Arthur Oldham
Encyclopedia
Arthur William Oldham was an English composer and choirmaster. He founded the Edinburgh Festival
Chorus in 1965, the Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris
in 1975, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Chorus in Amsterdam in 1979. He also worked with the Scottish Opera
Chorus 1966-74 and directed the London Symphony Chorus
1969-76. For his work with the LSO Chorus, he won three Grammy Award
s. He was also a composer, mainly of religious works, but also a ballet and an opera.
, at that time in Surrey
. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music
, where he studied composition under Herbert Howells
. He then became Benjamin Britten
's only private pupil at Aldeburgh
between 1945 and 1951. (He claims that the bar lines on the manuscript of Peter Grimes
were his work.) He and Britten came into conflict over their ideas about choral music, but they later worked together in Edinburgh on Britten's Voices for Today, Op. 75, and the War Requiem
. Until 1968 the only published vocal score of Britten's The Little Sweep
was the piano duet and percussion version prepared by Arthur Oldham.
He was appointed musical director of the Ballet Rambert
in 1945, aged only 19. His music first came to public notice in 1946, when his ballet Mr Punch was performed by the Ballet Rambert at Sadler's Wells
, and was included in the Rambert's 1947-48 tour of Australia and New Zealand. Several of his own pieces were heard at early Aldeburgh Festivals. He also composed for the Royal Ballet for a time.
He arranged Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
(a work for string orchestra) for full orchestra, for the ballet Le Rêve de Léonor, choreographed by Frederick Ashton
. This had its first performance on 26 April 1949 at the Prince's Theatre, London, by the Ballet de Paris de Roland Petit
.
In 1952, after Edmund Rubbra
pulled out of the project, Oldham provided a variation for Variations on an Elizabethan Theme
, a collaborative work
with other contributions by Lennox Berkeley
, Britten, Imogen Holst
, Humphrey Searle
, Michael Tippett
and William Walton
. That year, his modern treatment of Thomas Arne's pastiche opera Love in a Village
was staged by the English Opera Group
. Criticism of the work led to a nervous breakdown and his working outside music for some time.
He then became a Roman Catholic and was employed as a teacher at Scotus Academy
and choirmaster at St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh
. He introduced Scottish pre-Reformation music such as Robert Carver
's 19-part motet O Bone Jesu. Britten's Missa Brevis
had its first performance in Scotland under Oldham's direction. His work at the Cathedral was noticed by people such as Carlo Maria Giulini
and Georg Solti
.
The first performance in Scotland (and one of the earliest in the United Kingdom) of Mahler
's Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”
was scheduled for the opening night of the 1965 Edinburgh Festival
, with the Scottish National Orchestra
, but a suitable choir was lacking. Lord Harewood
and Alexander Gibson
approached Oldham to create one and train the singers, and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus was born. Under his direction for the next 12 years, the chorus went on to participate in major works such as Verdi
's Requiem
(under Giulini), Tippett
's A Child of Our Time
(under Gibson), Bach
's Magnificat
(under Herbert von Karajan
), Prokofiev
's Seven, They are Seven (under Gennady Rozhdestvensky
], Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony
(under Leonard Bernstein
), Brahms
's A German Requiem (under Daniel Barenboim
), and Stravinsky
's Symphony of Psalms
(under Claudio Abbado
). He was instrumental in the first Scottish performances of Britten's War Requiem
, under Alexander Gibson. He also continued with the St Mary's Cathedral Choir until 1971.
He also worked with the London Symphony Chorus
between 1969 and 1976, winning three Grammy Award
s.
He left for Paris in 1977 to create the Orchestre de Paris
's Chorus at Daniel Barenboim's request. For his farewell appearance in Edinburgh he wrote Psalms in Time of War, which was performed at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival. His first project with the Paris chorus was Berlioz
's Te Deum
, under Barenboim, for which he had auditioned 1,700 people to create a chorus of 200 singers. From 1987 to 1994 he commuted weekly between Paris and Edinburgh, working with both choirs. In 1992, the Edinburgh Chorus presented Schoenberg
's Moses und Aron
. From 1994, he worked with the Orchestre de Paris Chorus exclusively. He celebrated 20 years with the chorus in 1996 with a new work, The Will of Villon. He retired from that chorus in 2002.
Arthur Oldham died in Villejuif
in 2003, aged 76. Fauré
's Requiem
was performed in his memory. He was married twice, and left 2 sons and 2 daughters.
The Arthur Oldham/Michael Lester-Cribb Memorial Fund has been created to honor the joint work of Oldham and Michael Lester-Cribb, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus's pianist.
s for his work with the London Symphony Chorus
:
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
Chorus in 1965, the Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel.-History:In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture,...
in 1975, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...
Chorus in Amsterdam in 1979. He also worked with the Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
Chorus 1966-74 and directed the London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Chorus
The London Symphony Chorus is a large symphonic concert choir based in London, England, consisting of over 150 amateur singers, and is one of the major symphony choruses of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1966 as the LSO Chorus to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra...
1969-76. For his work with the LSO Chorus, he won three Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s. He was also a composer, mainly of religious works, but also a ballet and an opera.
Biography
Arthur Oldham was born in London in 1926. At age 14 his mother committed suicide by gassing herself in an oven, and he was brought up in WallingtonWallington, London
Wallington is a town in the London Borough of Sutton situated south south-west of Charing Cross. Prior to the merger of the Municipal Borough of Beddington and Wallington into the London Borough of Sutton, it was part of the county of Surrey.- History :...
, at that time in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, where he studied composition under Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
. He then became Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's only private pupil at Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
between 1945 and 1951. (He claims that the bar lines on the manuscript of Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
were his work.) He and Britten came into conflict over their ideas about choral music, but they later worked together in Edinburgh on Britten's Voices for Today, Op. 75, and the War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
. Until 1968 the only published vocal score of Britten's The Little Sweep
The Little Sweep
The Little Sweep is an opera for children in three scenes by the English composer Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Eric Crozier.- Let's Make an Opera! :...
was the piano duet and percussion version prepared by Arthur Oldham.
He was appointed musical director of the Ballet Rambert
Rambert Dance Company
Rambert Dance Company, is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it would exert a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingdom, and today, as a contemporary dance company, it continues to be one of the...
in 1945, aged only 19. His music first came to public notice in 1946, when his ballet Mr Punch was performed by the Ballet Rambert at Sadler's Wells
Sadler's Wells Theatre
Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue located in Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington. The present day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500 seat main auditorium and the Lilian Baylis Studio, with extensive...
, and was included in the Rambert's 1947-48 tour of Australia and New Zealand. Several of his own pieces were heard at early Aldeburgh Festivals. He also composed for the Royal Ballet for a time.
He arranged Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10, is a work for string orchestra by Benjamin Britten. It was written in 1937 at the request of Boyd Neel, who conducted his orchestra at the premiere of the work at that year's Salzburg Festival. It was the work that brought Britten to international...
(a work for string orchestra) for full orchestra, for the ballet Le Rêve de Léonor, choreographed by Frederick Ashton
Frederick Ashton
Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH, CBE was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of The Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues.-Early life:Ashton was born at...
. This had its first performance on 26 April 1949 at the Prince's Theatre, London, by the Ballet de Paris de Roland Petit
Roland Petit
Roland Petit was a French choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble, near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets.-Biography:...
.
In 1952, after Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra
Edmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
pulled out of the project, Oldham provided a variation for Variations on an Elizabethan Theme
Variations on an Elizabethan Theme
Variations on an Elizabethan Theme is a set of variations for string orchestra, written collaboratively in 1952 by six English composers: Lennox Berkeley, Benjamin Britten, Arthur Oldham, Humphrey Searle, Michael Tippett and William Walton...
, a collaborative work
Classical music written in collaboration
In classical music, it is relatively rare for a work to be written in collaboration by multiple composers. This contrasts with popular music, where it is common for more than one person to contribute to the music for a song...
with other contributions by Lennox Berkeley
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
, Britten, Imogen Holst
Imogen Holst
Imogen Clare Holst, CBE was a British composer and conductor, and sole child of composer Gustav Holst.Imogen Holst was brought up in west London and educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father was director of music...
, Humphrey Searle
Humphrey Searle
Humphrey Searle was a British composer.-Biography:He was born in Oxford where he was a classics scholar before studying — somewhat hesitantly — with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music in London, after which he went to Vienna on a six month scholarship to become a private pupil of Anton...
, Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
and William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
. That year, his modern treatment of Thomas Arne's pastiche opera Love in a Village
Love in a Village
Love in a Village is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces borrowed from Arne's earlier stage works, a new overture...
was staged by the English Opera Group
English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operatic works. The group later expanded in order to present larger-scale works, and was renamed the English...
. Criticism of the work led to a nervous breakdown and his working outside music for some time.
He then became a Roman Catholic and was employed as a teacher at Scotus Academy
Scotus Academy
Scotus Academy was a Catholic all boys day school on Corstorphine Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1953 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers and closed in 1977. The building now forms part of Murrayfield Hospital....
and choirmaster at St Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. He introduced Scottish pre-Reformation music such as Robert Carver
Robert Carver (composer)
Robert Carver was a Scottish Renaissance monk and composer of Christian sacred music.He spent much of his life at Scone Abbey in Perthshire and is regarded as Scotland's greatest sixteenth-century composer. He is best known for his sacred choral music, of which there are five surviving masses and...
's 19-part motet O Bone Jesu. Britten's Missa Brevis
Missa Brevis (Britten)
The Missa Brevis in D, Op. 63 is a setting of the Mass composed by Benjamin Britten on Trinity Sunday, 1959. It was first performed at London's Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral on 22 July of the same year. The piece is set for three-part treble chorus and organ.The printed dedication reads "For...
had its first performance in Scotland under Oldham's direction. His work at the Cathedral was noticed by people such as Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor.-Biography:Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria...
and Georg Solti
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
.
The first performance in Scotland (and one of the earliest in the United Kingdom) of Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
's Symphony No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand”
Symphony No. 8 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major by Gustav Mahler is one of the largest-scale choral works in the classical concert repertoire. Because it requires huge instrumental and vocal forces it is frequently called the "Symphony of a Thousand", although the work is often performed with fewer than a...
was scheduled for the opening night of the 1965 Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
, with the Scottish National Orchestra
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is Scotland's national symphony orchestra. Based in Glasgow, the 89-member professional orchestra also regularly performs in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and abroad. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company has performed full-time since 1950,...
, but a suitable choir was lacking. Lord Harewood
George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood
George Henry Hubert Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, KBE AM , styled The Hon. George Lascelles before 1929 and Viscount Lascelles between 1929 and 1947, was the elder son of the 6th Earl of Harewood , and Princess Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and...
and Alexander Gibson
Alexander Gibson (conductor)
Sir Alexander Gibson, CBE was a Scottish conductor and opera intendant.Gibson was born in Motherwell and studied music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, as well as in London, Salzburg and Siena, Italy...
approached Oldham to create one and train the singers, and the Edinburgh Festival Chorus was born. Under his direction for the next 12 years, the chorus went on to participate in major works such as Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Requiem
Requiem (Verdi)
The Messa da Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi is a musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass for four soloists, double choir and orchestra. It was composed in memory of Alessandro Manzoni, an Italian poet and novelist much admired by Verdi. The first performance in San Marco in Milan on 22 May...
(under Giulini), Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
's A Child of Our Time
A Child of Our Time
A Child of Our Time is an oratorio written by Michael Tippett between 1939 and 1941."After more than ten years of thoughtful planning, Michael Tippett summed up his musical, political, spiritual and philosophical beliefs in his first oratorio, A Child of Our Time...
(under Gibson), Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Magnificat
Magnificat (Bach)
The Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, is a major vocal work of Johann Sebastian Bach. It was composed for orchestra, a five-part choir and four or five soloists. The text is the canticle of Mary, mother of Jesus, as told by Luke the Evangelist .Bach composed an initial version in E flat major in 1723...
(under Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
), Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's Seven, They are Seven (under Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky is a Russian conductor.-Biography:Rozhdestvensky was born in Moscow. His parents were the noted conductor and pedagogue Nikolai Anosov and soprano Natalya Rozhdestvenskaya...
], Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony
Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler, known as the Resurrection, was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. Apart from the Eighth Symphony, this symphony was Mahler's most popular and successful work during his lifetime. It is his first major work that would eventually mark his...
(under Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
), Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
's A German Requiem (under Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
), and Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
's Symphony of Psalms
Symphony of Psalms
The Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky was written in 1930 and was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This piece is a three-movement choral symphony and was composed during Stravinsky's neoclassical period. The symphony derives...
(under Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
). He was instrumental in the first Scottish performances of Britten's War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
, under Alexander Gibson. He also continued with the St Mary's Cathedral Choir until 1971.
He also worked with the London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Chorus
The London Symphony Chorus is a large symphonic concert choir based in London, England, consisting of over 150 amateur singers, and is one of the major symphony choruses of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1966 as the LSO Chorus to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra...
between 1969 and 1976, winning three Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s.
He left for Paris in 1977 to create the Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris
The Orchestre de Paris is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Salle Pleyel.-History:In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, conductor Charles Munch was called on by the Minister of Culture,...
's Chorus at Daniel Barenboim's request. For his farewell appearance in Edinburgh he wrote Psalms in Time of War, which was performed at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival. His first project with the Paris chorus was Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's Te Deum
Te Deum (Berlioz)
The Te Deum by Hector Berlioz was completed in 1849. It, like the earlier and more famous Grande Messe des Morts, is one of Berlioz's "architectural" works...
, under Barenboim, for which he had auditioned 1,700 people to create a chorus of 200 singers. From 1987 to 1994 he commuted weekly between Paris and Edinburgh, working with both choirs. In 1992, the Edinburgh Chorus presented Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
's Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron
Moses und Aron is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German libretto was by the composer after the Book of Exodus.-Compositional history:...
. From 1994, he worked with the Orchestre de Paris Chorus exclusively. He celebrated 20 years with the chorus in 1996 with a new work, The Will of Villon. He retired from that chorus in 2002.
Arthur Oldham died in Villejuif
Villejuif
Villejuif is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Villejuif was recorded for the first time in a papal bull of 1119 as Villa Judea, the meaning of which is still debated...
in 2003, aged 76. Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
's Requiem
Requiem (Fauré)
Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48 between 1887 and 1890. This choral–orchestral setting of the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead is the best known of his large works. The most famous movement is the soprano aria Pie Jesu...
was performed in his memory. He was married twice, and left 2 sons and 2 daughters.
The Arthur Oldham/Michael Lester-Cribb Memorial Fund has been created to honor the joint work of Oldham and Michael Lester-Cribb, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus's pianist.
Grammy Awards
Arthur Oldham shared the credit for three Grammy AwardGrammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s for his work with the London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Chorus
The London Symphony Chorus is a large symphonic concert choir based in London, England, consisting of over 150 amateur singers, and is one of the major symphony choruses of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1966 as the LSO Chorus to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra...
:
- 14th Grammy Awards (1972) - Best Choral Performance, ClassicalGrammy Award for Best Choral PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral ...
- BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's RequiemRequiem (Berlioz)The Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5 by Hector Berlioz was composed in 1837. The Grande Messe des Morts is one of Berlioz's best-known works, with a tremendous orchestration of woodwind and brass instruments, including four antiphonal offstage brass ensembles placed at the corners of the concert stage...
(Colin DavisColin DavisSir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
, conductor; Oldham and Russell Burgess, choir directors)
- Berlioz
- 16th Grammy Awards (1974) - Best Choral Performance, Classical (other than opera)Grammy Award for Best Choral PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral ...
- WaltonWilliam WaltonSir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
's Belshazzar's FeastBelshazzar's Feast (Walton)Belshazzar's Feast is an oratorio by the English composer William Walton. It was first performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 October 1931. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions and one of the most popular works in the English choral repertoire...
(André PrevinAndré PrevinAndré George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
, conductor; Oldham, choirmaster)
- Walton
- 19th Grammy Awards (1977) - Best Choral Performance (other than opera)Grammy Award for Best Choral PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral ...
- RachmaninoffSergei RachmaninoffSergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
's The BellsThe Bells (Rachmaninoff)The Bells , Op. 35, is a choral symphony by Sergei Rachmaninoff, written in 1913. The words are from the poem The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe, very freely translated into Russian by the symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont. The traditional Gregorian melody Dies Irae is used frequently throughout the work...
(Previn, conductor; Oldham, choirmaster)
- Rachmaninoff
Works
This is an incomplete list of Arthur Oldham's compositions:- Mr Punch, ballet
- arrangement of Thomas Arne's opera pastiche Love in a VillageLove in a VillageLove in a Village is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces borrowed from Arne's earlier stage works, a new overture...
- Psalms in Time of War
- The Will of Villon
- Blind Audlay’s Carol (commissioned by the Purcell Singers for the Aldeburgh Festival)
- The Land of Green Ginger, a musical for children
- A song cycle on poems by Alexander Montgomery (commissioned by Peter PearsPeter PearsSir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
) - Hymns for the Amusement of Children
- Now's the Time for Mirth and Play, unison voice.organ
- Two Hymn Tunes, SATB/organ
- Remember O thou man, carol (This has been recorded a number of times.)
- Three Chinese Lyrics, song cycle (recorded by Peter PearsPeter PearsSir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
and Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to... - Circus Parade
- Angels from the Realms of Glory (arrangement)
- Hymn of dedication
- I sing of a maiden
- Saint Francis
- Laudes Creaturarum (recorded by the St Mary’s Cathedral Choir and the Scottish National Orchestra.