John Austin Sykes (1909 – June 1962) was an English composer and music teacher, born in India.

Career

Sykes spent his early life in India, where his father was working for the Indian Civil Service. He attended

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, studying organ under its famous one-armed organist Douglas Fox, gaining his FRCO qualification while still a schoolboy. From 1928 he studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, where he was organ scholar while studying Modern History. At Oxford he was president of the Oxford University Opera Club. A contemporary there was the poet Randall Swingler, with whom Sykes shared left-wing sympathies. ( Auden,

Spender ''Spender'' is a British television police procedural drama, created by Ian La Frenais and Jimmy Nail, that first broadcast on 8 January 1991 on BBC1. The series, which also starred Nail as the titular character, ran for three series between 1 ...

, and Day Lewis were also contemporaries). In 1932 he joined The

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) 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 pe ...

, studying composition under

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 ...

and

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 ...

, with piano as a second study. In 1936 Sykes was appointed to the staff of the Methodist Kingswood School,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, where he remained for the rest of his life. A pupil of his at Kingswood before the war was the left-wing historian E. P. Thompson. During the war Sykes was a conscientious objector and served in the Pioneer Corps. From 1952 he became Director of Music at Kingswood. The school now holds the John Sykes Archive. Sykes died from cancer in the school sanatorium in June 1962.

Composer

Most of Sykes' music was written either for the school or for a small group of friends – such as the identical twin sister piano duo Mary and Geraldine Peppin. Aside from two songs, a hymn and a Christmas anthem, ''The Child of the World'' (setting words by Swingler), the music remained unpublished and is now held at the John Sykes Archive, Kingswood School. Orchestral works include a symphony, a piano concerto, a suite ("in old style") for strings and ''Eight Pieces for small orchestra''. There is a choral ''Te Deum'', some chamber music, over 20 scores for school theatre productions, and much piano music, choral music and song. Sykes made 36 settings of poems from

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

's '' Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' during the 1930s and also set poems by his friend Randall Swingler. There were occasional performances beyond the school: for instance his ''Litanie'' for double chorus was performed at the Macnaghten-Lemare concert in London on 11 December 1933. A CD of songs and piano music, including many of the Blake settings, was issued by Albion Records in 2020. Mark Padmore included his setting of Blake's 'On Another's Sorrow' in his BBC Radio 3 survey of English art song in 2022.
The World in a Grain of Sand
', Episode 2, broadcast 13 February 2022

External links

''Blake Set to Music: John Sykes'' at Zoamorphosis

Fearful Symmetry – Songs and piano music by John Sykes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, John 1909 births 1962 deaths People educated at Clifton College English classical organists Alumni of the Royal College of Music 20th-century English organists 20th-century English classical pianists 20th-century English male musicians 20th-century British composers English conscientious objectors British Army personnel of World War II Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers Deaths from cancer in England British people in colonial India English male classical organists