Robert Still (10 June 1910 – 13 January 1971) was a wide-ranging English composer of

tonal music Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is cal ...

, who made strong use of dissonance.Still, Elizabeth. Biographical note to
Ismeron CD JMSCD 8
(2006) He produced four symphonies and four string quartets. As a songwriter he set words by

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

and Shelley.

Life

Still was born in London on 10 June 1910 into a family with a strong interest in music. He was a descendant of

John Still John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...

, bishop of Bath and Wells.Leach, Gerald. ''British Composer Profiles'' (3rd ed., 2012) p. 195 Still was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

(1923–29) and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

, where he graduated in History and French, and then in music. He had a younger brother who died aged 16 and a sister who emigrated to Australia. At school and at university Still developed a lifelong interest in racquet sports, including real tennis, in which he won a

university sporting blue A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of othe ...

. Both his father and grandfather were solicitors in a long-established London firm, and he had been intended for the law. He studied music at Oxford under Ernest Walker, Sir Hugh Allen and others (ancestor Peter Still had acted for George III), and then spent two years at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

under C. H. Kitson,

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 ...

and the organist Basil Allchin. He also studied under Wilfred Dunwell at Trinity College of Music (modern harmony and counterpoint) and later in life under

Hans Keller Hans (Heinrich) Keller (11 March 19196 November 1985) was an Austrian-born British musician and writer, who made significant contributions to musicology and music criticism, as well as being a commentator on such disparate fields as psychoana ...

. After Oxford, Still returned to Eton to teach music, moving on in 1938 to become conductor and arranger of the Ballet Trois Arts, a travelling company. Having refused a commission, he spent the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

first manning a searchlight in the Cotswolds and then with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

travelling orchestra, which he conducted. He married Elizabeth Westman in 1944 and they had four daughters. After the war, the couple moved to

Ampfield Ampfield is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Test Valley in Hampshire, England, between Romsey, Eastleigh, and Winchester. It had a population at the 2001 census of 1,474, increasing to 1,583 at the 2011 Census. Geography Ampfield ...

, Hampshire and in 1949 to Bucklebury, Berkshire, where he lived at Bucklebury Lodge,

Chapel Row Chapel Row is a hamlet in West Berkshire, England, and part of the civil parish of Bucklebury. In 2019 it had an estimated population of 627. History The hamlet was first documented in 1617 as ''Chapel Rewe'' and subsequently featured on Ro ...

. There he devoted himself to composition, working from a studio hut in the garden. Visitors there included Sir Eugene Goossens,

Edmund Rubbra Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...

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 ...

Heather Harper Heather Mary Harper (8 May 1930 – 22 April 2019) was a Northern Irish operatic soprano. She was active internationally in both opera and concert. She performed roles such as Helena in Benjamin Britten's '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the R ...

and

Myer Fredman Myer Fredman (29 January 1932 – 4 July 2014) was a United Kingdom, British-Australian Conducting, conductor. He studied at Dartington Hall and in London with Peter Gellhorn, Vilém Tauský, Sir Adrian Boult, and was assistant conductor to Otto ...

. While at Bucklebury Still composed ''The Ballad of the Bladebone Inn'', an orchestral overture inspired by the

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

close to his house. Describing a tale explaining the name and sign of the pub, the composition's debut performance was at the Royal Festival Hall on 23 October 1957. Stanley Bayliss of

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

described it as "duly bucolic" with "pleasant tunes", but said that it failed to send a "shiver down the spine." Much of his time in later life was spent giving free advice and lessons to students. His local friends included the composer Anthony Scott (1911-2000, Finzi's only pupil), painter and critic Adrian Stokes, the harpsichordist Michael Thomas (1922-1997) and Newbury Choral Society conductor and pianist John Russell. As well as music, Still also considered becoming a

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

lay psychoanalyst. This interest led him to form the London Imago Society in 1956, along with Adrian Stokes. An article by Still on the psychology of Gustav Mahler was published by The American Imago Society. Still presented a radio broadcast for the BBC on this subject in 1964. He also sat on a selection board for Berkshire Education Authority and advised prospective students over a period of 15 years. Still died of a heart attack on 13 January 1971, having just been elected to the Executive Committee of the Composer's Guild. In an obituary, ''The Musical Times'' wrote of him as "a song writer of genuine lyrical impulse hoset words by

and Shelley; he was also a symphonist, in a conservative vein." His widow Elizabeth died in 2008.

Music

Still's composition remained predominantly tonal, but with strong use of dissonance. Early in his career he wrote songs and a since-lost light opera for the

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Operatic Society, for which he was the conductor while still teaching at Eton. His compositions came to include many other songs, four symphonies, violin and piano concertos, four string quartets and other chamber music, three piano sonatas and an opera. In the mid-1950s,

Argo Records Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records. Originally the label was called Marterry, but bandleader Ralph Marterie objected, and within a couple of months the imprint was renamed Arg ...

recorded a number of his chamber works, including the Quintet for three flutes, violin & cello and the Viola Sonata No 2. His Third Symphony (1960) was submitted to the University of Oxford in 1963, after being championed by Sir Eugene Goossens, the conductor. This earned him an Oxford doctorate in music. Goossens recorded the Symphony in 1966. The single movement Symphony No 4 was composed in 1964 and also recorded, conducted by Myer Fredman. The four string quartets were recorded by the Villiers Quartet in 2013-14. They show a stylist journey from the pre-classical and folk-song models of the first two (only Number 1 was performed during the composer's lifetime and was premiered in 1948), to the "without key" polytonality of the second two, which date from the 1960s and show the influence of Bartok and Schoenberg, and of Hans Keller, whose advice Still sought out at this period. Following his death in 1971 his work was neglected. The BBC broadcast his Concerto for String Orchestra in 1979 and his ''Elegie'' for baritone, chorus and orchestra in 1990. (The ''Elegie'', originally written for the Newbury Choral Society, is a setting of

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

's poem 'A Summer Night'). A number of earlier recordings from the 1960s and 1970s were revived for his centenary in 2010. The "fearsomely difficult" Violin Concerto was revived on 18 May 2013 in Ealing, London. An archive is held at the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts in

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

.The contents of a folder of British Music Society records of Still
British Music Society Records: Section V, Robert Still Archive Vol. 2 (1948-95)
/ref>

Selected works

Orchestral

* Symphony No 1 in C (1954) * ''The Ballad of Bladebourne Inn'', overture (1956) * Symphony No 2 (1956) * Symphony No 3 in C major (1960) * Concerto for Strings (1964) * Symphony No 4 (Sinfonia) (1964) * Violin Concerto (1969) * Piano Concerto (1970)

Choral

* ''Elegy'' (also ''Elegie'') for baritone, chorus and orchestra (1963-4)

Opera

* ''Oedipus'', libretto Adrian Stokes (1950s)

Chamber music

* String Quartet No 1 in A minor (1948) * String Quartet No 2 in D major * String Quartet No 3, "without key" (1960s) * String Quartet No 4, "without key" (1960s) * Cello Sonata in D minor * Clarinet Quintet * Oboe Quartet * Oboe Sonatina * Piano Quintet in F major * Quintet for three flutes, violin and cello * Trio in D minor for flute, cello and piano * Trio in A for clarinet, violin and piano (fp 1964) * Viola Sonata No 2 * Viola Sonata No 2 * Violin Sonata

Piano

* Piano Sonata No 1 in B major (fp 1969) * Piano Sonata No 2 in G major * Piano Sonata No 3 in C (fp 1971)

Songs

* ''August'' ( Masefield) * ''Awaiting Execution'' ( Chidiock Tichbourne) * ''Beauty Bathing'' ( Munday) * ''The Kingfisher'' ( W H Davies) * ''Ode to a Skylark'' ( Shelley) * ''Shall I, wasting in despair?'' ( George Wither) * ''Song of Pain and Beauty'' ( Gurney) * ''The Song of the Sirens'' ( Thomas Browne) * ''Sonnet'' (

) * ''Sunset on the Morea'' (

) * ''The sea hath many thousand sands'' (Anon.) * ''To Julia'' ( Herrick) * ''Upon Julia's Clothes (Herrick) * ''When I am dead, my dearest'' ( C. Rossetti)

Notes

References

External links

Still's setting of the Lord's Prayer
* ttps://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/sites/default/files/bms_archive.pdf Robert Still archive, British Music Society catalogue
Violin Concerto, third movement
Efi Christodoulou, Ealing Symphony Orchestra, cond. John Gibbons {{DEFAULTSORT:Still, Robert 20th-century classical composers English classical composers English opera composers Male opera composers English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford People educated at Eton College Musicians from London People from Bucklebury 1910 births 1971 deaths Military personnel from London 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century English composers English male classical composers 20th-century British male musicians British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery personnel