Arnold Atkinson Cooke (4 November 1906 – 13 August 2005) was a British composer.
[Biography by Eric Wetherell, British Music Society]
/ref>
Education
Cooke was born at Gomersal
Gomersal is a town in Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, east of Cleckheaton and north of Heckmondwike. It is close to the River Spen and forms part of the Heavy Woollen District.
History
Gomersal was attested i ...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, into a family of carpet manufacturers. As a child, Cooke learned to play the piano, and later the cello, and began composing by the age of 7 or 8. He was educated at Streete Preparatory School, Repton School
Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, independent, day and boarding school in the English public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England.
Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school whi ...
and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
, where he read History, taking Part 1 of his Tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
in 1927, earning his B.A. He changed to read music with his composition teacher E. J. Dent.[Wetherell, Eric. 'Cooke, Arnold (Atkinson)' in ''Grove Music Online'', 2001]
/ref> At Cambridge, Cooke continued to play the cello in the CUMS orchestra and in a string quartet. He was President of the Cambridge Musical Society from 1927 to 1928.
In 1929, he gained his Music degree and went to Berlin where he studied composition and piano at the Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research universit ...
under Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...
. Hindemith's composition class also included Harald Genzmer, Oskar Sala
Oskar Sala (18 July 1910 – 26 February 2002) was a German composer and a pioneer of electronic music. He played an instrument called the Trautonium, an early form of electronic synthesizer.
Early life
Sala was born in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany ...
and Franz Reizenstein
Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he succ ...
, the latter remained a lifelong friend and kept Cooke's Piano Concerto in his repertoire.
He later became Musical Director of the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and in 1933 was appointed a professor at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now merged into the Royal Northern College of Music). In 1948, through the recommendation of E. J. Dent, he obtained a doctorate from Cambridge, submitting as his composition portfolio his Symphony no. 1 (1946–47), Piano Concerto (1939-40) and Sonata for viola and piano (1936–37).
Career
Cooke moved to London in 1938 to further his career. In the 1930s, he carved out a reputation for himself as a promising young composer, and his music was taken up by leading interpreters. The harpist Maria Korchinska introduced his ''Harp Quintet'' in 1932; Sir Henry Wood
Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...
conducted his ''Concert Overture No.1'' at the 1934 Promenade Concerts
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 ...
and 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 ...
premiered his String Quartet no. 1 in 1935. In 1936 Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-known ...
singled out for praise a cantata, ''Holderneth'', a setting of a text by the American poet Edward Sweeney.[
]Louis Kentner
Louis Philip Kentner (19 July 190523 September 1987) was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire.
Life and career
He was born Lajos Kentner in Karwin in Austrian S ...
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
premiered his Piano Concerto in 1943,
which he had completed just before his call-up in 1941. The concerto had been commissioned by the South African pianist Adolph Hallis in 1939 but the outbreak of WWII meant that Hallis had to return to South Africa. Kentner gave the first performance in a BBC studio broadcast on 11 November 1943. The work received subsequent broadcast performances from Franz Reizenstein with the BBC Northern Orchestra under Clarence Raybould
Robert Clarence Raybould (28 June 1886 – 27 March 1972) was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan to the standard classical repertoire. He also cham ...
in 1952 and Eric Parkin with the BBC Northern Orchestra under Brian Priestman in 1972.
During 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 ...
, he served in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, first in the aircraft carrier HMS ''Victorious'', and subsequently as a liaison officer in a Norwegian escort vessel and a Dutch tug that took part in the D-Day Landings. After demobilisation he returned to London in 1946, becoming a founder member of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain. From 1947 until his retirement in 1978, he was Professor of Harmony and Composition at Trinity College of Music in London. After a stroke in 1993, he virtually ceased to compose, but lived to the age of 98, dying at his nursing home in Five Oak Green
Five Oak Green is a village near Tonbridge, Kent in the Civil Parish of Capel.
The village was a centre for hop growing. In the 19th century, The Rose and Crown public house was converted to a hospital to treat the many hop pickers who resided ...
in Kent in 2005.[
]
Music
As a composer Cooke was highly productive and tended to work in traditional genres. He wrote two operas – ''Mary Barton'' (completed 1954) after the novel by Mrs. Gaskell and ''The Invisible Duke'' (1976). Neither has yet received a performance. The ballet ''Jabez and the Devil'' (1961) was a commission from the Royal Ballet. He composed six symphonies, several concertos, copious chamber music including a clarinet quintet, five string quartets, many instrumental sonatas, and some important vocal music. His early music follows an English tradition with traces of Elgar, John Ireland and others, but this changes drastically from the time of Cooke's study with Hindemith. The music of the 1930s is far more stark, overtly contrapuntal and dissonant, but by 1937 is settling into a style which would essentially remain with him for most of his life. If the mature music shows the influence of Hindemith, Bartók and Shostakovich, it is also leavened with a more English sense of lyricism, whilst the shadow of Brahms is also present.[
Recordings of four of his six symphonies (Nos 1, 3, 4 and 5) along with other orchestral works have been issued on the ]Lyrita
Lyrita is a British classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.
Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard ...
label, whilst the Clarinet Quintet and the Clarinet Concerto No. 1 were recorded on Hyperion. The Pleyel Ensemble and MPR Records has issued a series of four CDs of chamber music recordings, the fourth of which was issued in September 2020. Most of the works are recorded for the first time. There are currently no recordings of the string quartets. The sixth symphony finally received its first broadcast performance at the BBC studios in Salford on 7 September 2016, 32 years after it was completed.
Selected works
Opera
* ''Mary Barton'', op.27 (1949–1954)
* ''The Invisible Duke'' (1976)
Ballet
* ''Jabez and the Devil'', op.50 (1959) (Concert Suite: 1961)[
]
Vocal and choral works
* ''Holderneth'', Cantata (1933–34)
* ''Nocturnes'', 5 Songs for soprano, horn and piano (1956)[
* ''Songs of Innocence'' for soprano, clarinet and piano (1957)][
* ''O Men from the Fields'' for unison voices (1961)
* ''Ode on St Cecilia’s Day'' for soli, chorus and orchestra, op.57 (1964)
* ''The Seamew'' for voice, flute, oboe and string quartet (1980)
* ''Five Songs of William Blake'' for baritone, treble recorder and piano (1987)
]
Orchestral music
* Concert Overture no. 1 (1934)
* ''Passacaglia, Scherzo and Finale'' for string orchestra (1937)
* Piano Concerto, op.11 (1940)
* Four Shakespeare Sonnets for Soprano and string orchestra (1941)
* Song for Tenor and small orchestra (1945)
* Concert Overture no. 2, ''Processional'' (1945)
* Symphony No.1 (1947)[Lyrita SRCD 203]
/ref>
* Concerto in D major for string orchestra (1948)[
* ''Prelude and Interlude'' from ''Mary Barton'' (1954?)
* Concerto for Oboe and string orchestra (1954)
* Clarinet Concerto No.1 (1956)
* Concerto for Treble Recorder and string orchestra (1957)
* Violin Concerto (1958)
* ''Divertimento'' for Treble Recorder and string orchestra (1959)
* Concerto for small orchestra, op.48 (1960)
* Concert Suite from ''Jabez and the Devil'' (1961)
* Symphony No.2 (1963)
* ''Variations on a Theme of Dufay'', ''Ce Moi de May''(1966)
* Symphony No.3 (1967)
* ''York Suite'' for Recorders, string orchestra, timpani and percussion (1972)
* Cello Concerto (1973)
* Symphony No.4 (1974)
* Symphony No.5 (1979)
* Clarinet Concerto No.2 (1982)
* Symphony No.6 (1983-1984)
* ''Repton Fantasia'' (1984)
* Concerto for Orchestra (1986)
]
Chamber music
* Octet for string quartet and woodwind, op.1 (1931)
* Suite for brass sextet (1931)
* Harp Quintet, op.2 (1932)
* String Quartet no. 1 (1933)
* Duo for Violin and Viola (1935, published A-AMP)[
* Flute Quartet (1936)][
* Sonata for Viola and Piano (1936–1937)]
/ref>
* Sonata for Two Pianos (1937, published OUP)[
* Sonata no.1 in G for Violin and Piano (1939, published OUP)]
Complete Violin Sonatas
', MPR103
Piano Trio, Quartet and Quintet
', MPR105[
* String Quartet no. 2 (1947)
* Quartet for Oboe and String Trio (1948, published Novello)][
* Quartet for Piano and String Trio (1948-1949)][
* String Trio (1950)
* Rondo in B flat for Horn and Piano (1950)][
* Sonata No.2 in A for Violin and Piano (1951, published Novello)][
* ''Sinfonietta'' for 11 Instruments, op.31 (1954)
* ''Arioso and Scherzo'' for Horn and Strings (1955)
* Sonatina for flute and Piano (1956 rev. 1961)
* Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1957, published Novello)]
Complete music for oboe and Sonata for Two Pianos
', MPR108
Hyperion CDH55105
* Sonata for Oboe and Harpsichord (1962)[
* Quartet for Flute, Clarinet, Cello and Piano, D93 (1964)][
* ''Quartet-Sonata'' for Recorder, Violin, Cello and Harpsichord (1964–1965)
* Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, D98 (1965)]
Chamber music for flute, clarinet, violoncello and piano
', MPR109[
* Quintet for Piano and String Quartet (1969)][
* Sonata for Solo Violin (1969, published Edition Peters)][
* Quartet for Recorders (1970)
* Trio for Recorders (1970)
* Sonata for Harmonica and Piano (1970)
* Septet for Clarinets (1971)
* Septet for Wind and Strings (alternative to the above) (1971)
* ''Suite in C'' for Recorder Trio and Harpsichord (1972)
* Sonatina for Recorder Trio (1972)
* ''Divertimento'' for Flute, Oboe, Violin, Cello and Piano (1974)
* ''Divertimento'' for Descant Recorder, Treble Recorder, Violin, Cello and Harpsichord (alternative to the above) (1974)
* ''Variations on Two Christmas Carols'' for Recorder Trio (1975)
* String Quartet no. 4 (1976)
* ''Six Pieces'' for Treble and Tenor Recorders (1976)
* ''Concertante Quartet'' for Clarinets (1977)
* Quartet no. 2 for Recorders (1977)
* String Quartet no. 5 in one movement (1978)
* ''Suite'' for three Viols (1978-1979)
* Prelude and Dance for Clarinet and Piano, D142 (1979)][
* Sonata No.2 for Cello and Piano (1980)][
* ''Pieces'' for three Recorders (1981)
* ''Suite no. 2'' for Recorder Quartet (1983)
* Trio for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon (1984)
* ''Capriccio'' for Recorder and Piano (1985)
* Sonatina for Alto Flute and Piano, D156 (1985)][
* ''Arietta'' for Soprano Recorder and Piano (1986)
* Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (1987)
* ''Intermezzo'' for Oboe and Piano (1987)
* Sonata for Flute and Harp (1988)
]
Piano, Organ and Harpsichord music
* ''Three Pieces'' for Piano (Ostinato, Intermezzo and Capriccio) (1935)
* Sonata for 2 Pianos, op.8 (1936–37)
* Piano Sonata No.1 (1938)[''Arnold Cooke: Chamber Music'']
Dutton CDLX7247
* ''Suite'' in C major for Piano (1943, rev. 1963)
* ''Scherzo'' for Piano (1957)
* ''Dance of the Puppets'' and ''Pastorale'' for Piano (1957)
* ''Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale'' for Organ (1962)
* ''Postlude'' for Organ (1962-1964)
* ''Fantasia'' for Organ (1964)
* ''Toccata and Aria'' for Organ (1966)
* ''Impromptu for Organ'' (1966)
* ''Fugal Adventures'' for Organ (1967)
* Piano Sonata No.2 (1965)[
* ''Intermezzo and Capriccio'' for Harpsichord (1970-1971)
* Sonata no. 1 in G for Organ (1971)
* ''Suite no. 2'' for Piano (1975)
* ''Interlude'' for Organ manual (1976)
* Sonata no. 2 for Organ (1980)
* ''Suite no. 3'' for Piano (1982)
* ''Arietta'' for Piano (1986)
* ''Tudeley Prelude'' for Organ (1989)
* ''Suite in G'' for Organ (1989)
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Arnold
1906 births
2005 deaths
20th-century classical composers
English classical composers
Neoclassical composers
English opera composers
Male opera composers
British ballet composers
People from Gomersal
People educated at Repton School
Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Royal Navy personnel of World War II
Pupils of Paul Hindemith
English male classical composers
20th-century English composers
20th-century British male musicians
20th-century British composers