Humphrey Searle facts for kids

Humphrey Searle (born August 26, 1915 – died May 12, 1982) was an English composer and a writer about music. He created music that mixed older styles, like late Romantic music, with newer, more modern ideas called serialism. His main inspirations were famous composers like Franz Liszt, Arnold Schoenberg, and Anton Webern. Webern even taught Searle for a short time. As a writer, Searle wrote many books and articles about music. He was an expert on Franz Liszt's music and even created the first system to list all of Liszt's musical pieces.

Humphrey Searle's Early Life and Education

Humphrey Searle was born in Oxford, England. He first studied classical subjects, like ancient Greek and Roman history. Later, he decided to study music. He went to the Royal College of Music in London, where he learned from John Ireland. After that, he received a scholarship to go to Vienna, Austria. There, he had the important chance to study with Anton Webern, a very influential composer. This experience greatly shaped Searle's own music.

Searle's Work in Music

Humphrey Searle was one of the first composers in the United Kingdom to use serial music. This is a way of composing music using a specific order of notes. From 1946 to 1948, he worked as a producer at the BBC, a big broadcasting company. He used this job to help promote and share serial music with more people.

He was also the General Secretary for the International Society for Contemporary Music from 1947 to 1949. This group helps new and modern music be heard. For the president of this society, Edward Clark, Searle wrote a special piece called the Quartet for Clarinet, Bassoon, Violin, and Viola. This piece is a musical palindrome, which means it sounds the same played forwards or backwards!

Famous Musical Works

Searle wrote a very important piece for piano called his Piano Sonata, Op. 21. He wrote it for a concert in 1951 to celebrate the 140th birthday of Franz Liszt. Many people consider this sonata to be one of the best and most original piano pieces ever written by a British composer.

Some of his other well-known pieces include:

• Poem for 22 Strings (1950)
• An opera called The Diary of a Madman (1958), which won a major award.
• Five symphonies, which are large musical works for an orchestra. His first symphony was even recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Music for Movies and TV

Humphrey Searle also composed music for many films. Some of the movies he worked on include:

• The Baby and the Battleship (1956)
• The Abominable Snowman (1957)
• The Haunting (1963)

He also wrote music for the popular TV show Doctor Who in 1965, for a story called The Myth Makers.

Humorous Compositions

Searle also had a funny side! He wrote some humorous pieces for the Hoffnung Music Festivals. These included a musical version of the poem Young Lochinvar and a funny parody of serialism called Punkt Kontrapunkt.

Searle as a Teacher and Writer

Humphrey Searle taught music throughout his life. Some of his notable students who became composers include Brian Elias, Michael Finnissy, and Nicola LeFanu.

He also wrote important books about music, such as Twentieth Century Counterpoint and The Music of Franz Liszt. He created the most widely used system for cataloging all of Liszt's compositions. Today, Liszt's works are often identified using Searle's numbering system, which is shortened to "S.".

Later Life

Humphrey Searle married Fiona Nicholson in 1960. He passed away in London in 1982 when he was 66 years old.

List of Works

See also

In Spanish: Humphrey Searle para niños