Clarence Raybould

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Clarence Raybould
Clarence Raybould conducting in 1931
Born(1886-06-28)28 June 1886
Birmingham, England
Died27 March 1972(1972-03-27) (aged 85)
Bideford, Devon, England
Occupation(s)Conductor, composer, pianist
Years active1912–1958

Robert Clarence Raybould (28 June 1886 – 27 March 1972) was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan to the standard classical repertoire. He also championed works by contemporary, particularly British, composers.

Biography

Raybould was born in Birmingham in June 1886 to Robert James Raybould (born 1862), a printer compositor, and Ellen Amelia Raybould (née Weston, born 1862). He studied under

Birmingham University.[1]

He assisted Rutland Boughton at early Glastonbury festivals, working later with the Beecham Opera Company and the British National Opera Company. His opera The Sumida River (with a libretto by Marie Stopes adapted from the same Japanese Noh play as, and anticipating Benjamin Britten's Curlew River), was premiered in Birmingham on 25 September 1916. When Britten learned of Raybould's opera in 1958, he commented, "Actually I didn't know that C. Raybould even composed. Don't let it worry us. But what a funny coincidence."[2]

Raybould toured Britain as a pianist and accompanist and was musical advisor for the Columbia Graphophone Company between 1927 and 1931.[3] He was the Director of the Senior Orchestra at the Royal Academy of Music.

He joined the

Hindemith's opera Cardillac in 1936 as well as that of Mathis der Maler
in 1939.

In 1943 Raybould was sent a score of Britten's Matinées Musicales by

Boosey and Hawkes in the hope that he would conduct it. Raybould, alluding to Britten's pacifism, replied saying that "the score is of no interest to me because of the composer's personal views and behaviour, I was going to say politically, but expand this to 'nationally'. I have the utmost contempt for the whole gang of young people who are dodging the country's call."[2]
Raybould later apologised to Britten for this "very angry and hot-headed communication".

On 9 May 1951, Raybould conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in their first concert in the recently opened Royal Festival Hall.[5]

Raybould became the first conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 1945,[6] and was its principal conductor until 1966.

1956 tour to Russia

After

Master of the Queen's Music, arranged for a representative group of six British musicians, including Raybould, to tour the USSR in 1956, it was a high-profile event:[7][8]
the result of painstaking negotiation and cause for intense curiosity on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

According to a carefully worded Times appraisal it was "not an official mission but the outcome, with official blessing, of a personal invitation" to Bliss. Khrushchev was himself involved in the tour, and the plan was to programme modern British music alongside its Soviet equivalent in the course of sixteen concerts over three weeks.

Leaving London on 14 April 1956, the delegates were confronted with the practical consequences of the cold war: no direct flights to Russia. They flew British European Airways to Copenhagen, then a Finnish flight to Helsinki, followed by another Finnish flight to Moscow.

Soprano

Tatyana Nikolayeva
welcoming the plane on its touchdown just before midnight. Every one of the sixteen concerts was sold out in advance, and the musicians found themselves instant celebrities, acknowledged in the street and pursued by journalists in their hotel rooms.

The programme started on 17 April with a public rehearsal of the

Leon Goossens as soloist.[10]
The group also performed in Leningrad, Kiev and Kharkov, and returned to Moscow for a farewell concert attended by Khrushchev

Death

Raybould's grave in the churchyard of St Margaret's church in Northam, Devon

Raybould lived at Oakdale, East-the-Water, Bideford in Devon, where he died in 1972, aged 86. He was survived by his second wife Evelyn (27 March 1907 – 10 August 1976). They are buried together in the churchyard of St Margaret's church in Northam.[11]

Selected compositions

  • The Sumida River, opera (1916)
  • Score for Paul Rotha's Rising Tide and Contact (1933)
  • Dance Serenade, for cello and piano (1937)
  • A Legend, for cello and piano (1937)
  • Three Pieces (Prelude, A Fairy Tale and Passepied) for piano solo (1938)
  • Dorothy, for six-part mixed voices (1948)
  • The Wistful Shepherd for clarinet and piano
  • Four Songs (Merciles Beautie, In the Red April, Crepuscule and The Flower Girl)

First performances

  • Britten – King Arthur (1937), BBC Orch, 23 April 1937[12]
  • Ernest Bloch Les Poèmes de la Mer, UK premiere, BBCSO, 22 October 1937[13]
  • Granville Bantock – Five Ghazals of Hafiz with a prelude for baritone and orchestra, BBC Orch, 15 December 1937[14]
  • Britten – Kermesse canadienne (1939), BBCSO, 6 June 1940[15][16]
  • Philip Prosper Sainton – Symphonic Poem The Island (1939), BBC Orch, London, 5 June 1942[17]

Recordings

Notable broadcasts

  • Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky – a play based on the film broadcast on BBC radio on 26 April 1942 with Michael Redgrave (Nevsky) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Theatre Chorus, Clarence Raybould, conductor[22]
  • Bliss Peace Fanfare for Children. BBC SO/Clarence Raybould. BBC Home Service. Children's Hour, broadcast 8 May 1945 (VE Day).[23]

References

  1. ^ Vincent Budd, A Brief Introduction to the Life and Work of Sir Granville Bantock
  2. ^ a b Letters from a Life Vol 1: 1923–39: Selected Letters and Diaries of Benjamin Britten
  3. ^ [1] [dead link]
  4. ^ "BBC archive, "In Honour of Russia" press release". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. ^ George Weldon, PDF, Web.archive.org
  6. ISBN 978-0-7083-1296-4
  7. ^ "Times article about 1956 tour". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  8. ^ "English Artists in Moscow". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Jennifer Vyvyan – Cold War Diplomacy". Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Jennifer Vyvyan - Cold War Diplomacy".
  11. ^ "Northam Monumental Inscriptions". Genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  12. ISBN 9780851157900
    . Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Ernest Bloch Legacy". Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 January 1998. Retrieved 27 August 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "Classics Online catalogue". Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  16. ^ "The Red House, Aldeburgh". The Red House, Aldeburgh. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  17. ^ "Philip Sainton". Musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  18. ^ "Naxos". Naxos.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Eileen Joyce timeline" (PDF). Callawaymedia.arts.uwa.edu.au. 24 June 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  20. ^ Les Introuvables du Chant Mozartien: 50 Years of Mozart Singing on Records
  21. YouTube, with Ina Souez and Heddle Nash
  22. ^ "Alexander Nevsky: A Play for Radio". Sprkfv.net. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  23. ^ "BBC sound archives". Geocities.co.jp. Retrieved 17 September 2017.

External links

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