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Raybould lived at Oakdale, East-the-Water,
The Early 1940s Conductors – Stanford Robinson – Clarence Raybould – Julius Harrison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raybould, Clarence 1886 births 1972 deaths English classical composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English classical pianists 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century British male musicians
Robert Clarence Raybould (28 June 1886 – 27 March 1972) was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan to the standard classical repertoire. He also championed works by contemporary, particularly British, composers.
in 1936 and was assistant conductor of the Biography
Raybould was born in Birmingham in June 1886 to Robert James Raybould (born 1862), a printer compositor, and Ellen Amelia Raybould (née Weston, born 1862). He studied under Sir Granville Bantock and in 1912 became the first person to receive a BMus degree atBirmingham University
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
.
He assisted Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton (23 January 187825 January 1960) was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music. He was also an influential communist activist within the Communist Party of Gre ...
at early Glastonbury festivals, working later with the Beecham Opera Company and the British National Opera Company
The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company (19 ...
. His opera ''The Sumida River'' (with a libretto by Marie Stopes
Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...
adapted from the same Japanese Noh play as, and anticipating Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's Curlew River), was premiered in Birmingham on 25 September 1916. When Britten learned of Raybould's opera in 1958, he commented, "Actually I didn't know that C. Raybould even composed. Don't let it worry us. But what a funny coincidence."''Letters from a Life Vol 1: 1923–39: Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten''
Raybould toured Britain as a pianist and accompanist and was musical advisor for the Columbia Graphophone Company
Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a managemen ...
between 1927 and 1931. He was the Director of the Senior Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music.
He joined the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
from 1939 to 1945. He conducted the first British concert performance of Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
's opera ''Cardillac
''Cardillac'', Op. 39, is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on characters from the short story ''Das Fräulein von Scuderi'' by E. T. A. Hoffmann.
Performance history
The first per ...
'' in 1936 as well as that of '' Mathis der Maler'' in 1939.
In 1943 Raybould was sent a score of Britten's ''Matinées Musicales'' by Erwin Stein
Erwin Stein (7 November 188519 July 1958) was an Austrian musician and writer, prominent as a pupil and friend of Schoenberg, with whom he studied between 1906 and 1910.
of Boosey and Hawkes in the hope that he would conduct it. Raybould, alluding to Britten's pacifism, replied saying that "the score is of no interest to me because of the composer's personal views and behaviour, I was going to say politically, but expand this to 'nationally'. I have the utmost contempt for the whole gang of young people who are dodging the country's call." Raybould later apologised to Britten for this "very angry and hot-headed communication".
On 9 May 1951, Raybould conducted the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...
in their first concert in the recently opened Royal Festival Hall.
Raybould became the first conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales
The National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW, cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Ieuenctid Cymru) is the national youth orchestra of Wales, based in Cardiff. Founded in 1945, it is the longest-standing national youth orchestra in the world.
Organisat ...
in 1945, and was its principal conductor until 1966.
1956 tour to Russia
AfterJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's death in 1953 when his successor Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
admitted "past mistakes", cultural exchange became a possibility, and selected Soviet artists such as David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh (; – 24 October 1974), was a Soviet classical violinist, violist and conductor.
Oistrakh collaborated with major orchestras and musicians from many parts of the world and was the dedicatee of numerous violin ...
began to appear in Britain. So when Sir Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor.
Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qu ...
, Master of the Queen's Music
Master of the King's Music (or Master of the Queen's Music, or earlier Master of the King's Musick) is a post in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. The holder of the post originally served the monarch of England, directing the court orche ...
, arranged for a representative group of six British musicians, including Raybould, to tour the USSR in 1956, it was a high-profile event: the result of painstaking negotiation and cause for intense curiosity on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
According to a carefully worded ''Times'' appraisal it was "not an official mission but the outcome, with official blessing, of a personal invitation" to Bliss. Khrushchev was himself involved in the tour, and the plan was to programme modern British music alongside its Soviet equivalent in the course of sixteen concerts over three weeks.
Leaving London on 14 April 1956, the delegates were confronted with the practical consequences of the cold war: no direct flights to Russia. They flew British European Airways
British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974.
BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...
to Copenhagen, then a Finnish flight to Helsinki, followed by another Finnish flight to Moscow.
Soprano Jennifer Vyvyan
Jennifer Vyvyan (13 March 1925 – 5 April 1974) was a British classical soprano who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and recitals from 1948 up until her death in 1974. She possessed a beautifully clear, steady voice with ...
's diary notes the "poor food" on the British European Airways flight and the gruelling length of the journey, which left her too ill and tired on arrival to do much except sleep for the next few days. But the Russians turned the arrival into a media event, with the composers Kabalevsky
Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky (russian: Дми́трий Бори́сович Кабале́вский ; 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent.
He helped set up the Union of Soviet C ...
and Khatchaturian and the pianist Tatyana Nikolayeva
Tatiana Petrovna Nikolayeva (russian: Татья́на Петро́вна Никола́ева, ''Tat'jana Petrovna Nikolajeva''; May 4, 1924November 22, 1993) was a pianist, composer, and teacher from the Soviet Union.
Life
Nikolayeva was born ...
welcoming the plane on its touchdown just before midnight. Every one of the sixteen concerts was sold out in advance, and the musicians found themselves instant celebrities, acknowledged in the street and pursued by journalists in their hotel rooms.
The programme started on 17 April with a public rehearsal of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra under Raybould, playing Bliss's Violin Concerto (with Alfredo Campoli
Alfredo Campoli (20 October 1906 – 27 March 1991) was an Italian-born British violinist, often known simply as Campoli. He was noted for the beauty of the tone he produced from the violin. Campoli spent his childhood and much of his career in E ...
), Arnold Cooke's Oboe Concerto (Leon Goossens
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
), some Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
, some Kabalevsky, and one of Vyvyan's standard arias: Mozart's "Martern aller Arten" from ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...
''. That evening Cyril Smith
Sir Cyril Richard Smith (28 June 1928 – 3 September 2010) was a prominent British politician who after his death was revealed to have been a prolific serial sex offender against children. A member of the Liberal Party, he was Member of ...
and Phyllis Sellick played Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
and Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. On 19 April Raybould conducted the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of Gordon Jacob
Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...
's oboe concerto with Leon Goossens
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
as soloist. The group also performed in Leningrad, Kiev and Kharkov, and returned to Moscow for a farewell concert attended by Khrushchev
Death
Raybould lived at Oakdale, East-the-Water, Bideford
Bideford ( ) is a historic port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is the main town of the Torridge local government district.
Toponymy
In ancient records Bideford is recorded as ''Bedeford'', ''By ...
in Devon, where he died in 1972, aged 86. He was survived by his second wife Evelyn (27 March 1907 – 10 August 1976). They are buried together in the churchyard of St Margaret's church in Northam.
Selected compositions
* ''The Sumida River'', opera (1916) * Score forPaul Rotha
Paul Rotha (3 June 1907 – 7 March 1984) was a British documentary film-maker, film historian and critic.
Early life and education
He was born Paul Thompson in London, and educated at Highgate School and at the Slade School of Fine Art.
Career ...
's ''Rising Tide and Contact'' (1933)
* ''Dance Serenade'', for cello and piano (1937)
* ''A Legend'', for cello and piano (1937)
* Three Pieces (Prelude, A Fairy Tale and Passepied) for piano solo (1938)
* ''Dorothy'', for six-part mixed voices (1948)
* ''The Wistful Shepherd'' for clarinet and piano
* Four Songs (''Merciles Beautie'', ''In the Red April'', ''Crepuscule'' and ''The Flower Girl'')
First performances
*Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
– ''King Arthur'' (1937), BBC Orch, 23 April 1937
* Ernest Bloch ''Les Poèmes de la Mer'', UK premiere, BBCSO, 22 October 1937
* Granville Bantock
Sir Granville Ransome Bantock (7 August 186816 October 1946) was a British composer of classical music.
Biography
Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was an eminent Scottish surgeon.Hadden, J. Cuthbert, 1913, ''Modern Music ...
– ''Five Ghazals of Hafiz with a prelude'' for baritone and orchestra, BBC Orch, 15 December 1937
* Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
– ''Kermesse canadienne'' (1939), BBCSO, 6 June 1940
* Philip Prosper Sainton – Symphonic Poem ''The Island'' (1939), BBC Orch, London, 5 June 1942
Recordings
* First complete recording ofPurcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest Eng ...
's ''Dido and Aeneas''. Clarence Raybould (conductor). Decca X101-7, 1936
* Mozart Concert Rondo in A, K386. Clarence Raybould (conductor) with Eileen Joyce
Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (died 25 March 1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years.
Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War I ...
(piano). 5 February 1936, Parlophone
* Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
''Sea Pictures'', excerpts. Clarence Raybould (conductor), Mary Jarred (contralto) and BBC Symphony Orchestra
* Fauré Vocalise-étude in E minor. Clarence Raybould (piano) with Leon Goossens
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
(oboe). Oboe Classics. CC2005.
* Bax Winter Legends, Viola Sonata, A Mountain Mood, A Hill Tune. Clarence Raybould (conductor) with Harriet Cohen
Harriet(t) may refer to:
* Harriet (name), a female name ''(includes list of people with the name)''
Places
* Harriet, Queensland, rural locality in Australia
* Harriet, Arkansas, unincorporated community in the United States
* Harriett, Texas, ...
(piano), William Primrose
William Primrose CBE (23 August 19041 May 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed i ...
(viola) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Dutton. CDBP9751.
* Mozart "Fra gli amplessi" from '' Così fan tutte''. Clarence Raybould (conductor) with Ina Souez (soprano) and Heddle Nash (tenor)
Notable broadcasts
*Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
''Alexander Nevsky'' – a play based on the film broadcast on BBC radio on 26 April 1942 with Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...
(Nevsky) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Theatre Chorus, Clarence Raybould, conductor
* Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C b ...
''Peace Fanfare for Children''. BBC SO/Clarence Raybould. BBC Home Service. Children's Hour, broadcast 8 May 1945 (VE Day).
References
External links
The Early 1940s Conductors – Stanford Robinson – Clarence Raybould – Julius Harrison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raybould, Clarence 1886 births 1972 deaths English classical composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) English classical pianists 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century British male musicians