Alan Ridout facts for kids

Alan Ridout (born December 9, 1934 – died March 19, 1996) was a British composer and teacher. He wrote many different kinds of music. This included pieces for churches, orchestras, and smaller groups of instruments. He often created music that could be played by students and people who played music as a hobby.

Life of Alan Ridout

Alan Ridout was born in West Wickham, Kent, England. He started his music studies at the Guildhall School of Music. After that, he spent four years studying at the Royal College of Music in London. There, he learned from famous composers like Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob. He also had lessons from Michael Tippett and Peter Racine Fricker. He even studied in the Netherlands with Henk Badings thanks to a scholarship.

Later in his life, Alan Ridout became a teacher himself. He taught at several well-known places. These included the Royal College of Music and the University of Birmingham. He also taught at the University of Cambridge and the University of London. He even taught at The King's School, Canterbury. Besides teaching, he also gave talks about music on the radio.

For many years, Alan Ridout lived in Canterbury, England. In 1990, he had a serious heart attack. After this, he moved to France. He first settled in Vitré, a town in Brittany. Towards the end of his life, he moved to Caen, where he passed away.

Alan Ridout's Music Style

Alan Ridout's music usually followed a style called tonal. This means his music had a clear home note or key. When he was younger, he experimented with some microtonal works. Microtonal music uses notes that are "in between" the notes we usually hear on a piano.

He wrote many different types of music. This included pieces for church services, large orchestras, and smaller groups of instruments (chamber music). He often wrote these pieces for young musicians or people who played music for fun. A lot of his church music came from working with Allan Wicks. Allan Wicks was the organist at Canterbury Cathedral. Their partnership started in 1964.

Ridout composed six string quartets over nine years. These pieces for four string instruments were exciting and varied. They were also not too hard for good amateur groups to play. He also wrote many "concertinos." These are like small concertos for a solo instrument with piano or string orchestra. He often wrote these especially for his students or friends.

One interesting piece he wrote was Caliban and Ariel (1974). This was for a bassoon playing by itself. It was a musical picture of two characters from Shakespeare's play The Tempest. A student named Laurence Perkins first played it in Canterbury. He has played and recorded it many times since then.

Alan Ridout often worked with the Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO). This was an orchestra made up of talented school students. His piece Three Pictures of Picasso was first written for the National Youth Orchestra. The LSSO performed it in 1964. Ridout was there to hear it.

His second symphony was also for the LSSO. He dedicated it to Michael Tippett for his 60th birthday. This symphony was first performed in 1965. It was even shown on a TV program called Overture with Beginners.

In 1967, the Leicestershire Schools Music Festival featured several pieces written for the LSSO. Ridout's dance drama Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior was performed for the first time that May. In July 1967, the LSSO made its first professional recording. Ridout wrote a lively piece called Concertante Music for this recording. This piece was first heard on a record, not at a live concert. The LSSO later took Concertante Music on their tour of Denmark and Germany in September 1967.

Selected Works by Alan Ridout

Alan Ridout was a very productive composer. He wrote so much music that a full list of his works would be 100 pages long! Here are just a few examples of the many pieces he created in different categories:

Choral Music

• On Christ's Nativity (1954) for a choir with four parts.
• St. John Passion (1962) for singers, choir, and organ.
• Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (St. John's service) (1962) for choir and organ.
• Sacred Songs for Treble Voices (1st set) (1965) for boys' choir and organ.
• The History of the Flood (1971) for six voices, based on a poem.
• Samuel! (1993) a cantata for solo singers, mixed choir, and organ.

Orchestral Music

• Symphony No. 1 (1958)
• Three Pictures of Picasso (1962)
• Symphony No. 2 (1964)
• Funeral Games for a Greek Warrior (1966) for orchestra and children's choir.
• Concertante Music (1967)
• Concerto for double bass and strings (1974).
• Concertino for bassoon and strings (1975).
• Concertino for trumpet and strings (1976).
• Pedro the Parrot (1983) for the National Youth Ballet.
• Symphony No. 8 (1984) for string orchestra.

Organ Music

• The Seven Last Words (1965).
• Two Pictures of Graham Sutherland (1967).
• Resurrection Dances (1969).
• The Fourteen Stations of the Cross (1978).
• Toccata (1989).

Brass Music

• Sonata for solo trombone (1975).
• Autumn Story (1978) for tuba and piano.
• Light and Shade: six easy pieces for horn and piano (1991).

Wind Music

• Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1967).
• Pigs (1972) for four bassoons.
• Caliban and Ariel (1974) for solo bassoon.
• The Emperor and the Bird of Paradise (1974) for a narrator and solo flute.
• Tarka, the water wanderer (1987) for three flutes.
• A Day in the Country: 12 easy pieces for recorder and piano (1990).
• The Shepherd's Calendar (1991) for four bassoons.

String Music

• Partita (1959) for solo cello.
• Ferdinand (1971) for a speaker and solo violin.
• Little Sad Sound (1974), a story told with a narrator and double bass.
• String Quartet No. 1 (1985).
• Seascapes: six easy pieces for viola or cello and piano (1990).
• String Quartet No. 6 "The Vitréen" (1994).

Piano Music

• Dance Bagatelles (1956).
• Sonatina (1968).
• Portraits: Eight pieces for piano (1973).
• White Notes, Black Notes, Key Notes (1990).

Percussion Music

• Sonatina for timpani (1967).