Elizabeth Poston
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Elizabeth Poston (24 October 1905 – 18 March 1987) was an English composer, pianist and writer.


Early life and career

Poston was born in Highfield House in Pin Green, which is now the site of Hampson Park in Stevenage. In 1914, she moved with her mother, Clementine Poston, to nearby
Rooks Nest House Rooks Nest House is a house on Weston Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. It was the childhood home of the author E. M. Forster (1879–1970) who described it in the novel ''Howards End''. It is Grade I listed for its historical interest and literary a ...
, where
E. M. Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...
had lived as a child. Poston and Forster subsequently became good friends. After attending
Queen Margaret's School, York Queen Margaret's, York is an independent boarding school and day school for girls age 11–18 in Escrick Park near York, England. The school was named after Queen Margaret, the Queen of Scotland from 1070 to 1093. History Queen Margaret's wa ...
and studying with pianist Harold Samuel, she attended the
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
(RAM) in London, where both
Peter Warlock Philip Arnold Heseltine (30 October 189417 December 1930), known by the pseudonym Peter Warlock, was a British composer and music critic. The Warlock name, which reflects Heseltine's interest in occult practices, was used for all his published ...
and Ralph Vaughan Williams encouraged her talents and where she studied composition with
Julius Harrison Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (26 March 1885 – 5 April 1963) was an English composer and conductor who was particularly known for his interpretation of operatic works. Born in Lower Mitton, Stourport in Worcestershire, by the age of 16 ...
. She won a prize from the RAM for her one movement Violin Sonata, which was subsequently broadcast by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
on 9 July 1928, with
Antonio Brosa Antonio Brosa (27 June 1894 – 23 March 1979) was a Spanish violinist. Born in La Canonja in Catalonia, Brosa began studying the violin at the age of four with his father, making his public debut at the age of 10 in Barcelona. He studied wit ...
as soloist and
Victor Hely-Hutchinson Christian Victor Noel Hope Hely-Hutchinson (26 December 1901 – 11 March 1947) was a British composer, conductor, pianist and music administrator. He is best known for the ''Carol Symphony'' and for humorous song-settings.Hurd, Michael'Hely ...
piano. When she graduated from the RAM in 1925, seven of her songs were published, and in 1928 she published five more. Poston went abroad between 1930 and 1939, where she studied architecture and collected
folksong Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
s. She was also a respected performer, premiering
Walter Leigh Walter Leigh (22 June 190512 June 1942) was an English composer. Leigh is best known for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture ''Agincourt'' and ''The Frogs of Aristophane ...
’s Concertino for harpsichord and strings in 1934.


Wartime and the BBC

When she returned to England at the beginning of
World War II 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 opposin ...
Poston joined the BBC and became director of music in the European Service. During the war she is said to have carried out secretive work as an agent; at the BBC she apparently used gramophone records to send coded messages to allies in Europe. During the war she also played the piano at the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
lunchtime concerts organised by
Myra Hess Dame Julia Myra Hess, (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was an English pianist best known for her performances of the works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann. Career Early life Julia Myra Hess was born on 25 February 1890 to a J ...
. Poston left the BBC briefly in 1945, but returned in 1946 at the invitation of
Douglas Cleverdon Thomas Douglas James Cleverdon (17 January 1903 – 1 October 1987) was an English radio producer and bookseller. In both fields he was associated with numerous leading cultural figures. Personal life He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and ...
to advise on the creation of the
BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...
. She subsequently became one of the youngest composers to be represented on the network at its opening, with her incidental music for
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
's ''Comus''.Alabaster, John
''Elizabeth Poston: Catalogue of Works with Biographical Context''
(2018).


Composition

Poston composed scores for radio and television productions – over 40 for radio alone – and collaborated with
C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
,
Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...
,
Terence Tiller Terence Rogers Tiller (19 September 1916 – 24 December 1987) was an English poet and radio producer. Early life, poet Tiller was born in Truro, Cornwall and educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.Obituary, ''The Times'', 5 January 198 ...
and other writers. She wrote the score for the 1970 BBC television production of ''
Howards End ''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...
'' (broadcast on 26 December 1970 as ''
Play of the Month ''Play of the Month'' is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different wor ...
'', now lost) while living in Rooks Nest House, which was the setting for the novel. ''The Nativity'' (1950) was premiered as a radio feature produced by Terence Tiller, but had an afterlife as an extended choral work for concert performance. Another choral piece (and the only extended work of hers to have been commercially recorded) is ''An English Day Book'', a 20-minute sequence of sacred and profane poetry settings relating to different times of the day and year. It includes a setting of ''Sweet Suffolk Owl'' by Thomas Vautor that has achieved separate popularity. The ''Concertino da camera on a Theme of
Martin Peerson Martin Peerson (or Pearson, Pierson, Peereson) (between 1571 and 1573 – December 1650 or January 1651 and buried 16 January 1651) was an English composer, organist and virginalist. Despite Roman Catholic leanings at a time when it was illegal ...
'' (1957) is a significant example of her music for
chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
s, and has been recorded. A Swiss radio broadcast of her 1960 Trio for flute, viola and harp can be heard on YouTube, and a new recording of the Trio by the Korros Ensemble was released in 2021. A six-minute work for string orchestra, ''Blackberry Fold: Requiem for a Dog'', received its first broadcast in February 1976. Her carols, especially " Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" (1967), remain widely performed. In total there are over 300 compositions, some still to be discovered. Poston's extensive archives are now housed at the
Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) houses the former Hertfordshire Record Office and the former Hertfordshire Local Studies Library. It collects and preserves archives, other historical documents and printed material relating to the co ...
in Hertford.


Writing and editing

In addition to composing, Poston was an academic, writer and editor. In 1947 she created a five-part lecture series on Peter Warlock for the BBC. Much later, she defended his reputation in a very personal broadcast talk. She wrote articles and programme notes for the Arts Council of Great Britain and was the editor of a number of vocal music anthologies, including ''The Children's Song Book'' (1961), which was described as "a little autobiography, reflecting her own delight in songs since the earliest she remembers from the age of two". The book contains five of her own original settings, including a short song version of ''Jesus Christ the Apple Tree'' that was the germ of her famous choral piece, fully realised six years later. There were also three
Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...
collections – ''The Penguin Book of Christmas Carols'' (two volumes, 1965 and 1971), and (with
Alan Lomax Alan Lomax (; January 31, 1915 – July 19, 2002) was an American ethnomusicologist, best known for his numerous field recordings of folk music of the 20th century. He was also a musician himself, as well as a folklorist, archivist, writer, sch ...
) ''The Penguin Book of American Folksongs'' (1964) – as well as (with
David Holbrook David Kenneth Holbrook (9 January 1923 – 11 August 2011) was a British writer, poet and academic. From 1989 he was an Emeritus Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge. Life David Holbrook was born in Norwich in 1923. He was educated at City of N ...
) ''The Cambridge Hymnal'' (1970).


Later career

Poston was the president of the
Society of Women Musicians The Society of Women Musicians was a British group founded in 1911 for mutual cooperation between women composers and performers, in response to the limited professional opportunities for women musicians at the time. The founders included Katharine ...
1955–61. She continued to live at Rooks Nest House until her death at the age of 81 in 1987. A catalogue of her works by her friend Dr John Alabaster published in 2018 lists some two dozen of her compositions considered lost. One of them, the ''Festal Te Deum'', first performed in 1959, was rediscovered in 2018."Lost composition written for Northampton church by English songwriter found in county's record office after 60-year hunt"
''Northampton Chronicle'', 27 July 2018.


Selected music for BBC Radio and Television

* ''A Parsonage in the Hesperides'' ( Robert Herrick, producer
Douglas Cleverdon Thomas Douglas James Cleverdon (17 January 1903 – 1 October 1987) was an English radio producer and bookseller. In both fields he was associated with numerous leading cultural figures. Personal life He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and ...
): Home Service, 20 September 1944) * ''The Elizabethans'' (producer Douglas Cleverdon): Home Service, 16 January 1946 * ''Comus'' (
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
,
Henry Lawes Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes. Life Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Musi ...
): Third Programme, 30 September 1946 * ''The Spear of Gold'' ( L.A.G. Strong): Third Programme, 26 November 1946 * ''In Parenthesis'' ( David Jones): Third Programme, 13 December 1946 * ''The Life and Death of Dr John Donne'' (producer Douglas Cleverdon): Third Programme. 21 May 1947 * ''Paradise Lost'' (Milton, producer John Cleverdon): 12 programmes, Third Programme, 27 October - 21 December 1947 * ''The Death of Adam'' (producer
Terence Tiller Terence Rogers Tiller (19 September 1916 – 24 December 1987) was an English poet and radio producer. Early life, poet Tiller was born in Truro, Cornwall and educated at Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.Obituary, ''The Times'', 5 January 198 ...
): Third Programme, 24 October 1949 * ''Lilith'' (producer Terence Tiller): Third Programme, 2 September 1950 * ''The Nativity'' (producer Terence Tiller): Third Programme, 26 December 1950 * ''The Holy Child'' (producer Terence Tiller): Third Programme, 20 February 1952 * ''Emperor and Galilean'' (
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
, producer
Raymond Raikes Raymond Montgomery Raikes (13 September 1910 – 2 October 1998) was a British theatre producer, director and broadcaster. He was particularly known for his productions of classic dramas for BBC Radio's "World Theatre" and "National Theatre of ...
): Third Programme, 17 May 1953 * ''Chastelard'' (
Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...
): Third Programme, 27 February 1954 * ''Sheba'' (
Bridget Boland Bridget Boland (13 March 1913 – 19 January 1988) was an Irish-British screenwriter, playwright and novelist. Life Bridget Boland was the daughter of Irish politician John Pius Boland and Eileen Querin Boland ( Moloney). Born in London, Brid ...
): Home Service, 6 January 1955 * ''Diarmuid and Grainne'' (
Padraic Fallon Padraic Fallon (3 January 1905 – 9 October 1974) was an Irish poet and playwright. Personal life Fallon was born and raised in Athenry, County Galway; his upbringing and his early impressions of the town and the surrounding landscape are in ...
): Third Programme, 22 January 1956 * ''Sonata Form of Words'' (Jean Morris): Third Programme, 2 January 1962 * ''St Teresa of Avila'' (
Hugh Ross Williamson Hugh Ross Williamson (1901–1978) was a prolific British popular historian, and a dramatist. Starting from a career in the literary world, and having a Nonconformist background, he became an Anglican priest in 1943.Joseph Pearce, ''Literary Co ...
): Network Three, 9 February 1966 * ''Harold'' (
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
): Home Service, 10 October 1966 * ''Mandragola'' ( Machiavelli): Radio 3, 27 October 1967 * ''The Idylls of the King'' (Tennyson): Radio 3, 2 February 1968) * ''After Ten Years'' (
C.S.Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...
, producer Terence Tiller): Radio 3, 9 March 1969 * ''Howards End'' (
E.M.Forster Edward Morgan Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970) was an English author, best known for his novels, particularly ''A Room with a View'' (1908), ''Howards End'' (1910), and ''A Passage to India'' (1924). He also wrote numerous short stori ...
): BBC One Television, 26 December 1970 * ''The Batchelors Banquet'' ( Thomas Dekker, producer Terence Tiller): Radio 3, 20 June 1971 * ''Sweet England's Pride'' (
Alison Plowden Alison Margaret Chichele Plowden (18 December 1931 – 17 August 2007) was an English historian and biographer well known for her popular non-fiction about the Tudor period. Biography She was born at Quetta in India, a descendant of Edmund ...
): Radio 4, 14 November 1971 * ''A Room with a View'' (E.M.Forster): BBC One Television, 15 April 1973 * ''The Last Temptation'' (
Nikos Kazantzakis Nikos Kazantzakis ( el, ; 2 March (Old Style and New Style dates, OS 18 February) 188326 October 1957) was a Greeks, Greek writer. Widely considered a giant of modern Greek literature, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in ni ...
): Radio 4, 16 September 1973 * ''The Girl Who Lost Her Glove'' (
Penelope Shuttle Penelope Shuttle (born 12 May 1947) is a British poet. Life Born in Staines, Middlesex, Shuttle left school at 17. She wrote her first novel at the age of 20. She has lived in Falmouth, Cornwall since 1970. She married the poet Peter Redgrove (1 ...
): Radio 4, 4 March 1975 * ''For God and for Profit'' (
Iris Origo Dame Iris Margaret Origo, Marchesa Origo, DBE (née Cutting; 15 August 1902 – 28 June 1988) was an English-born biographer and writer. She lived in Italy and devoted much of her life to improving the Tuscan estate at La Foce, near Montepulc ...
): Three programmes on life in medieval Tuscany, Radio 3, 20 March - 3 April 1978 * ''Liberty Comes to Krahwinkel'' (
Johann Nestroy Johann Nepomuk Eduard Ambrosius Nestroy (; 7 December 1801 – 25 May 1862) was a singer, actor and playwright in the popular Austrian tradition of the Biedermeier period and its immediate aftermath. He participated in the 1848 revolutions an ...
): Radio 3, 28 August 1983


References


External links

* Alabastor, John:
Elizabeth Poston: Catalogue of Works with Biographical Context
' (2018) *
Composer Profile: British Music Collection
*: Guildford Cathedral Choir, director
Barry Rose Barry Michael Rose OBE FRAM FRSCM HonFRCO (born 24 May 1934) is a choir trainer and organist. He is best known for founding the choir and the pattern of daily sung worship at the new Guildford Cathedral in 1961, as well as directing the music a ...

Trio for flute, clarinet and harp
second movement, Korros Ensemble, March 2022 performance


Further reading

* Ashby, Margaret. ''Elizabeth Poston, composer: her life at Rooks Nest'' (2005) * Bartlett, James C:

'. University of Wisconsin-Madison (1996) {{DEFAULTSORT:Poston, Elizabeth English classical composers Women classical composers 20th-century classical composers 1905 births 1987 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People educated at Queen Margaret's School, York 20th-century English composers People from Stevenage 20th-century English women musicians 20th-century women composers Classical musicians associated with the BBC