Dorothy Howell (composer)

Dorothy Gertrude Howell (25 February 1898 – 12 January 1982) was an English composer and pianist. She received the nickname of the "English Richard Strauss" in her lifetime.[1]

Biography

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Howell was born in Birmingham, grew up in Handsworth, and received a convent education. She received private composition lessons from Granville Bantock[2] before beginning her studies at the Royal Academy of Music,[1] aged 15. Her teachers there included John Blackwood McEwen and Tobias Matthay.[3]

Howell achieved fame with her symphonic poem Lamia (inspired by the Keats poem) which Sir Henry Wood premiered at The Proms on 10 September 1919.[4] Wood directed Lamia again that same week (on 13 September 1919) and again in six subsequent Proms seasons,[5] but after 1940 the piece was neglected until its revival at the 2010 Proms season.[6][7][8] It received a centenary performance at the Proms in 2019.[9] Howell dedicated Lamia on its 1921 publication to Wood.[10]

Among other compositions by Howell, Wood conducted the ballet score Koong Shee in 1921, her Piano Concerto in 1923 and 1927 (with the composer herself as pianist on both occasions), and the overture The Rock, inspired by a visit to Gibraltar, in 1928. In 1940 Wood was scheduled to conduct the first performance of Three Divertissements, her last known orchestral work, but the concert was cancelled owing to The Blitz. The piece did not receive its premiere until the 1950 Elgar Festival in Malvern.[11] Premiere recordings of Koong Shee, The Rock and the Three Divertissements were issued in 2024.[12]

Howell won the Cobbett Prize in 1921 for her Phantasy for violin and piano. Wood attempted to recruit Howell to his conducting class at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in 1923, but she instead became a teacher at the RAM in 1924. During World War II, she served with the Women's Land Army. She taught at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire from 1950 to 1957. She retired from the RAM in 1970, and after her retirement, continued to teach students privately.[1] She died in Malvern, aged 83.

Howell tended the grave of Sir Edward Elgar for several years,[4] and herself is buried near Elgar in the churchyard of St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church, Little Malvern.[1][13] She is one of the subjects of a 2023 group biography of four women composers by Leah Broad, Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World.[4]

Recordings

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  • Chamber Music: Lorraine McAslan (violin), Sophia Rahman (piano). Piano Sonata, Violin Sonata, Five Studies for piano, Humoresque for piano, The Moorings for violin & piano, Phantasy for violin & piano, Rosalind for violin & piano. Dutton CDLX7144 (2004)
  • Danza Gaya: Music for Two Pianos, Simon Callaghan, Hiroaki Takenouchi. Includes Recuerdos preciosos Nos. 1 and 2, Mazurka and Spindrift. Lyrita SRCD433 (2024)
  • Lamia: Karelia Symphony Orchestra, cond. Marius Stravinsky. British Composers Premiere Collection Vol. 1, Cameo Classics CC9037CD (2014)
  • Lamia: BBC Philharmonic, cond. Rumon Gamba. British Tone Poems Vol. 2, Chandos CHAN10981 (2019)
  • Orchestral Works: BBC Concert Orchestra, cond. Rebecca Miller. Humoresque, Lamia, Koong Shee, The Rock, Three Divertissements. Signum SIGCD763 (2024)
  • Piano Concerto in D minor: Danny Driver, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Rebecca Miller, Hyperion CDA68130 (2017)
  • Piano Concerto in D minor: Valentina Seferinova, Orion Symphony Orchestra, cond. Toby Purser. British Composers Premiere Collection Vol. 4, Cameo Classics CC9041 (2014)

Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Matt Lloyd (27 August 2010). "The lost archive of our own Strauss, Dorothy Howell". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  2. ^ Foreman, Lewis. Notes to Chandos 10981 (2019)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mike, Celia, "Howell, Dorothy", in The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers (Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds.). The MacMillan Press (London & Basingstoke), p. 231 (1994, ISBN 0-333-51598-6).
  4. ^ a b c Broad, Leah. Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World, London, Faber and Faber (2023)
  5. ^ BBC Proms performance archive: Lamia
  6. ^ Roger Wright (10 September 2010). "Last Night of the Proms: A night that is so uniquely British stirs hearts throughout the world". Telegraph. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  7. ^ George Hall (6 September 2010). "Ulster Orchestra/Watkins; BBCCO/Daniel (Royal Albert Hall, London)". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  8. ^ Morley, Christopher (30 May 2013). "Review: Dorothy Howell's Lamia, the Ulster Orchestra, at the Royal Albert Hall". Birmingham Post. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  9. ^ Prom 46: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (2019)
  10. ^ Burton, Anthony, Programme Notes for Prom 68, 116th Season of The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, 5 September 2010.
  11. ^ Vincent James Byrne. The Life and Works of Dorothy Howell, University of Birmingham thesis (2015)
  12. ^ 'Dorothy Howell Orchestral Works', Signum Classics SIGCD763, reviewed at MusicWeb International, 3 March 2024
  13. ^ "Dorothy Howell". Birmingham City Council. Retrieved 9 July 2022.
  14. ^ a b Hardy, Lisa, The British Piano Sonata, 1870-1945. The Boydell Press (Woodbridge, UK), p. 52 (2001; ISBN 0-85115-822-6).
  15. ^ a b Recorded by Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi, Lyrita SRCD 433 (2024)
  16. ^ B.V. (1 April 1926). "New Music: Strings". The Musical Times. 67 (998): 334. JSTOR 912732.
  17. ^ F.B. (April 1926). "New Music for Strings". Music & Letters. 7 (2): 184–186. JSTOR 725875.
  18. ^ T.A. (1 July 1929). "New Music: Pianoforte". The Musical Times. 70 (1037): 613. JSTOR 917424.
  19. ^ Sc.G. (April 1933). "Gramophone Records". Music & Letters. 14 (2): 197. JSTOR 728943.
  20. ^ Published by June Emerson Wind Music (E620)
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