November 1946
*The wall of Troy, 1946, ad hoc orchestra/Lennox Berkeley, London BBC, 21 November 1946
*The Seraphina, 1956, Sinfonia of London/Lennox Berkeley, London BBC, 4 October 1956
*Look back to Lyttletoun, 1957, English opera group orchestra, Ambrosian singers/ Norman del Mar, London, BBC, 8 July 1957

==See also==
*[[Berkeley Ensemble]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Scotland, Tony (2010). ''Lennox & Freda'' (1. publ ed.). Norwich: Michael Russell. {{ISBN | 9780859553193}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=109 Lennox Berkeley's homepage at Chester Music]
* [http://www.lennoxberkeley.org.uk/ The Lennox Berkeley Society]
* {{discogs artist|Lennox Berkeley}}
* {{IMDb name|0075340}}
* {{YouTube|woKDGuM6iRw|Performance of Duo for cello and piano (video)}}

{{Lennox Berkeley}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Lennox}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1989 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English classical composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Oxford]]
[[Category:People educated at The Dragon School]]
[[Category:People educated at Gresham's School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Composers awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Benjamin Britten]]
[[Category:Oratorio composers]]
[[Category:Berkeley family|Lennox]]
[[Category:Masters of the Worshipful Company of Musicians]]