Minna Keal
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Minna Keal, ''née'' Mina Nerenstein (22 March 1909 – 14 November 1999) was a British
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...
. After early compositions as a student, she only returned to composing at the end of her life. Aged 80 when her music was first performed at the Proms in 1989, she experienced her return to composition as a new life:


Life

Mina Nerenstein was born in the
East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
, the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants from
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
who ran a
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
bookselling business in
Petticoat Lane Petticoat Lane Market is a fashion and clothing market in Spitalfields, London. It consists of two adjacent street markets. Wentworth Street Market is open six days a week and Middlesex Street Market is open on Sunday only. The modern market ...
. Her father died in 1926. In 1928 she entered the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
, studying composition with
William Alwyn William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher. Life and music William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...
. Student compositions included
chamber works Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
performed at the Academy,
Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...
and
Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...
. According to her obituary, she had a promising start to a musical career. Among her student works which have survived are a ''Fantasie'' in C minor for violin and piano, a ''Ballade'' in F minor for viola and piano (first performed in 1929 by Philip Burton of the
Griller Quartet The Griller String Quartet was a British musical ensemble particularly active from 1931 to c.1961 or 1963, when it was disbanded. The quartet was in residence at the University of California at Berkeley from 1949 to 1961. It performed a wide repert ...
) and ''Three Summer Sketches'' for piano. These early works are particularly passionate and full of rich harmonies and vibrant melodies. In 1929, aged 20, she was forced to give up her musical study to help her mother in the family business. She married Barnett Samuel, a solicitor, had a son,
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of works by Raphael, His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of ...
(later a well-known
Marxist historian Marxist historiography, or historical materialist historiography, is an influential school of historiography. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography include the centrality of social class, social relations of production in class-divided so ...
), and gave up composing. During the 1930s she was active in left-wing politics, and joined the
British Communist Party The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
in 1939. When the
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
occurred, she began working with local citizenry to help evacuate Jewish children who were being transported to Britain from Nazi occupied territories. On the break-up of her first marriage during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Mina worked in an aircraft factory near
Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
. There, she met Bill Keal, and they eventually married in 1959. In 1975Interview with Michael Hall, BBC Radio 3, 4 September 1989 the composer
Justin Connolly Justin Riveagh Connolly (11 August 1933 – 29 September 2020) was a British composer and teacher. Life Justin Connolly was born on 11 August 1933 in London. He was the son of John D'Arcy-Dawson, a journalist and author, and his wife Bar ...
, having stumbled across some of Keal's youthful music archived at the Royal Academy of Music, encouraged her to start composing again, and she took composition lessons with him. Her String Quartet, Op. 1, was completed in 1978 and first performed in 1989. The Wind Quintet, Op. 2, followed in 1980. After taking lessons with
Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer and conductor. Early life Oliver Knussen was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, Stuart Knussen, was principal double bass of the London Symphony Orchestra, and a ...
in 1982, she completed her four-movement Symphony, Op. 3, which was performed as a
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. ...
...
broadcast in 1988 and 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 ...
in 1989. ''Cantillation'' for violin and orchestra, Op. 4, was completed in 1988 and first performed in 1991. Between 1988 and 1994 she worked on the Cello Concerto, Op. 5, which was subsequently recorded by
Alexander Baillie Alexander Baillie (born 6 January 1956) is an English cellist, recognised internationally as one of the finest of his generation. He is currently professor of cello at the Bremen Hochschule and previously taught at Birmingham Conservatoire, as ...
and the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...
under
Martyn Brabbins Martyn Charles Brabbins (born 13 August 1959) is a British conductor. The fourth of five children in his family, he learned to play the euphonium, and then the trombone during his youth at Towcester Studio Brass Band. He later studied compositi ...
for the NMC label. On the same record is her Ballade (1929) for cello and piano, in which Alexander Baillie is accompanied by pianist
Martina Baillie Martina may refer to: People * Martina (given name), a female form of Martin, including a list of people with the given name Martina * Martina (surname), a surname found in Italy and Curaçao * Martina (empress), the second Empress consort of t ...
. In 1999, "the Royal Academy of Music honoured its former pupil with a 90th birthday concert packed with friends and colleagues celebrating the composer who proved that you're never too old to make an impact." She died on 14 November 1999.


References


External links


MusicWeb biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keal, Minna 1909 births 1999 deaths British classical composers English people of Belarusian-Jewish descent English people of Russian-Jewish descent Women classical composers Jewish English musicians 20th-century classical composers British communists Musicians from London Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century English musicians 20th-century English women musicians 20th-century British composers 20th-century women composers