Richard Rodney Bennett
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE
(born 29 March 1936, Broadstairs
, Kent
) is an English
composer
renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works. He has lived in New York City
since 1979.
, the Quaker school in Reading
, studied at the Royal Academy of Music
with Howard Ferguson
, Lennox Berkeley
and Cornelius Cardew
. During this time, he attended some of the Darmstadt
summer courses, where he was exposed to serialism
. He later spent two years in Paris
as a student of the prominent serialist Pierre Boulez
.
Bennett taught at the Royal Academy of Music between 1963 and 1965, at the Peabody Institute
in Baltimore, United States
from 1970 to 1971, and was later International Chair
of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music between 1994 and the year 2000. He received a CBE
in 1977, and was knight
ed in 1998.
As one of Britain’s most respected and versatile musicians, Bennett has produced over two hundred works for the concert hall, and fifty scores for film and television, as well as having been a writer and performer of jazz
songs for fifty years. Studies with Boulez in the 1950s immersed him in the techniques of the European avant-garde
, though he subsequently developed his own distinctive dramato-abstract style. In recent years, he has adopted an increasingly tonal idiom.
Anthony Meredith's biography of Bennett was published in November 2010.
. Early on, he found success by writing music for feature films, although he considered this to be subordinate to his concert music. Nevertheless, he has continued to write music for films and television; among his scores are the Doctor Who
story The Aztecs
(1964),Billion Dollar Brain (1967) Far from the Madding Crowd
(1967), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Nicholas and Alexandra
(1971), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Murder on the Orient Express
(1974), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA, Enchanted April
(1992), Four Weddings and a Funeral
(1994), and The Tale of Sweeney Todd
(1998). He is also a prolific composer of orchestral works, piano solos, choral works and operas. Despite this eclecticism, Bennett's music rarely involves crossover of styles.
The Birds Lament
for a portrait in clay. The correspondence file relating to the Bennett portrait bust is held as part of the Thornhill Papers (2006:56) in the archive of the Henry Moore Foundation
's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(born 29 March 1936, Broadstairs
Broadstairs
Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
) is an English
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...
renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works. He has lived in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
since 1979.
Biography
Richard Rodney Bennett was a pupil at Leighton Park SchoolLeighton Park School
Leighton Park School is a co-educational Quaker independent school for both day and boarding pupils. It is situated in the large town of Reading in Berkshire, in South East England...
, the Quaker school in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, studied 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...
with Howard Ferguson
Howard Ferguson (composer)
Howard Ferguson was a British composer and musicologist. He composed instrumental, chamber, orchestral and choral works. While his music is not widely-known today, his Piano Sonata in F Minor and his Five Bagatelles for piano are still performed...
, 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...
and Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew
Cornelius Cardew was an English experimental music composer, and founder of the Scratch Orchestra, an experimental performing ensemble. He later rejected the avant-garde in favour of a politically motivated "people's liberation music".-Biography:Cardew was born in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire...
. During this time, he attended some of the Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
summer courses, where he was exposed to serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
. He later spent two years in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as a student of the prominent serialist Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
.
Bennett taught at the Royal Academy of Music between 1963 and 1965, at the Peabody Institute
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
in Baltimore, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1970 to 1971, and was later International Chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...
of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music between 1994 and the year 2000. He received a CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1977, and was knight
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
ed in 1998.
As one of Britain’s most respected and versatile musicians, Bennett has produced over two hundred works for the concert hall, and fifty scores for film and television, as well as having been a writer and performer of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
songs for fifty years. Studies with Boulez in the 1950s immersed him in the techniques of the European avant-garde
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....
, though he subsequently developed his own distinctive dramato-abstract style. In recent years, he has adopted an increasingly tonal idiom.
Anthony Meredith's biography of Bennett was published in November 2010.
Music
Despite his early studies in modernist techniques, Bennett's tastes are catholic, and he has written in a wide range of styles, being particularly fond of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Early on, he found success by writing music for feature films, although he considered this to be subordinate to his concert music. Nevertheless, he has continued to write music for films and television; among his scores are the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
story The Aztecs
The Aztecs (Doctor Who)
-VHS and DVD releases:*The serial was released on VHS in 1992.*On 21 October 2002, it was released on Region 2 DVD. This release was the first Doctor Who DVD to use the VidFIRE process throughout the whole production.-External links:Fan reviews...
(1964),Billion Dollar Brain (1967) Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd (1967 film)
Far from the Madding Crowd is a 1967 British drama film directed by John Schlesinger, adapted from the book of the same name by Thomas Hardy. It was Schlesinger's fourth film and marked a stylistic shift away from his earlier works which explored contemporary urban mores. The cinematography was by...
(1967), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Nicholas and Alexandra
Nicholas and Alexandra
Nicholas and Alexandra is a 1971 biographical film which tells the story of the last Russian monarch, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra....
(1971), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)
Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, and based on the1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.-Overview:...
(1974), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA, Enchanted April
Enchanted April
Enchanted April is the second film adaptation Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel, The Enchanted April. The novel was adapted as a Broadway play in 1925, and as an RKO Radio film in 1935 - both using the same title as the novel. The 1992 film release received several Golden Globe and Academy Award...
(1992), Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...
(1994), and The Tale of Sweeney Todd
The Tale of Sweeney Todd
The Tale of Sweeney Todd is a 1998 American television movie directed by John Schlesinger. The teleplay by Peter Buckman was adapted from a story by Peter Shaw. It was broadcast in the United States by Showtime on April 19, 1998 and released on videotape in France the following month...
(1998). He is also a prolific composer of orchestral works, piano solos, choral works and operas. Despite this eclecticism, Bennett's music rarely involves crossover of styles.
Instrumental works
- Sonata for piano (1954, first published work)
- Impromptus (for guitar) (1968)
- Concerto for alto saxophone
- Concerto for Stan Getz (tenor sax, timpani & strings)
- Dream Sequence for cello and piano - first performed in December 1994 at the Wigmore HallWigmore HallWigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
, London by Julian Lloyd WebberJulian Lloyd WebberJulian Lloyd Webber is a British solo cellist who has been described as the "doyen of British cellists".-Early life:Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer William Lloyd Webber and his wife Jean Johnstone . He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber...
and John LenehanJohn LenehanJohn Lenehan is a British classical pianist and composer. He has earned an international reputation for his work as soloist, accompanist and chamber musician.-Pianist:... - Elegy for Davis
- Farnham Festival Overture (1964) for orchestra
- The Four Seasons (1991) for Symphonic Wind Ensemble
- A Little Suite, based on selections from his song cycles The Insect World and The Aviary.
- Morning Music for wind band
- Reflections on a Sixteenth Century Tune for string orchestra or double wind quintet (1999)
- SonataSonataSonata , 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 solo guitar (1983) - SonatinaSonatinaA sonatina is literally a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter, lighter in character, or more elementary technically than a typical sonata...
for solo clarinet - Summer Music for flute and piano
- Symphony no.1 (1965)
- Symphony no.2 (1968) commissioned by the New York Philharmonic
- Symphony no.3 (1987)
- Trumpet ConcertoTrumpet concertoA trumpet concerto is a concerto for solo trumpet and instrumental ensemble, customarily the orchestra. Such works have been written from the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
for trumpet and wind orchestra - Scena II (solo cello) commissioned by the Music Department of the University College of North Wales, Bangor, with funds provided by the Welsh Arts Council, and first performed by Judith Mitchell on 25 April 1974
- Partridge Pie (based on The 12 Days of Christmas)
Operas
- The Ledge - 1961
- The Midnight Thief (libretto by Ian SerraillierIan SerraillierIan Serraillier was a British novelist and poet. He was also appreciated by children for being a storyteller retelling legends from Rome, Greece and England...
) - 1964 - The Mines of SulphurThe Mines of SulphurThe Mines of Sulphur is an opera in three acts by Richard Rodney Bennett, his first full-length opera, composed in 1963. Beverley Cross wrote the libretto, based on his play Scarlet Ribbons, at the suggestion of Colin Graham, who eventually directed the first production in 1965...
- 1965 - A Penny for a Song - 1967
- Victory (libretto by Beverley CrossBeverley CrossBeverley Cross was an English playwright, librettist and screenwriter.Born in London into a theatrical family, Cross started off by writing children's plays in the 1950s. He achieved instant success with his first play One More River, which dealt with a mutiny in which a crew puts its first...
) - 1970
Choral works
- Missa BrevisMissa BrevisMissa brevis literally means "short mass" and can refer to different types of musical setting of the Mass. Modernly, Missa brevis is generally understood as a setting of parts of the ordinary mass...
- 1990 - Sea Change - 1983
- Spells, written for soprano Jane ManningJane ManningJane Manning OBE is an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music. She has been described by one critic as "the irrepressible, incomparable, unstoppable Ms...
- Out of Your Sleep
- On Christmas Day to My Heart, written in 1998 for the Festival of Nine Lessons and CarolsNine Lessons and CarolsThe Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is a format for a service of Christian worship celebrating the birth of Jesus that is traditionally followed at Christmas...
at King's College Chapel, CambridgeKing's College Chapel, CambridgeKing's College Chapel is the chapel to King's College of the University of Cambridge, and is one of the finest examples of late Gothic English architecture, while its early Renaissance rood screen separating the nave and chancel, erected in 1532-36 in a striking contrast of style, has been called...
in 1999. - The Garden - A Serenade to Glimmerglass, commissioned by Nicholas Russell for Glimmerglass OperaGlimmerglass OperaGlimmerglass Festival is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States.The summer-only season usually consists of four operas performed in...
in honour of Stewart Robertson for its Young American Artists Program - 2006
The Birds Lament
Portrait bust of Richard Rodney Bennett
Richard Rodney Bennett sat for sculptor Alan ThornhillAlan Thornhill
Alan Thornhill is a British artist and sculptor whose long association with clay developed from pottery into sculpture. His evolved methods of working enabled the dispensing of the sculptural armature to allow improvisation, whilst his portraiture challenges notions of normality through rigorous...
for a portrait in clay. The correspondence file relating to the Bennett portrait bust is held as part of the Thornhill Papers (2006:56) in the archive of the Henry Moore Foundation
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977...
's Henry Moore Institute in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and the terracotta remains in the collection of the artist.
External links
- Richard Rodney Bennett biography and works on the UE website (publisher)
- Biography and list of works