David Moule-Evans (21 November 1905 – 18 May 1988) was an English composer, conductor and academic. Moule-Evans was born in Ashford, Kent, and was educated at the

Judd School The Judd School (often known simply as Judd) is a voluntary aided grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, England. It was established in 1888 at Stafford House on East Street in Tonbridge, where it remained for eight years before moving to its present ...

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

before studying at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

in London with

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

and

Herbert Howells Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music. Life Background and early education Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...

.Hurd, Michael. ''David Moule-Evans'', in Grove Music Online, 2001
/ref> While at the Royal College he became friendly with his contemporary

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

, beating him to gain the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1928 and continuing studies at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

.''Who Was Who'' (OUP), online entry (2007)
/ref> Tippett asked him to conduct the first full concert of his own music at the Barn Theatre in

Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is south south-east of Croydon in Greater London, west of Sevenoaks in Kent, and north of East Grinstead in West Sussex. Oxte ...

on 5 April 1930. From 1945 to 1974 Moule-Evans returned to the RCM to teach harmony, counterpoint and composition. As a composer Moule-Evans has been largely forgotten today, but during his lifetime he achieved a measure of success. His Concerto for String Orchestra won the Carnegie British Music award in 1928. The ''Dance Suite'', scored for full orchestra with piano, five percussion players and timpani, was completed in December 1930 and received its first performance at a Royal College of Music Patrons' Fund Concert in March, 1931. He was one of several composer contributors (alongside

Ralph 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 ...

, William Cole, Julian Gardiner and John Tilehurst) to the 1938

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp Br ...

pageant play ''England's Pleasant Land'', written by

E.M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly '' A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stor ...

. His Symphony in G (1944) was the controversial £1,000 prizewinner of the Australian International Jubilee Symphony Competition of 1951 with ''The Musical Times'' and others claiming that the runner up, a symphony by Robert Hughes, was "definitely superior". (Malcolm Sargent revived the work in the UK for a

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

performance by 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 orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

in 1952, but to mixed reviews, the ''Musical Times'' dismissing it as "conventional, banal and boring"). The orchestral poem ''September Dusk'' was premiered at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

on 25 August 1945. Moule-Evans mostly wrote in a popular, straightforward "light music" style, although the composer Michael Hurd has commented that his later chamber works, including the Violin Sonata in F-sharp minor (1956) and the Piano Sonata (1966) are more adventurous in style. The only music currently available in recorded form are the soundtracks to a series of

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

documentary films commissioned by

Muir Mathieson James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films. Career Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...

, including ''Health of a Nation'' and ''London 1942''. Moule-Evans married Monica Warden Evans in March 1935 and the couple lived at Claremont, 10 Rose Hill, Dorking in Surrey. They later moved to Merry Down, Harrow Road West, Dorking. Illness cut short his composing career from 1968, although he continued to teach until his death in 1988. His archive and manuscripts are housed in the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

Selected works

Orchestral * 1926 Rhapsody No 2 * 1928 Concerto for String Orchestra * 1930 ''Dance Suite'' * 1935 ''Cliff Castle'', symphonic poem * 1935 ''Polka'' for Cello and Orchestra (dedicated to cellist Maurice Hardy) * 1938 ''Divertimento for strings'' (first performance, Bristol 1939 under Reginald Redman) * 1942 ''The Spirit of London'', overture * 1943 ''September Dusk'', symphonic poem * 1944 Symphony in G Major (awarded 1st prize at the Australian Jubilee Competition) * 1948 ''Vienna Rhapsody'', waltz * 1949 ''The Haunted Place'', miniature for string orchestra * 1951 ''Old Tupper's Dance'' * 1952 ''Sussex Downs'', suite for small orchestra Choral and Vocal * 1945 ''Two Celtic Songs'', soprano and piano (text:

Fiona Macleod William Sharp (12 September 1855 – 12 December 1905) was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. He was also an editor ...

) (published Stainer & Bell) * 1947 ''Duncton Hill'', unaccompanied part song for mixed choir (text:

Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. H ...

) (published Joseph Williams) * 1948 ''The Ploughboy in Luck'', two part song * 1949 ''Bed in Summer'', ''Hayloft'', ''The Swing'', songs (text: R.L Stevenson) * 1949 ''O Mistress Mine'', two part song (published Stainer & Bell) * 1951 ''My Own Country'' and ''Twelfth Night'', songs for middle voice and piano (text: Hilaire Belloc) * 1951 ''Twilight'', song for middle voice and piano (text:

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer, and Poet Laureate from 1930 until 1967. Among his best known works are the children's novels ''The Midnight Folk'' and ''The Box of Delights'', and the poem ...

) Chamber music * 1925 Sonata in E major for violin and piano * 1938 ''Moto perpetuo'' for viola and piano * 1956 Sonata in F sharp minor for violin and piano * 1966 Piano Sonata * Trio for flute, oboe and piano (dedicated to The Sylvan Trio) Film music * 1942 ''London, 1942'' * 1943 ''Health of a Nation'' * 1945 ''Make Fruitful the Land''British Council, ''Make Fruitful the Land'' (1945)
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moule-Evans, David 1905 births 1988 deaths English composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Alumni of the Royal College of Music