Phyllis Tate
Encyclopedia
Phyllis Tate was an English composer known for forming unusual instrumentations in her compositions. Her musical style has been called avant-garde
and she is recognized for appealing to amateur performers and children.
, England, to an architect, Phyllis Tate was kicked out of primary school by her headmistress at the age of 10 for singing a lewd song at the end of the year. Not a very auspicious beginning for such a prolific composer, who then (much to the disdain of her mother) taught herself how to play the ukulele. She was discovered in 1928 by Harry Farjeon
, who prompted to her to receive formal music training, which she took up at the Royal Academy of Music
for the next four years. While at the academy, where she studied composition, timpani, and conducting, Tate composed a number of pieces while attending the academy, including an operetta
entitled The Policeman’s Serenade. However, because she was extremely self-critical, all of her compositions from before the mid 1940s were destroyed by Tate herself.
The first piece she would claim as her own was a concerto
for saxophone and strings, written in 1944 commissioned by the BBC
. However, none of this would bring her the acclaim she received in 1947. In those three years, Tate composed four pieces: the concerto, a sonata
for clarinet and cello (1947), Songs of Sundry Natures (1945), and Nocturne for Four Voices (1945). Furthermore, Tate enjoys using atypical instrumental combinations. Songs is scored for a baritone accompanied by a flute, clarinet, bassoon
, horn and harp. Nocturne is written for four voices with a string quartet, double bass
, bass clarinet, and celesta
. However, immediately following this abundant creativity, Tate fell into a five year slump due to illness.
For not wishing to write larger instrumental works, Tate’s overall artistic output is extraordinary. All in all, she experimented in many genres, including orchestral music, chamber music
, operas and operettas, sacred music, piano music, and vocal music, which is where she concentrated her efforts. Her most famous pieces, aside from those mentioned above, include her setting of Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott
, which was written for the 10th anniversary of the BBC Third Programme; the opera The Lodger
, based on the tale of Jack the Ripper
; her Prelude, Interlude, and Postlude for chamber orchestra; All The World’s A Stage; Saint Martha and the Dragon; The What d’ye Call It; a Secular Requiem
; and London Fields
, a four movement suite, also commissioned by the BBC.
Although committees were not her forte, Tate was involved in my organizations, usually joining their boards. She participated in the Hampstead Music Club, the Barnet and District Choral Society (she was president and wrote Saint Martha and the Dragon for it), the Performing Rights Society’s Member Fund (she was the first woman appointed to be on their management committee), and the Composers’ Guild (where she served on the executive committee).
Tate believed that “music should entertain and give pleasure” (Fuller OUP 1). In 1979, she wrote “I must admit to having a sneaking hope that some of my creations may prove to be better than they appear. One can only surmise and it’s not for the composer to judge. All I can vouch is this: writing music can be hell; torture in the extreme; but there’s one thing worse; and that is not writing it” (Whitehouse 2). After hearing her play at a lunch one day, Dame Ethel Smyth
said “At last I have heard a real woman composer!” (Whithouse 2) However, since, at that point, Smyth’s hearing was less than ideal, so Tate did not put much stock into this.
Tate married a music editor, Alan Clifford Frank, in 1935. The two of them had two children together: a son born Colin, in 1940 and a daughter Celia, in 1952. Frank worked for Oxford University Press
, the company that began to publish Tate’s compositions in 1935 OUP still publishes some of her work today, 20 years after her passing.
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and she is recognized for appealing to amateur performers and children.
Biography
Born in BuckinghamshireBuckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, England, to an architect, Phyllis Tate was kicked out of primary school by her headmistress at the age of 10 for singing a lewd song at the end of the year. Not a very auspicious beginning for such a prolific composer, who then (much to the disdain of her mother) taught herself how to play the ukulele. She was discovered in 1928 by Harry Farjeon
Harry Farjeon
Harry Farjeon was a British composer.He was born in Hohokus, New Jersey, USA, the eldest son of Jewish author Benjamin Farjeon, and Margaret, the daughter of American actor Joseph Jefferson. His parents returned to Britain when he was a baby and he lived in Hampstead in London for the rest of his...
, who prompted to her to receive formal music training, which she took up at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
for the next four years. While at the academy, where she studied composition, timpani, and conducting, Tate composed a number of pieces while attending the academy, including an operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
entitled The Policeman’s Serenade. However, because she was extremely self-critical, all of her compositions from before the mid 1940s were destroyed by Tate herself.
The first piece she would claim as her own was a concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
for saxophone and strings, written in 1944 commissioned by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. However, none of this would bring her the acclaim she received in 1947. In those three years, Tate composed four pieces: the concerto, a sonata
Sonata
Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...
for clarinet and cello (1947), Songs of Sundry Natures (1945), and Nocturne for Four Voices (1945). Furthermore, Tate enjoys using atypical instrumental combinations. Songs is scored for a baritone accompanied by a flute, clarinet, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, horn and harp. Nocturne is written for four voices with a string quartet, double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, bass clarinet, and celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
. However, immediately following this abundant creativity, Tate fell into a five year slump due to illness.
For not wishing to write larger instrumental works, Tate’s overall artistic output is extraordinary. All in all, she experimented in many genres, including orchestral music, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, operas and operettas, sacred music, piano music, and vocal music, which is where she concentrated her efforts. Her most famous pieces, aside from those mentioned above, include her setting of Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott
The Lady of Shalott
"The Lady of Shalott" is a Victorian ballad by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson . Like his other early poems – "Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere" and "Galahad" – the poem recasts Arthurian subject matter loosely based on medieval sources.-Overview:Tennyson wrote two versions of the poem, one...
, which was written for the 10th anniversary of the BBC Third Programme; the opera The Lodger
The Lodger (opera)
The Lodger is an opera in two acts composed by Phyllis Tate. The libretto is by David Franklin, after the 1913 novel of the same name by Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes...
, based on the tale of Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
; her Prelude, Interlude, and Postlude for chamber orchestra; All The World’s A Stage; Saint Martha and the Dragon; The What d’ye Call It; a Secular Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
; and London Fields
London Fields
London Fields is a park and the name of an area of London, situated in the eastern borough of Hackney. The park itself was first recorded in 1540. At this time it was common ground and was used by drovers to pasture their livestock before taking them to market in London.London Fields is just over ...
, a four movement suite, also commissioned by the BBC.
Although committees were not her forte, Tate was involved in my organizations, usually joining their boards. She participated in the Hampstead Music Club, the Barnet and District Choral Society (she was president and wrote Saint Martha and the Dragon for it), the Performing Rights Society’s Member Fund (she was the first woman appointed to be on their management committee), and the Composers’ Guild (where she served on the executive committee).
Tate believed that “music should entertain and give pleasure” (Fuller OUP 1). In 1979, she wrote “I must admit to having a sneaking hope that some of my creations may prove to be better than they appear. One can only surmise and it’s not for the composer to judge. All I can vouch is this: writing music can be hell; torture in the extreme; but there’s one thing worse; and that is not writing it” (Whitehouse 2). After hearing her play at a lunch one day, Dame Ethel Smyth
Ethel Smyth
Dame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
said “At last I have heard a real woman composer!” (Whithouse 2) However, since, at that point, Smyth’s hearing was less than ideal, so Tate did not put much stock into this.
Tate married a music editor, Alan Clifford Frank, in 1935. The two of them had two children together: a son born Colin, in 1940 and a daughter Celia, in 1952. Frank worked for Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, the company that began to publish Tate’s compositions in 1935 OUP still publishes some of her work today, 20 years after her passing.
Discography
- Grimethorpe. Various performers. Chandos B000000A7V, 1997.
- In Praise of Women. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; Graham Johnson, piano. Hyperion B00026W65Y, 2004.
- Lee Carrol Levine… Plus!. Roy Christensen, Virginia Christensen, Rebecca Culnan, Lee Carroll Levine, Craig Nies, Christian Teal. Gasparo Records B0001DMUW2, 2004.
- London Landmarks. Royal Ballet Sinfonia. White Line B000067UM9, 2002.
- Songs My Father Taught Me. Sir Thomas Allen, baritone; Malcolm Martineau, piano. Hyperion B00005Y0N9, 2002.