Richard Jeremy Drakeford (5 November 1936 – 12 November 2009) 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 ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

. Born in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

( London), Drakeford became a composition pupil of Herbert Howells and Edmund Rubbra and studied at

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...

, where he was the Organ Scholar between 1955 and 1958. He was one of the founders, in 1961, of the Little Missenden usicFestival and acted as its Music Advisor until his death. Several of his compositions were published by

Novello Novello may refer to: Places * Novello, Piedmont, a ''comune'' in the Province of Cuneo, Italy * Novello Theatre, a theatre in the City of Westminster, London, England People Given name * Clara Novello Davies (1861–1943), Welsh singer, named af ...

. He was also active as a music teacher and critic, writing for several publications including The Musical Times. He taught music at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

between 1961 and 1985, serving as the school's Director of Music from 1976.Harrow School Register 2002 8th edition edited by S W Bellringer & published by The Harrow Association His output includes three string trios (1957, 1959, 1960, rev.1993); two string quartets (1959, 1961–90); several piano works ('A Handful of Pleasant Delights' 1955; Hors d'Oeuvre', 1955–61; Blue Notes, 1961); Trio for 3 oboes (1957) Suite No.2 for solo cello (1957–59), Oboe Quartet (1959); an opera 'The Sely Child' (1982) and several sets of songs ('Three Nonsense Songs' 1960; Four Auden Songs' 1967–69; 'Six Songs in Memory of Benjamin Britten', 1977; 'Robert Graves Songs', 1979).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drakeford, Richard 1936 births 2009 deaths British classical composers British classical organists British male organists British music educators Teachers at Harrow School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians Male classical organists