English composer (1937?2021)
Gordon Crosse
(1 December 1937 ? 21 November 2021) was an English composer.
Biography
[
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]
Crosse was born in
Bury, Lancashire
on 1 December 1937,
[1]
and in 1961 graduated from
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
with a
first class honours
degree in music, where his tutors included
Egon Wellesz
.
[2]
He then undertook two years of postgraduate research on early
fifteenth-century music
before beginning an academic career at the
University of Birmingham
. Subsequent employment included posts at the Universities of
Essex
,
Cambridge
and
California
. He won the
Worshipful Company of Musicians
'
Cobbett Medal
for services to music in 1976. For two years after 1980 he taught part-time at the Royal Academy of Music in London but then retired to his
Suffolk
home to compose full-time.
Crosse first came to prominence at the 1964
Aldeburgh Festival
with
Meet My Folks!
(
Theme and Relations
,
op.
10), a music theatre work for children and adults based on poems by
Ted Hughes
. Hughes also provided the lyrics for five of Crosse's subsequent works: the "
cantata
"
The Demon of Adachigahara
(op. 21, 1968);
The New World
for voice and piano (op. 25); the opera
The Story of Vasco
(op. 29, 1974);
Wintersong
for six singers and optional percussion (op. 51); and
Harvest Songs
for two choirs and orchestra (op. 56).
The Demon of Adachigahara
, another music theatre work for children and adults, is a retelling of a traditional Japanese folk-tale akin to a
Brothers Grimm
story; it warns of the dangers of curiosity.
The Story of Vasco
, premiered in 1974 by
Sadler's Wells Opera
at the
Coliseum Theatre
in London, is a setting of Hughes' translation and adaptation of
Georges Schehade
's play
Histoire de Vasco
.
Changes
(op. 17), for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, was written for the 1966 Three Choirs Festival in Worcester. The title refers to the sound of church-bells and it sets Crosse's own choice of texts by a variety of English poets ("I spent as long choosing the text as writing the music"),
[3]
an approach similar to that of Britten in his
Spring Symphony
. Though the subject-matter is often dark ? many of the texts relate to death ? the composer aimed "to fashion something enjoyable to listener and performer alike."
Crosse's first opera,
Purgatory
(op. 18), is a one-act setting of the play by
William Butler Yeats
. The opera reflects Crosse's admiration for the music of Benjamin Britten, in particular
The Turn of the Screw
.
[4]
It was written in 1966 and premiered at the
Cheltenham Music Festival
later that year. In 1969, Crosse returned to the Aldeburgh Festival to hear the
English Opera Group
premiere his second opera
The Grace of Todd
(op. 20) and revive
Purgatory
. The following year, the piece
Some Marches on a Ground
[5]
for full orchestra elaborated material that would later appear in
The Story of Vasco
of 1974.
Crosse also composed the music for
King Lear
, the 1983 television production of
Shakespeare's play
, in which
Laurence Olivier
played the title role, and for which the celebrated actor won the last of his five
Emmy Awards
.
[6]
The production marked Olivier's last appearance in a Shakespearean role. This is the only television production for which Crosse has composed the music.
Crosse's interest in the relationship between music, literature and drama is evident in his concert as well as his theatrical work. Two examples are
Memories of Morning: Night
[5]
for
mezzo-soprano
and orchestra, based on
Jean Rhys
' novel
Wide Sargasso Sea
; and
World Within
for actress, soprano and small ensemble, based on a text by
Emily Bronte
. Crosse also developed an interest in
ballet
after he adapted his orchestral piece
Play Ground
(1977) for choreographer
Kenneth MacMillan
. The ballet version of
Play Ground
was premiered at the 1979
Edinburgh Festival
by the
Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
, after which MacMillan then choreographed Crosse's
chamber
piece
Wildboy
(clarinet and ensemble, 1978) to produce a ballet for the
American Ballet Theatre
. In 1984, following a request by choreographer
David Bintley
, Crosse extended
Benjamin Britten
's
Young Apollo
for use as ballet music; the resulting ballet was premiered later that year by
The Royal Ballet
at the
Royal Opera House
in Covent Garden, London.
Works for soloist and orchestra form the other major strand in Crosse's composition. These include two violin concertos, a cello concerto
[5]
(written in 1979 "in memoriam
Luigi Dallapiccola
", based on a
motif
from Dallapiccola's piece
Piccola Musica Notturna
) and three works featuring blown instruments (
Ariadne
for oboe, commissioned for the oboist Sarah Francis,
Thel
for flute and
Wildboy
for clarinet).
Later career and death
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His fiftieth birthday was celebrated in 1987 with featured performances at several festivals, and he was BBC Radio 3 "Composer of the Week" in December. But following the completion of
Sea Psalms
, written for Glasgow forces in its year as European City of Culture, 1990, Crosse shifted his focus to computer programming and
music technology
, and in the following 17 years, produced little music, except several songs with recorder parts, written for the recorder player
John Turner
. He retired from his programming job in 2004.
[7]
With
Dirge from Cymbeline
for baritone and harp, written in 2007 for the NMC Songbook, Crosse resumed active composition. The
Dirge
was followed by a Trio for oboe, violin and cello (
Rhyming with Everything
) and a "Fantasia" for flute/recorder, harp and strings. Then came a stream of new works, both large scale and small. Chamber works included four more string quartets (Nos 2 to 5),
Brief Encounter
for oboe, recorder and strings, a trio for oboe, violin and cello, and the
Three Kipling Songs
(2008). Orchestral works included a Viola Concerto, a 3rd violin concerto 'Horizon' and the Symphonies No 3, 4, 5 'The Seabird's Cry' and 6 (for double string orchestra, piano, timpani and harp). OUP was the publisher of his pieces until 1990, and Cadenza Music was his primary publisher since 2008.
[8]
Crosse married Elizabeth Bunch in 1965 after they met at Aldburgh, and they bought a house, Brant's Cottage in Blackheath,
Wenhaston
, near Blythburgh, Suffolk. There were two sons.
[9]
She died of cancer in 2011. In later years his partner was the poet
Wendy Mulford
, with whom he bought a cottage on
Papa Westray
, the northern-most of the Orkney Islands.
[10]
Crosse died on 21 November 2021, at the age of 83.
[11]
Selected works
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]
Orchestral
[
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]
2009
|
Brief Encounter
|
|
|
for
oboe d'amore
, recorder & string orchestra
|
|
Fantasia on "Ca' the Yowes"
|
|
|
for flute/recorder, harp & string orchestra
|
|
Viola Concerto
|
|
|
for viola & string orchestra with French horn
|
1986
|
Array
|
|
30'
|
for trumpet & string orchestra
|
1979
|
Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra
[5]
|
op. 44
|
25'
|
"In Memoriam Luigi Dallapiccola"
|
1978
|
Play Ground
|
op. 41
|
27'
|
|
1975
|
Symphony No. 2
|
op. 37
|
24'
|
|
1974
|
Young Apollo
|
|
30'
|
|
|
Memories of Morning: Night
[5]
|
op. 30
|
34'
|
mezzo-soprano & orchestra
|
1970
|
Some Marches on a Ground
[5]
|
op. 28
|
12'
|
|
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra
|
op. 26
|
34'
|
|
1966
|
Changes: A Nocturnal Cycle
|
op. 17
|
50'
|
soprano & baritone soloists, chorus, orchestra
|
Chamber
[
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]
1986
|
Wintersong
|
op. 51
|
30'
|
six singers, optional percussion
|
1983
|
Wavesongs
[5]
|
|
30'
|
cello and piano
|
1982
|
Watermusic
[12]
|
|
11'
|
recorders (one player) and piano
|
1980
|
A Year and a Day
[5]
|
op. 48a
|
8'
|
solo clarinet
|
1979
|
Verses in Memoriam David Munrow
[13]
|
|
9'
|
counter-tenor, recorder, cello and harpsichord
|
1978
|
Wildboy
|
op. 42
|
27'
|
clarinet and ensemble
|
Thel
|
op. 38
|
14'
|
flute, two horns and string ensemble
|
1973
|
Dreamsongs
[14]
|
op. 35
|
14'
|
clarinet, oboe, bassoon, piano
|
1972
|
Ariadne
|
op. 31
|
23'
|
oboe and ensemble
|
|
The New World
|
op. 25
|
20'
|
voice and piano
|
Opera and music theatre
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1977
|
World Within
|
op. 40
|
43'
|
actress, mezzo-soprano, ensemble
|
1974
|
The Story of Vasco
|
op. 29
|
135'
|
three-act opera
|
1968
|
The Demon of Adachigahara
|
op. 21
|
30'
|
children and adults
|
|
The Grace of Todd
|
op. 20
|
75'
|
"comedy in three scenes"
|
1966
|
Purgatory
|
op. 18
|
40'
|
one-act opera
|
1964
|
Meet My Folks! (Theme and Relations)
|
op. 10
|
25'
|
children and adults
|
Recordings
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]
Meet My Folks!
|
op. 10
|
EMI
CLP 1893 (LP)
|
|
Concerto da Camera
|
op. 6
|
EMI
ASD 2333 (LP)
Argo
ZRG 759 (LP)
EMI
50999 9 18514 2 (CD)
|
Manoug Parikian (violin),
Melos Ensemble
conducted by
Edward Downes
|
Changes: A Nocturnal Cycle
|
op. 17
|
Argo
ZRG 656 (LP)
Lyrita
SRCD 259 (CD)
|
Vyvyan
,
Shirley-Quirk
,
LSO
& Chorus conducted by
Del Mar
|
Purgatory
|
op. 18
|
Argo
ZRG 810 (LP)
Lyrita
SRCD 313 (CD)
|
|
Some Marches on a Ground
|
op. 28
|
First Edition LS 471 (LP)
RCA Gold Seal GL 25018 (LP)
|
Louisville Orchestra
conducted by
Jorge Mester
[15]
|
The New World
|
op. 25
|
U-K
DKP 9093 (CD)
|
Muriel Dickinson (voice); Peter Dickinson (piano)
|
A Year and a Day
|
op. 48a
|
Metier MSV 92013
(CD)
|
Kate Romano (clarinet); Alan Hicks (piano)
|
Ariadne
|
op. 31
|
Argo
ZRG 842 (LP)
Lyrita
SRCD 259 (CD)
|
Sarah Francis (oboe);
LSO
ensemble conducted by Michael Lankester
|
Watermusic
|
|
Olympia
OCD 714 (CD)
|
John Turner (recorders); Peter Lawson (piano)
|
Wavesongs
|
|
NMC
D019 (CD)
|
Alexander Baillie (cello);
Andrew Ball
(piano)
|
Memories of Morning: Night
Cello Concerto
Some Marches on a Ground
|
op. 30
op. 44
op. 28
|
NMC
D058 (CD)
|
Bickley (mezzo-soprano) Alexander Baillie (cello)
BBCSO
conducted by
Martyn Brabbins
|
Three Kipling Songs
Rhyming with Everything (Trio)
|
|
Prima Facie
PFCD0004 (CD)
|
Lesley-Jane Rogers (soprano), John Turner (recorder), Richard Simpson (oboe), Richard Howarth (violin), Jonathan Price (cello)
|
Elegy and Scherzo for string orchestra
|
op. 47
|
Dutton
CDLX 7207 (CD)
|
Manchester Chamber Ensemble conducted by Richard Howarth
|
Brief Encounter
Viola Concerto
Fantasia on 'Ca the Yowes'
|
|
Metier MSV 77201
(CD)
|
Matthew Jones (viola), John Turner (recorder)
Manchester Sinfonia conducted by Timothy Reynish
|
Bibliography
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]
- Gordon Crosse,
Meet My Folks! A theme and relations. For speaker, children’s chorus, children’s percussion band, and adult percussion and instrumental players (Opus 10)
, setting of a book of children's poems by
Ted Hughes
(
Oxford University Press
, Oxford, 1965, with cover and illustrations by
George Adamson
)
[16]
- Gordon Crosse,
The Demon of Adachigahara
, setting of a poem by Ted Hughes (
Oxford University Press
, Oxford, 1969)
[17]
- Gordon Crosse,
The New World
, setting of six poems by Ted Hughes (
Oxford University Press
, Oxford, 1975)
[18]
- ed. Lewis Foreman,
British Music Now: A Guide to the Work of Younger Composers
(Paul Elek Ltd.: London, September 1975)
- ed. Walsh, Holden and Kenyon,
Viking Opera Guide: Gordon Crosse
(Viking: London, 1993;
ISBN
0-670-81292-7
)
- Crosse has written for and been written about in the journal
Tempo
.
- Burn, Andrew,
Gordon Crosse at 50
, in
Musical Times
, Vol. 128, No. 1738, p. 679 (December 1987)
References
[
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]
- ^
Humphreys, Maggie (1997).
Dictionary of composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland
. London Herndon, VA: Mansell. p. 79.
ISBN
9780720123302
.
- ^
Turner, John.
Remembering Gordon Crosse
, 22 November 2021
- ^
Note by the composer with Lyrita CD SRCD 259.
- ^
Note by Calum MacDonald with Lyrita CD SRCD 313
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Online excerpt
available
as of
September 2006.
[
dead link
]
- ^
"Laurence Olivier"
.
IMDb
.
- ^
Obituary,
The Telegraph
, 18 February, 2022
- ^
Composer's website
- ^
"Gordon Crosse Tribute"
(Press release). Britten-Pears Arts. December 2021
. Retrieved
10 December
2021
.
- ^
Obituary, Gordon Crosse, British Music Society
- ^
"Gordon Crosse (1937?2021)"
(Press release). NMC Recordings. 2 December 2021
. Retrieved
10 December
2021
.
- ^
Another version replaces the piano with a string orchestra.
- ^
Revised in 1996 for
Spitalfields Festival
.
- ^
Revised and enlarged for chamber orchestra as op. 43.
- ^
Video
on
YouTube
- ^
George Worsley Adamson web site.
- ^
Keith Sagar and Stephen Tabor:
Ted Hughes: A Bibliography 1946-1980
, Mansell Publishing Limited, London, 1983, p. 211.
- ^
Keith Sagar and Stephen Tabor:
Ted Hughes: A Bibliography 1946-1980
, Mansell Publishing Limited, London, 1983, p. 212.
External links
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