Peter Aston (5 October 1938 – 13 September 2013) was an English composer, academic and conductor best known for his choral works.Profile
University of East Anglia Born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, he studied at

Birmingham School of Music The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly re ...

and the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

. In 1964, he became a lecturer in music in the University of York and in 1974 he was appointed professor of music in the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, where he subsequently became Emeritus Professor of composition. Although best known for his liturgical choral works, his output included chamber works for voices and instruments, choral and orchestral works and an opera for children.Chester Novello profile
/ref> He is probably best known for his Communion and

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "

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magnifies

he Lord He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...

and

Nunc Dimittis The Nunc dimittis (), also known as the Song of Simeon or the Canticle of Simeon, is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate ...

settings in F. He founded the Norwich Festival of Contemporary Church Music and he was a Lay Canon of

Norwich Cathedral Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites. The cathedral ...

. For fourteen years he was the conductor of the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

Singers. He was also involved with the

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Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra. He was an editor of Baroque music and founded the Tudor Consort and the English Baroque Ensembles. Aston and John Paynter co-authored the book ''Sound and Silence'', published in 1970.

References

1938 births 2013 deaths English composers Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands Academics of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of York Alumni of the University of York Alumni of Birmingham Conservatoire {{UK-composer-stub