John Martin Dalby (25 April 1942 – 25 October 2018) was a Scottish composer and music administrator. He was Head of Music at

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

from 1972 to 1991.

Early life and career

Dalby was born in 1942 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

; his father John Dalby was responsible for the city's music education system, and organist of

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral usually called Old Machar (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Machar), (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the c ...

. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, and won a scholarship to 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, where he studied viola with

Frederick Riddle Frederick Craig Riddle OBE (20 April 19125 February 1995) was a British violist. He was considered to be in the line from Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, through to the violists of today such as Lawrence Power. Early life and career Frederic ...

and compositions with

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 ...

."Obituary: Martin Dalby, producer – and talented composer – who put BBC SSO at centre of Scottish musical life"
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', 12 November 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018. With a Sir James Caird travelling scholarship, he lived for two years in Italy, where he studied composition with

Goffredo Petrassi Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). ...

, and played viola in a chamber orchestra."Martin Dalby"
Scottish Music Centre. Retrieved 6 December 2018. In 1965 he became a music producer to the BBC's Music Programme (later Radio 3) in London, where he worked with Hans Keller, Robert Simpson and

Deryck Cooke Deryck Cooke (14 September 1919 – 26 October 1976) was a British musician, musicologist, broadcaster and Gustav Mahler expert. Life Cooke was born in Leicester to a poor, working-class family; his father died when he was a child, but his mother ...

. In 1971 he was appointed Cramb Research Fellow in Composition at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

BBC Scotland

In 1972 he was appointed Head of Music at

. He was much involved with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, programming concerts, selecting solosts and arranging visits."Martin Dalby, long-serving head of music at BBC Scotland, composer and leading light of Scottish classical music – obituary"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 6 November 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018. In 1980 the BBC proposed the disbandment of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (and other BBC orchestras); Dalby, risking his job, campaigned to save the orchestra, and it survived. He supported the

St Magnus Festival The St Magnus International Festival is an annual, week-long arts festival which takes place at midsummer on the islands of Orkney, off the north coast of mainland Scotland. History and management The festival was founded in 1977 by a group inc ...

in Orkney, so that in its early years concerts were broadcast. With

John Purser John Purser (born 1942) is a Scottish composer, musicologist, and music historian. He is also a playwright.cover notes from ''Scotland's Music'' CD Purser was born in Glasgow. He initiated the reconstruction that commenced in 1991 of the Iron ...

, Dalby worked on a 30-part radio series ''Scotland's Music'', which won a Sony Gold Award. He remained as Head of Music until 1991, and retired from the BBC in 1993. He continued to compose, and from 1995 to 1998 he was chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain. In 1984 Dalby married Hilary Belcher, a violinist; there were no children.

Compositions

Dalby composed music for orchestra, chamber music, music for the church, works for choir, brass band and wind band, and music for film, radio and television. Many of his works were commissions. Compositions include a Viola Concerto, performed at the Proms in 1974 with soloist Frederick Riddle; ''The Mary Bean'', written for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and performed at the Proms; ''The White Maa'', written for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra to celebrate 200 years of Union Street, Aberdeen; and a String Quartet to celebrate 500 years of the University of Aberdeen.

References

External links

*
Compositions by Martin Dalby
at British Music Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalby, Martin 1942 births 2018 deaths Musicians from Aberdeen Alumni of the Royal College of Music Scottish classical composers BBC executives