David Adam Cairns (born 8 June 1926,

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) is a British journalist, non-fiction writer and musician. He is a leading authority on the life of Berlioz.Grove, ''Cairns, David (Adam)''

Biography

He is the son of the distinguished neurosurgeon, Sir Hugh Cairns. He co-founded the Chelsea Opera Group (COG) in 1950, together with Stephen Gray. Their first concert was a concert performance in Oxford of Mozart's '' Don Giovanni'' under the baton of a 22-year-old Colin Davis. Cairns and Davis went on to form a partnership to champion the music of Berlioz. During the early 1960s, Davis conducted the COG in concert performances of several of Berlioz's large-scale works, including ''

La Damnation de Faust ''La damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "''légende dramatique'' ...

'', '' Roméo et Juliette'', '' Les Troyens'' and '' Benvenuto Cellini''. Cairns became classical programme coordinator for

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in ...

between 1967 and 1972 (in the London division of

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), when Davis released his ground-breaking cycle of Berlioz recordings for the label (with sleeve notes by Cairns). His translation of Berlioz's autobiography (''

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'') was first published by Gollancz in the United Kingdom in 1969. His work in journalism has spanned a number of high-profile newspapers and magazines. He was chief music critic of the '' Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1992, having earlier been music critic and arts editor of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

''. Other publications for which he has been a music critic include the ''

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'', ''

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'' and ''

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''. Before becoming a music journalist, he worked in the House of Commons Library. His two-volume biography of Berlioz: ''Berlioz: The Making of an Artist 1803–1832'' and ''Berlioz: Servitude and Greatness 1832-1869''. has been widely praised. Reviewing the second volume for ''

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'' magazine, Michael Kennedy described it as "one of the finest of all biographies of a composer" going on to praise his depiction "of Berlioz's lifelong struggle against the philistinism of Parisian musical life", and proclaims that "he has given Berlioz the literary memorial he deserves".Kennedy, M. Berlioz's literary memorial - Michael Kennedy on the Cairns biography. Opera, January 2000, Vol 51 No 1, p45-47. The books won several major awards, including the

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's Music award, the

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'Book of the Year', the

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's Derek Allen prize, the

Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its ...

for non-fiction, and biography of the year in the

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. In 1983, he founded the Thorington Players, a London-based orchestra that he conducted regularly in St Mary's Church,

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, and at

St. John's, Smith Square St John's Smith Square is a redundant church in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Sold to a charitable trust as a ruin following firebombing in the Second World War, it was restored as a concert hall. This Grade I listed churc ...

. In his book ''Mozart and his Operas'', published in 2006 by University of California Press, Cairns stated part of the appeal of Mozart's music was its simultaneous embodiment of both "the perfection our souls long for and the sensation of our longing". In 2019, a substantial collection of his essays on the composer was published under the title ''Discovering Berlioz - Essays, Reviews, Talks''.

Honours

In 1991, the French government named him an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his work in promoting Hector Berlioz as a key French composer. In 2013, he was elevated to the position of Commandeur. In the UK, he was appointed CBE in the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countri ...

References

Sources

* Grove Music Online, ''Cairns, David (Adam)'', article by Stanley Sadie. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cairns, David British music journalists British non-fiction writers British music critics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Opera critics People educated at The Dragon School 1926 births Living people People from Loughton Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature British male writers Male non-fiction writers Berlioz scholars