British Composer Profiles

[giles.enders]

I had been looking forward to the third edition of British Composer Profiles which is published by The British Music Society.  What a disappointment I had.  The inclusions seem arbitrary.  The editor mentions the increased number of women included. 
We now have Bluebell Klean who composed very little and was forgotten in her own lifetime, we also have Minna Keal who was a five minute wonder at the end of hers.  We are missing Adelina De Lara who was very successful during he life and even had a street named after her.  There is no mention of Susan Spain-Dunk or Ethel Leginska, Katharine Eggar, Dorothy Erhardt, Edith Swepstone, Ethel Scarborough, Margaret More or even Emily Lawrence all of whom I would contend were successful composers during their lifetimes and far more involved at the centre of music than either of the former.  Of the men Julian Clifford is missing as is Joseph Street, Charles Trew, Oliver King and Arthur Jackson to name just a few who come to mind.   

[Delicious Manager]

I had been looking forward to the third edition of British Composer Profiles which is published by The British Music Society.  What a disappointment I had.  The inclusions seem arbitrary.  The editor mentions the increased number of women included. 
We now have Bluebell Klean who composed very little and was forgotten in her own lifetime, we also have Minna Keal who was a five minute wonder at the end of hers. 

I think it's unfair to dismiss Minna Keal as a "five-minute wonder". She had been a very promising composition student of William Alwyn at the Royal Academy of Music in London in the late 1920s. She was unfortunate enough to marry into a family with draconian Victorian family values and she was forced to stop any creative pursuits, including her very promising composing career. Her first marriage eventually broke down (hardly surprising!) and she later married and second time and resumed composition lessons, encouraged by Justin Connolly.

Admittedly, she didn't write an awful lot, but she had a relatively short time in her 70s and 80s to composer. What she DID write is of a very high quality, however; her music is powerful and well wrought, making us only wonder what might have been had there not been the four-and-a-bit decades hiatus in her composition career.

I was privileged to meet and work with Minna on the production of the first CD of her music, A Life in Reverse. Her main ambition at this time was to 'make it to 90'. She mamaged that, with a little time in hand.

[Alan Howe]

All very interesting, I'm sure, gentlemen. Please could we restrict ourselves, however, to composers of music which accords with the revised remit of UC...

[petershott@btinternet.com]

I'll probably earn myself a black mark, but I'll stick up for the relevance of the first two posts. True, discussions of Minna Keal are rather out of place in the Forum: not only was she a 20th century composer but a thoroughly progressive one at that. However I would hope that publications of the BMS are very much appropriate items of discussion. And if Giles refers to Keal as a "five minute wonder" (and I'm sure it was a slip of the pen and that he didn't intend real mischief) then I consider Delicious Manager is quite justified to put him right!

Perhaps - I'm ever the diplomat - we can conclude by noting that Keal's compositions are indeed of very high quality and considering the circumstances of their composition are in fact quite astonishing. Had those circumstances been different then I'm sure she would have gained a place as a major 20th century composer. But clearly not a romantic composer! End of discussion?

[Alan Howe]

I'm just making a simple point: welcome though these British Composer Profiles may be, only those whose music accords with UC's remit can be discussed here. All pretty obvious really.

[Derek Hughes]

If, where the rules not far enough extend,
(Since rules were made but to promote their end)
Some lucky license answer to the full
Th'intent proposed, that license is a rule.
Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take,
May boldly deviate from the common track. (Pope, Essay on Criticism)

Even if it was via a bending of the rules, I'm very grateful to have been made aware of Minna Keal, of whom I had not previously heard. According to her Independent obituary, her early works include a Ballade in F minor, which title sounds pretty Romantic to me. Indeed, the obituary refers to her early 'Romantic' works. What a pity. If she had had the foresight to die at the age of 70, she would perfectly have conformed to 'UC's remit'.

[Mark Thomas]

Derek, I take your (and Pope's) point, but we have found through bitter experience that it is better to enforce what can sometimes be made to seem an arbitrary and artificial rule, than to allow a well-meaning exception, because in the end that precedent is always abused. Policemen are never popular, and I speak as the son of one.

[giles.enders]

In referring to Minna Keal and Bluebell Kleen, I am dealing with the facts. They are both largly forgotten and their output for whatever reason was small. I am not dealing with potential or unfortunate lives.

[Alan Howe]

This thread - as with all other threads here - should deal only with those composers who wrote music which falls within UC's current remit. Whatever facts might apply to particular composers with regard to their output, fame (or lack of it), etc., only those who wrote music in the broad romantic tradition are to be discussed here.

Gentlemen....?