Harrison Birtwistle

Sir Harrison Birtwistle, CH (born 15 July 1934) is a British composer of contemporary classical music. Among his many compositions, he is best known for The Triumph of Time (1972) and his operas, particularly The Mask of Orpheus (1986), Gawain (1991) and The Minotaur (2008). The latter was ranked by music critics at The Guardian in 2019 as the third best piece of the 21st-century.^[1]

Life[]

Harrison Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire around 20 miles north of Manchester.^[2] Regarding his name, Birtwistle has stated that 'in some reference books my name is down as Harrison Paul, which it isn't, and never has been. I don't have a second name.'^[3] His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have lessons with the local bandmaster.^[4] He became proficient enough to play in the local military-style band, and also played in the orchestra that accompanied Gilbert and Sullivan productions and the local choral society's performances of Messiah. Birtwistle composed from around this time, later describing his early pieces as "sub Vaughan Williams".^[4]

In 1952 he entered the Royal Manchester College of Music in Manchester on a clarinet scholarship. While there he came in contact with contemporaries including Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howarth. He then completed two years of National Service in the Royal Artillery (Plymouth) Band, based in Oswestry.^[5] He served as Director of Music at Cranborne Chase School from 1962 until 1965, before continuing his studies at Princeton University on a Harkness Fellowship, where he completed the opera Punch and Judy. This work, together with Verses for Ensembles and The Triumph of Time, led to greater exposure for Birtwistle in the classical music world.^[6]

In 1972 he wrote the accompanying music to The Offence, starring Sean Connery, his only film score.^[7]

In 1975 Birtwistle became musical director of the newly established Royal National Theatre in London, a post he held until 1983. He received a knighthood (1988) and was made a Companion of Honour (2001). From 1994 to 2001 he was Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King's College London. Birtwistle was the 1987 recipient of the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.^[8]

Though well established in the classical music world, Birtwistle was relatively unknown to the general public until the mid-1990s, when two events increased his profile with the wider audience. In 1994 two anti-modernist musicians, Frederick Stocken and Keith Burstein, calling themselves "The Hecklers", organised a demonstration at the first night of a revival of his opera Gawain at the Royal Opera House, London.^[9] The following year, Birtwistle's saxophone concertante work Panic was premiered in the second half of the Last Night of the Proms to an estimated worldwide television audience of 100 million.^[10] According to the Daily Telegraph, it met with incomprehension from many viewers.^[11]

In 1995 he was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.^[12] At the 2006 Ivor Novello Awards he criticised pop musicians at the event for performing too loudly and using too many clichés.^[13]

Birtwistle has a low media profile,^[14] but gives interviews occasionally. In 2019 he was interviewed for Composer of the Week on BBC Radio 3.^[15]

Style[]

Birtwistle's music is not categorised as belonging to any particular school or movement. For a time, he was described as belonging to the Manchester School, a phrase invented as a parallel to the Second Viennese School to refer to Birtwistle, Goehr and Davies. The phrase has since declined in use, since the three composers were united only by their early studies in Manchester, rather than a common musical style. Birtwistle's music is complex, written in a modernistic manner with a clear, distinctive voice.

His early work is sometimes evocative of Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen, who he has acknowledged as influences, and his technique of juxtaposing blocks of sound is sometimes compared to that of Edgard Varèse. His early pieces made frequent use of ostinati and often had a ritualistic feel. These have been toned down in recent decades as his style has developed.

Even when he is not writing a visual piece involving stage action, Birtwistle's music is frequently theatrical in conception.^[16] The music does not follow the logic and rules of classical forms such as sonata form, but is structured more like a drama. Furthermore, different musical instruments can almost be seen to take the part of different characters in the drama. This is especially apparent in a performance of Secret Theatre (1984). For various portions of the piece, a number of the instrumentalists perform in a 'soloist' capacity. For this, they leave their seat in the ensemble and stand separately, to one side of the ensemble, returning to the group when they are no longer given that role.

Personal life and family[]

His sons Adam Birtwistle and Silas Birtwistle are artists.

List of major works[]

Opera[]

• Punch and Judy (1967)
• Down by the Greenwood Side, A Dramatic Pastoral, chamber opera (1968–69)
• Bow Down, chamber opera (1977)
• The Mask of Orpheus (1973–84), winner of the 1987 Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition.
• Yan Tan Tethera, A Mechanical Pastoral, chamber opera (1986)
• Gawain (1990)
• The Second Mrs Kong (1994)
• The Last Supper (2000)
• The Io Passion, chamber opera (2004)
• The Minotaur (2008)
• The Corridor, chamber opera (2009)
• The Cure (2014–15)

Other works[]

• Tragoedia, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, harp and string quartet (1965)
• Nomos (1968), for orchestra
• Verses for Ensembles (1968)
• Down by the Greenwood Side (1969)
• The Triumph of Time (1971–72), for orchestra
• Grimethorpe Aria (1973), brass band
• Silbury Air (1976–77), chamber orchestra
• ...agm... (1978)
• Secret Theatre, for chamber ensemble (1984)
• Earth Dances (1986), for orchestra
• Endless Parade (1986), for trumpet, vibraphone and strings
• Antiphonies (1992), piano and orchestra
• Panic (1995), alto saxophone, jazz drum kit and orchestra
• Pulse Shadows (9 Movements for string quartet interleaved with 9 Settings of Celan) (1989–96)
• The Axe Manual, for piano and percussion (2000)
• Theseus Game, for large ensemble with two conductors (2002)
• Angel Fighter (2010), dramatic cantata
• String Quartet: Tree of Strings (2007)
• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (2009–10)^[17]
• Gigue machine, for piano (2011)
• In Broken Images (2011), for ensemble (after the antiphonal music of Gabrieli)^[18]
• The Moth Requiem (2012), for twelve female voices, three harps and flute^[19]
• Songs from the Same Earth (2012–13), for tenor and piano
• Responses (2013–14), piano concerto^[20]

Honours and awards[]

Awards[]

• 1986 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, University of Louisville^[21]
• 1995 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize^[21]
• 2003 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards Large-scale Composition in London^[21]
• 2015 Wihuri Sibelius Prize^[21]

Commonwealth honours[]

Commonwealth honours

Country	Date	Appointment	Post-nominal letters
United Kingdom	1988 – Present	Knight Bachelor[21]	Kt
United Kingdom	2001 – Present	Order of the Companions of Honour[21]	CH

Harrison Birtwistle was awarded a knighthood in the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours List. He was awarded the Companionship of Honour (CH) in the 2001 New Years Honours List.

Foreign honours[]

Foreign honours

Country	Date	Decoration	Post-nominal letters
France	1986 – Present	Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres	[21]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (October 2020)

Scholastic[]

University degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree
England		Royal Manchester College of Music

Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

Location	Date	School	Position
England	1986 – Present	Royal Academy of Music	Fellow, Hon FRAM[22]
England	1989 – Present	Royal Northern College of Music	Fellow[23]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (July 2020)

Honorary degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree	Gave Commencement Address
England	1994	University of Sussex	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)[24]
England	1996	City, University of London	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)[25]
England	2 December 2008	University of London	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)[26]
England	2010	University of Cambridge	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)[27]
England	2013	Bath Spa University	Doctorate[28]
England	25 June 2014	University of Oxford	Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)[29]
England	2014	Edge Hill University	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)[30]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (July 2020)

Memberships and Fellowships[]

Location	Date	Organisation	Position
England	1975 – 1983	Royal National Theatre	Musical Director
England	1994 – Present	Royal Academy of Arts	Honorary Fellow [31]
New York	2007 – Present	American Academy of Arts and Letters	Foreign Honorary Member [32]

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (October 2020)

References[]

Sources[]

• Adlington, Robert: The Music of Harrison Birtwistle. (Cambridge University Press, 2000.)
• Beard, David: Harrison Birtwistle’s Operas and Music Theatre. Music Since 1900. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.) ISBN 978-0-521-89534-7
• Beard, David; Gloag, Kenneth; Jones, Nicholas (editors): Harrison Birtwistle Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2015.)
• Birtwistle, Harrison; Maddocks, Fiona: Harrison Birtwistle: Wild Tracks - a conversation diary (Faber and Faber, 2014.)
• Cross, J.: Harrison Birtwistle: Man, Mind, Music. (Faber & Faber, 2000.)
• Hall, Michael: Harrison Birtwistle. (Robson Books, 1984.)
• Hall, Michael: Harrison Birtwistle in Recent Years. (Robson Books, 1998.)
• Wilkins, Nigel: 'Musical Encounters' (Austin Macaulay, 2018.)

External links[]

• Rayfield Allied profile
• Biography on publisher's website
• Sir Harrison Birtwistle biography and works on the UE website (publisher of his music until 1994)
• Photographs in the National Portrait Gallery
• Service, Tom (11 April 2008). "The beast within". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 November 2017. An interview with Birtwistle about The Minotaur.
• Harrison Birtwistle's Biography on NMC Recordings
• "Harrison Birtwistle biography" (in French). IRCAM.
• Interview with Harrison Birtwistle, 8 December 1996