Richard Arnell
Encyclopedia
Richard Anthony Sayer Arnell (15 September 191710 April 2009) was an English
composer
of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies (a seventh was realised by Martin Yates
) and six string quartets.
, London
. He studied at the Royal College of Music
in London from 1935 to 1939, and was taught there by John Ireland
(composition) and St John Dykes (piano). He was awarded the Farrar Prize for composition during his final year at the college. At the outset of the Second World War
, attending the New York World Fair, Arnell (along with other English composers, e.g. Arthur Bliss
) was stranded in New York
, and stayed on until 1947, thereby finding himself in the position of having an established reputation in the U.S., but remaining relatively little known in his homeland. During his American soujourn, Arnell was the Music Supervisor for the BBC
in North America, and was commissioned to compose (to a text by Stephen Spender
) a cantata
, The War God, in celebration of the opening of the United Nations
, as well as a fanfare to greet Winston Churchill
's arrival in New York
.
His music has been championed by Thomas Beecham
, Leopold Stokowski
and Bernard Herrmann
, among others and most recently by Martin Yates
(one of his composition students at Trinity). Between 1947 and 1987 he taught at Trinity College of Music
in London, where his students included Peter Tahourdin
(1949-52).
Arnell composed the music for The Land (1942
), a 45-minute documentary film
directed by Robert J. Flaherty
for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
. He was also commissioned by the Ford Motor Company
to compose a symphonic suite inspired by the workers in the factory at Dagenham. The resulting work accompanies a film entitled Opus 65. Arnell established and headed the Music Department at the London International Film School until his retirement in the late 1980s.
He established a reputation as a major composer for the ballet
stage through collaborations with choreographers of the stature of George Balanchine
, John Cranko
and Frederick Ashton
. His many ballets have been successfully staged in both New York and London. His score for Punch and the Child was recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
, a recording which has seldom been out of the catalogue.
All seven of Arnell's numbered symphonies together with the Sinfonia Quasi Variazioni, the Piano Concerto (soloist David Owen Norris
), the two Violin Concertos (soloist Lorraine MacAslan), Lord Byron: a Symphonic Portrait, Robert Flaherty Impression, Prelude The Black Mountain and the early Overture The New Age, received their world premiere recordings by conductor Martin Yates
and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra between 2005 and 2008. The premiere recordings of the ballets The Angels, Harlequin in April and The Great Detective, together with Punch and the Child, were recorded by Martin Yates and the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2008-09.
Arnell had left sketches for a Seventh Symphony, dedicated to Nelson Mandela
, at the time of his death, and it has since been realised and completed by Martin Yates. It was recorded in the summer of 2010 by Yates and the RSNO and was issued by Dutton Epoch. The String Quartets have recently been released on the Dutton Epoch label played by the Tippett Quartet.
Arnell is acknowledged as being one of the most masterful orchestrators of the twentieth century, Sir Thomas Beecham describing him as the best orchestrator since Berlioz.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of classical music. Arnell composed in all the established genres for the concert stage, and his list of works includes six completed symphonies (a seventh was realised by Martin Yates
Martin Yates
Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...
) and six string quartets.
Biography
Arnell was born in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He studied at 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...
in London from 1935 to 1939, and was taught there by John Ireland
John Ireland (composer)
John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
(composition) and St John Dykes (piano). He was awarded the Farrar Prize for composition during his final year at the college. At the outset of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, attending the New York World Fair, Arnell (along with other English composers, e.g. Arthur Bliss
Arthur Bliss
Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
) was stranded in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and stayed on until 1947, thereby finding himself in the position of having an established reputation in the U.S., but remaining relatively little known in his homeland. During his American soujourn, Arnell was the Music Supervisor for 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...
in North America, and was commissioned to compose (to a text by Stephen Spender
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE was an English poet, novelist and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work...
) a cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
, The War God, in celebration of the opening of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, as well as a fanfare to greet Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's arrival in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
His music has been championed by Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
and Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
, among others and most recently by Martin Yates
Martin Yates
Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...
(one of his composition students at Trinity). Between 1947 and 1987 he taught at Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
in London, where his students included Peter Tahourdin
Peter Tahourdin
Peter Richard Tahourdin was an English-born Australian composer. His compositions range from orchestral and chamber music to choral and educational music, as well as music for the opera and ballet. However, his principal contribution was in the field of electronic music.-Early life and...
(1949-52).
Arnell composed the music for The Land (1942
1942 in film
The year 1942 in film involved some significant events, in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest of all time, Casablanca.-Events:...
), a 45-minute documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Robert J. Flaherty
Robert J. Flaherty
Robert Joseph Flaherty, F.R.G.S. was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North...
for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
. He was also commissioned by the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
to compose a symphonic suite inspired by the workers in the factory at Dagenham. The resulting work accompanies a film entitled Opus 65. Arnell established and headed the Music Department at the London International Film School until his retirement in the late 1980s.
He established a reputation as a major composer for the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
stage through collaborations with choreographers of the stature of George Balanchine
George Balanchine
George Balanchine , born Giorgi Balanchivadze in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to a Georgian father and a Russian mother, was one of the 20th century's most famous choreographers, a developer of ballet in the United States, co-founder and balletmaster of New York City Ballet...
, John Cranko
John Cranko
John Cyril Cranko was a choreographer with the Sadler's Wells Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet....
and 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...
. His many ballets have been successfully staged in both New York and London. His score for Punch and the Child was recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
, a recording which has seldom been out of the catalogue.
All seven of Arnell's numbered symphonies together with the Sinfonia Quasi Variazioni, the Piano Concerto (soloist David Owen Norris
David Owen Norris
-Life:Norris was born in 1953. He studied music at Keble College, Oxford where he was organ scholar; he is now an Honorary Fellow of the college. After leaving Oxford, he studied composition, and worked at the Royal Opera House as a repetiteur...
), the two Violin Concertos (soloist Lorraine MacAslan), Lord Byron: a Symphonic Portrait, Robert Flaherty Impression, Prelude The Black Mountain and the early Overture The New Age, received their world premiere recordings by conductor Martin Yates
Martin Yates
Martin Yates is a British conductor.Studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe , Richard Arnell , Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky & Alan Rowlands and Douglas Moore & John Burden .Conducting debut 1983 with Israel National Opera...
and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra between 2005 and 2008. The premiere recordings of the ballets The Angels, Harlequin in April and The Great Detective, together with Punch and the Child, were recorded by Martin Yates and the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2008-09.
Arnell had left sketches for a Seventh Symphony, dedicated to Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
, at the time of his death, and it has since been realised and completed by Martin Yates. It was recorded in the summer of 2010 by Yates and the RSNO and was issued by Dutton Epoch. The String Quartets have recently been released on the Dutton Epoch label played by the Tippett Quartet.
Arnell is acknowledged as being one of the most masterful orchestrators of the twentieth century, Sir Thomas Beecham describing him as the best orchestrator since Berlioz.
Orchestral works
- Seven numbered symphonies
- Sinfonia Quasi Variazioni
- Sinfonia - 1939
- Symphony for Strings
- Suite in Six Movements for large orchestra
- Lord Byron - a Symphonic Portrait
- Robert Flaherty - Impression
- Landscapes and Figures
- Concertos for piano (2), violin (2) and harpsichord
- Overture, The New Age
- Overture, 1940
- Overture (un-titled)
- Prelude The Black Mountain
- Overture, The Food of Love
- Classical Variations (string orchestra)
- Abstract Forms (string orchestra)
- Two divertimenti
- Fantasia for Orchestra
- Ode to Beecham (with narrator)
Chamber works
- Six string quartets
- String Quintet
- Piano Trio
- Piano Quartet
- Oboe Quintet
- RVW's Almanac (Clarinet Quartet)
- Serenade for ten wind instruments and double bass
- Cassation for wind quintet
- Two sonatas for violin and piano
- Variations on an American Theme for violin and piano
- Sonatina for piano duet
- Brass Quintet
- Horn Quartet
Solo works
- 2 piano sonatas
- 2 organ sonatas
- Variations on Eine Feste Burg for Organ
- unaccompanied pieces for violin, viola and cello
- numerous sets of variations for piano solo
Stage works
- Punch and the Child (ballet)
- Harlequin in April (ballet)
- The Great Detective (ballet)
- The Angels (ballet)
- Moonflowers (chamber opera)
- Love in Transit (chamber opera)
- The Petrified Princess (puppet opera)
Vocal works
- Ode to the West Wind
- The War God
- Six Lawrence Songs
- Con Amore
- Xanadu
- Cretaceous Intermission
- Five Emily Songs
Mixed media (Electric/Acoustic) works
- I Think of all Soft Limbs
- Nocturne: Prague
- Astronaut
Film scores
- The Land
- Opus 65
- The VisitThe Visit (1964 film)The Visit is a 1964 film co-production from France, Italy, Germany, and the United States, distributed by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Bernhard Wicki and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Julien Derode with Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn as co-producers...
- The Third SecretThe Third Secret (film)The Third Secret is a 1964 British drama film directed by Charles Crichton. The screenplay by Robert L. Joseph focuses on an American newscaster who investigates the mysterious death of his psychoanalyst...
- Topsail Schooner
- The Man OutsideThe Man Outside (1967 film)The Man Outside is a British film released in 1968. It was previously exhibited in Austria and West Germany in 1967. The story is based on the novel Double Agent by Gene Stackleborg.-Cast:* Van Heflin as Bill MacLean* Heidelinde Weis as Kay Sebastian...
- Bequest to a Village
- Stained Glass
- The Black PantherThe Black Panther (film)The Black Panther is a 1977 British thriller film directed by Ian Merrick and starring Donald Sumpter, Debbie Farrington and Marjorie Yates. Ex-soldier turned armed robbery Donald Neilson kidnaps an heiress.-Cast:* Donald Sumpter - Donald Neilson...
(with David Hewson) - The Antagonist (with David Hewson)
- Dilemma (with David Hewson)
- Toulouse-Lautrec (with David Hewson)
- Doctor in the Sky (with David Hewson)
- We Are Many (with David Hewson)
- The Light of the World (with David Hewson)