The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
by the émigré composer
Francis Chagrin
Francis Chagrin (born Alexander Paucker, 15 November 1905 – 10 November 1972), was a composer of film scores and popular orchestral music, as well as a conductor. He was also the "organizer and chief moving spirit" who founded the Society for ...
, to promote the creation and performance of new music in the UK by young and unestablished composers.
[Carner, Mosco]
''The Committee for the Promotion of New Music''
in ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 86, No. 1232 (October, 1945), pp. 297-299 Since 1993 it has awarded the annual Francis Chagrin Award and the
Butterworth Prize for Composition. In 2008, it merged with three other networks to form
Sound and Music.
History
The Committee for the Promotion of New Music was a membership organization which sought to find the best new composers and to help support their careers, especially in the UK.
[Payne, Anthony]
'Society for the Promotion of New Music'
in ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press Francis Chagrin has been described as the Committee's "organizer and chief moving spirit".
[ Fellow émigré composer ]Benjamin Frankel
Benjamin Frankel (31 January 190612 February 1973) was a British composer. His best known pieces include a cycle of five string quartets, eight symphonies, and concertos for violin and viola. He was also notable for writing over 100 film scores ...
said that by establishing it he "gave many composers (not only the young ones) their first opportunity of a hearing: he had travelled abroad as our representative, had battled with publishers and spoken passionately on the question of performing rights. He had, in fact, become the first person to whom we turned when composer's problems arose".
Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...
and Roy Douglas
Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Richard Addinsell, made well-known orchestrations of works suc ...
were also among the founding members of the Committee.[Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2012]
/ref> 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 ...
agreed to become president with the proviso that it "avoid all cliques ndgive a welcome to all good work in whatever style or school".[ Arthur Bliss was appointed as vice-president, and ]Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
and Michael Tippett served on the Committee. Its initial activities were subsidized by the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
and by private donations from Vaughan Williams and Bliss among others, and remained the basis for much of its subsequent work: "recommended lists" of works were drawn up, which resulted in increased broadcasting by the BBC and in several recordings, issued in the 1940s on 78rpm discs by Decca Decca may refer to:
Music
* Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label
* Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group
* Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label
* Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...
.Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by Benjamin Britten.
The ...
. It had commissioned a new piece from Francis Chagrin to mark the event but he was ill and unable to complete the work. Chagrin died on 10 November 1972. At his request, his ''Lamento appassionato'' for string orchestra was played instead. This was one of the few times his own work was ever performed at an SPNM event. The Francis Chagrin Fund for Young Composers was established in his memory in 1973 and continues today.Francis Chagrin Award
/ref> From 1993 onward SPNM awarded the annual Butterworth Prize for Composition.['News Section', in: ''Tempo'', No. 186 (Sep., 1993), p. 63]
In its first 50 years, some 9,000 scores were submitted to the SPNM, resulting in 850 composers being represented in its concerts.[ On 1 October 2008, the SPNM merged with the British Music Information Centre (BMIC), the Contemporary Music Network and the ]Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. Its honorary ...
, forming a new organisation to promote contemporary music in the UK called Sound and Music.[
]
References
{{Reflist
Music organisations based in the United Kingdom
Contemporary music organizations
1943 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 1943