Harrison Birtwistle facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sir Harrison Birtwistle CH
Birtwistle in Turin, 2008
Born	(1934-07-15)15 July 1934 Accrington, England
Died	18 April 2022(2022-04-18) (aged 87) Mere, Wiltshire, England
Era	Contemporary
Notable work	List of compositions
Spouse(s)	Sheila Duff ​ ​ (m. 1958; died 2012)​
Children	3, including Adam and Silas

Sir Harrison Birtwistle (born July 15, 1934 – died April 18, 2022) was an English composer. He wrote contemporary classical music, which is a modern style of classical music. He was most famous for his operas, which are plays set to music. Many of his operas were based on old myths and stories.

Some of his well-known works include The Triumph of Time (1972) and the operas The Mask of Orpheus (1986), Gawain (1991), and The Minotaur (2008). Music critics in 2019 said The Minotaur was one of the best pieces of the 21st century. Even music he wrote that wasn't for the stage often felt very dramatic, like a play. A performance of his saxophone piece Panic at the BBC Proms caused a lot of talk across the country. He received many important awards and special degrees from universities.

Life and Career of Harrison Birtwistle

Early Life and Music Beginnings

Harrison Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a town in England, on July 15, 1934. His parents, Fred and Madge Birtwistle, owned a bakery. His mother really encouraged his interest in music. She bought him a clarinet when he was seven years old. He also took lessons from the local bandmaster.

As a young boy, Birtwistle spent a lot of time exploring the countryside near his home. He felt upset when modern technology disturbed nature, and this feeling later showed up in his music. He also enjoyed building small theater sets and imagining plays happening inside them. He became very good at the clarinet. He played in local bands and orchestras that performed famous works like Handel's Messiah. He started composing his own music around this time.

In 1952, he went to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester to study clarinet. There, he met other young composers who would also become famous, like Peter Maxwell Davies and Alexander Goehr. After college, he spent two years serving in the Royal Artillery Band.

Composing and Major Works

From 1962 to 1965, Birtwistle worked as a music director at a school. Then, he continued his studies at Princeton University in the United States. While there, he finished his opera Punch and Judy. This opera was first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival. This work, along with Verses for Ensembles and The Triumph of Time, helped him become more known in the classical music world. The Triumph of Time was inspired by an old woodcut picture by Pieter Bruegel. It was first performed in 1972.

In 1972, he wrote the music for the film The Offence, which starred Sean Connery. This was the only film score he ever wrote. From 1975 to 1983, he was the musical director for the Royal National Theatre in London. He was honored with a knighthood in 1988, which meant he was called "Sir." In 2001, he was made a Companion of Honour, another special award. From 1994 to 2001, he was a professor of composition at King's College London. In 1987, he won the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his big opera The Mask of Orpheus.

Even though he was well-known in the classical music world, many people outside of it didn't know about him until the mid-1990s. In 1994, some musicians protested at a performance of his opera Gawain. The next year, his saxophone piece Panic was played at the Last Night of the Proms. This was the first time a modern classical piece was played at this very popular event, which was watched by millions of people worldwide. Many viewers found the music confusing.

In 1995, he received the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize. He sometimes gave interviews, but he generally kept a low public profile. He married Sheila Duff, a singer, in 1958. She passed away in 2012. Two of their three sons, Adam and Silas Birtwistle, are artists. Harrison Birtwistle died at his home on April 18, 2022, at the age of 87.

Music Style and Works

Musical Style

Harrison Birtwistle's music doesn't fit into just one specific type or group. For a while, people called his style part of the "Manchester School," along with other composers he met in college. His music is often complex and modern. It has a very clear and special sound, sometimes described as "brash" or bold.

His early music sometimes reminds people of composers like Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen, whom he said influenced him. He often put different blocks of sound next to each other, a technique sometimes compared to Edgard Varèse. Hearing music by Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen when he was young also inspired him. His early pieces often used repeating musical patterns called ostinati and felt like old rituals. As he got older, his style changed, and he used these less often.

Even when Birtwistle wasn't writing music for a stage play, his pieces often felt very theatrical. His music doesn't always follow the usual rules of classical forms, like a sonata form. Instead, it's structured more like a drama. Different musical instruments can even seem to act like different characters in the story. This is very clear in his piece Secret Theatre (1984). In this work, some musicians stand up and play by themselves, like soloists, and then return to the group when their special part is over.

List of Compositions

Operas

• Punch and Judy (1966–1967)
• The Mask of Orpheus (1973–1984)
• Gawain (1990)
• The Last Supper (2000)
• The Minotaur (2008)
• The Corridor, a smaller opera (2009)
• The Cure (2014–2015)

Other Important Music

• Refrains and Choruses (1957), for wind quintet
• The Triumph of Time (1971–1972), for orchestra
• Silbury Air (1976–1977), for a small orchestra
• Secret Theatre (1984), for a group of musicians
• Panic (1995), for alto saxophone, jazz drum kit, and orchestra
• Theseus Game (2002), for a large group with two conductors
• In Broken Images (2011), for a large group (inspired by Gabrieli's music)
• Songs from the Same Earth (2012–2013), for tenor voice and piano
• Responses (2013–2014), a piano concerto (a piece for piano and orchestra)
• Deep Time (2016), for orchestra

Honours and Awards

Harrison Birtwistle received many important awards and honors throughout his life:

• 1986 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, from the University of Louisville
• 1986 Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, from the Ministry of Culture in France
• 1988 Knight Bachelor (Kt), given by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom
• 1994 Honorary Fellow, Royal Academy of Arts
• 1995 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
• 2001 Order of the Companions of Honour (CH), given by the Monarchy of the United Kingdom
• 2003 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards for Large-scale Composition
• 2007 Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters
• 2015 Wihuri Sibelius Prize

He also received special honorary degrees from several universities:

• 1994 University of Sussex, Doctor of Music (D.Mus.)
• 1996 City, University of London, D.Mus.
• 2008 University of London, D.Mus.
• 2010 University of Cambridge, D.Mus.
• 2013 Bath Spa University, Doctorate
• 2014 University of Oxford, D.Mus.
• 2014 Edge Hill University, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

See also

In Spanish: Harrison Birtwistle para niños