John S. Beckett facts for kids
John Stewart Beckett (born February 5, 1927, died February 5, 2007) was a talented Irish musician. He was a composer, meaning he wrote music, and a conductor, who leads orchestras. He was also the cousin of the very famous writer, Samuel Beckett.
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Early Life and Learning
John Beckett and his twin sister, Ann, were born in Sandymount, Dublin. Their parents were Gerald and Peggy Beckett. Gerald, John's father, was a doctor who also loved music. He often played piano duets with friends and even with his son, John, and his nephew, Samuel Beckett.
John's twin sister, Ann, later became a pioneer in occupational therapy in Ireland. His older brother, Peter, became a professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.
John went to St. Columba's College, Dublin, where he learned music from Joe Groocock. Mr. Groocock helped John develop a lifelong love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. It's a fun fact that John shared the same initials, J. S. B., with the famous composer! John even wrote his first fugue, a type of musical composition, when he was about fourteen.
A friend of John's father, David Owen Williams, brought home a full set of Bach's Cantatas from Germany. These pieces of music made a huge impression on young John. In 1933, John's family moved to Greystones, County Wicklow.
A Life in Music
John was very talented and received scholarships to study music at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London. In 1945, he moved to London and studied composing for three years. One of his teachers was Edmund Rubbra.
He then won a scholarship to travel to Paris in 1949, where he continued to study composing with a famous teacher named Nadia Boulanger. John returned to Dublin in 1950.
Between 1950 and 1953, John became friends with other musicians and artists. He met John O'Sullivan, a pianist, and Cathal Gannon, who built harpsichords. A harpsichord is an old keyboard instrument, similar to a piano.
In 1950, John played the harpsichord in a big concert celebrating Bach's music in Dublin. He played the continuo part in Bach's Mass in B minor.
John moved back to London in 1953, but returned to Dublin by 1958. That year, Bach's St Matthew Passion was performed completely for the first time in Dublin. At first, they thought there wasn't a harpsichord available, so John played on a piano with special pins to make it sound like a harpsichord! The next year, Cathal Gannon's first harpsichord was used for the same performance.
In 1960, John helped start a music group in London called Musica Reservata. This group specialized in Renaissance music, which is music from a very old time period. John later conducted the group, and they made many recordings. Besides playing keyboard instruments, John also played the recorder and the viol, another old instrument. He also wrote modern music for plays on the BBC. He even composed music for two works by his cousin, Samuel Beckett.
In 1961, John was in a serious car accident in Ireland and broke several bones. While he was recovering, he practiced music on a clavichord, a small keyboard instrument, made by his friend Cathal Gannon. After recovering, he returned to England and taught music.
Marriage and Return to Dublin
John married Vera Slocombe in 1961, but their marriage ended in 1969. In March 1970, he moved back to Dublin with his partner, Ruth David, who played the viola. They lived in a simple cottage near Djouce Mountain in County Wicklow.
From there, John drove to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. He taught harpsichord and viol and led a chamber music class. Many students learned from him, including famous musicians like Malcolm Proud and Emer Buckley. John also wrote music for a TV show called "Inis Fail," which was about Ireland. He conducted the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra for the film.
The Bach Cantatas
John Beckett became famous for directing a series of Bach cantatas, which are special musical pieces, in St Ann's Church, Dawson Street, Dublin. These concerts started in 1973 and continued for ten years. Many talented singers performed regularly.
Because of these concerts, John Beckett and his groups, the New Irish Chamber Orchestra and The Cantata Singers, were invited to perform at the famous Henry Wood Proms concert series in London in 1979. This was a big moment because it was the first time an orchestra and choir from the Republic of Ireland performed at the Proms!
Haydn, Purcell, and Travel
John Beckett often performed music by Haydn, another famous composer. He also started the Henry Purcell Consort in 1975 and played a lot of Henry Purcell's music for audiences in Dublin. He even recorded some of Purcell's songs.
He worked regularly with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra. In 1975, he traveled with them to Italy. There, he was surprised to receive a special medal from Pope Paul VI after an unplanned performance.
In 1980, John Beckett went with the New Irish Chamber Orchestra to China, which he really enjoyed. He played on old harpsichords and pianos from Trinity College Dublin. By this time, he and Ruth had moved to Bray, County Wicklow.
Interests and Tastes
John Beckett had many interesting likes and dislikes. He remembered a trip to the Great Blasket Island off the coast of Ireland in the 1940s. He loved staying with the local people and listening to their traditional music.
He was greatly influenced by the writings of his cousin Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, and Kafka. He also liked the simple, sharp shapes of Chinese and Japanese calligraphy, which was even reflected in his unique handwriting. He loved old, simple pottery and ancient Byzantine icons.
His two most prized possessions were a bamboo chair from China and an old wall clock that belonged to his mother. He also enjoyed simple, flavorful food and loved garlic, which he sometimes carried in his pocket to flavor his whiskey!
John admired James Joyce as much as he admired Johann Sebastian Bach. He read Joyce's famous book Ulysses often. He traveled to Joyce's grave in Switzerland and visited places in Germany connected to Bach.
While John loved many types of music, he famously disliked the music of composers like Handel, Vivaldi, and Corelli.
Later Years in London
In 1983, John and Ruth moved to Greenwich in London. John worked for BBC Radio 3 until he retired, producing and presenting music programs.
In 1990, he was invited to conduct the first concert of the Irish Baroque Orchestra in Dublin, but he was unable to due to health issues. Ruth, his partner, passed away in 1995, and his sister Ann died in 2002. John lived alone but was regularly visited by friends.
John Beckett passed away peacefully in his chair on his 80th birthday, February 5, 2007. He was cremated 11 days later after a simple ceremony where Japanese flute music was played, as he had requested.
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