Arnold Cooke
Encyclopedia
Arnold Atkinson Cooke was a British composer.
, West Yorkshire
into a family of carpet manufacturers. He was educated at Repton School
and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History, but he was already attracted to a career in music. In 1929, having taken a second degree in Music, he studied composition and piano at the Berlin Academy for Music under Paul Hindemith
. He later became musical director of the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and in 1933 was appointed a professor at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now merged into the Royal Northern College of Music
). He moved to London in 1937.
In the 1930s Cooke carved out a reputation for himself as a promising young composer, and his music was taken up by leading interpreters. The harpist Maria Korchinska
introduced his Harp Quintet in 1932; Sir Henry Wood conducted his Concert Overture No.1 at the 1934 Promenade Concerts. The Griller Quartet
premiered his First String Quartet in 1935. In 1936 Havergal Brian
singled out for praise a cantata, Holderneth, on a text by the American poet Edward Sweeney, which Cooke later withdrew. Louis Kentner
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
premiered his Piano Concerto in 1943, which he had completed just before his call-up in 1941.
In the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy
, first in the aircraft carrier
HMS Victorious
and subsequently as a liaison officer in a Norwegian escort vessel and a Dutch tug that took part in the D-Day
Landings. After demobilization he returned to London in 1946, becoming a founder member of the Composers Guild of Great Britain, and from 1947 until his retirement in 1978 he was Professor of Harmony and Composition at Trinity College of Music
in London. In 1948, through the recommendation of E. J. Dent
he obtained a doctorate from Cambridge
. After a stroke in 1993 he virtually ceased to compose, but survived to the age of 98.
Two of his symphonies and other orchestral works were recorded by the Lyrita
label, whilst the clarinet quartet and the clarinet concerto were recorded on Hyperion
.
and The Invisible Duke (1976). The ballet Jabez and the Devil (1961) was a commission from the Royal Ballet. He composed six symphonies, several concertos, copious chamber music including a clarinet quintet and five string quartets, many instrumental sonatas, and some important vocal music. His music seems to show the influence of Hindemith almost throughout his career, leavened with a more English sense of lyricism.
~Piano
Career
He was born at GomersalGomersal
Gomersal is a village in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England. It is south of Bradford, east of Cleckheaton, and north of Heckmondwike and close to the River Spen....
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
into a family of carpet manufacturers. He was educated at Repton School
Repton School
Repton School, founded in 1557, is a co-educational English independent school for both day and boarding pupils, in the British public school tradition, located in the village of Repton, in Derbyshire, in the Midlands area of England...
and at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he read History, but he was already attracted to a career in music. In 1929, having taken a second degree in Music, he studied composition and piano at the Berlin Academy for Music under Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
. He later became musical director of the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and in 1933 was appointed a professor at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now merged into the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
). He moved to London in 1937.
In the 1930s Cooke carved out a reputation for himself as a promising young composer, and his music was taken up by leading interpreters. The harpist Maria Korchinska
Maria Korchinska
Maria Korchinska , was a distinguished 20th-century harpistKorchinska entered the Moscow Conservatoire in 1903 to study both piano and harp. On the advice of her father, she decided in 1907 to concentrate solely on the harp...
introduced his Harp Quintet in 1932; Sir Henry Wood conducted his Concert Overture No.1 at the 1934 Promenade Concerts. The Griller Quartet
Griller Quartet
The Griller String Quartet was a British musical ensemble particularly active from 1931 to c.1961 or 1963, when they disbanded. The quartet was in residence at the University of California at Berkeley from 1949 to 1961...
premiered his First String Quartet in 1935. In 1936 Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian , was a British classical composer.Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the many symphonies he had managed to write. By the end of his life he had completed 32, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart...
singled out for praise a cantata, Holderneth, on a text by the American poet Edward Sweeney, which Cooke later withdrew. Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner
Louis Kentner was a Hungarian, later British, pianist who excelled in the works of Chopin and Liszt, as well as the Hungarian repertoire....
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
premiered his Piano Concerto in 1943, which he had completed just before his call-up in 1941.
In the Second World War, he served in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, first in the aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
HMS Victorious
HMS Victorious (R38)
HMS Victorious was the second Illustrious-class aircraft carrier ordered under the 1936 Naval Programme. She was laid down at the Vickers-Armstrong shipyard at Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1937 and launched two years later in 1939...
and subsequently as a liaison officer in a Norwegian escort vessel and a Dutch tug that took part in the D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
Landings. After demobilization he returned to London in 1946, becoming a founder member of the Composers Guild of Great Britain, and from 1947 until his retirement in 1978 he was Professor of Harmony and Composition at Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
in London. In 1948, through the recommendation of E. J. Dent
Edward Joseph Dent
Edward Joseph Dent, generally known by his initials as E. J. Dent was a British writer on music....
he obtained a doctorate from Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. After a stroke in 1993 he virtually ceased to compose, but survived to the age of 98.
Two of his symphonies and other orchestral works were recorded by the Lyrita
Lyrita
Lyrita is a classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record...
label, whilst the clarinet quartet and the clarinet concerto were recorded on Hyperion
Hyperion Records
Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label.-History:The company was named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. It was founded by George Edward Perry, widely known as "Ted", in 1980. Early LP releases included rarely recorded 20th century British music by...
.
Music
As a composer Cooke was highly productive but tended to work in traditional genres. He wrote two operas – Mary Barton (completed 1954) after the novel by Mrs. GaskellElizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era...
and The Invisible Duke (1976). The ballet Jabez and the Devil (1961) was a commission from the Royal Ballet. He composed six symphonies, several concertos, copious chamber music including a clarinet quintet and five string quartets, many instrumental sonatas, and some important vocal music. His music seems to show the influence of Hindemith almost throughout his career, leavened with a more English sense of lyricism.
Vocal and Choral Works
- Holderneth, Cantata (1933-34)
- Nocturnes, 5 Songs for soprano, horn and piano (1956)
- Songs of Innocence for soprano, clarinet and piano (1957)
- O Men from the Fields for unison voices (1961)
- Ode on St Cecilia’s Day for soli, chorus and orchestra, op.57 (1964)
- The Seamew for voice, flute,oboe and string quartet (1980)
- Five Songs of William Blake for baritone, treble recorder and piano (1987)
Orchestral Music
- Piano Concerto, op.11 (1940)
- Symphony No.1 (1947)
- Concerto in D major for string orchestra (1948)
- Concerto for Oboe and string orchestra (1954)
- Clarinet Concerto No.1 (1956)
- Concerto for Treble Recorder and string orchestra (1957)
- Violin Concerto (1958)
- Concerto for small orchestra, op.48 (1960)
- Symphony No.2 (1963)
- Variations on a Theme of Dufay (1966)
- Symphony No.3 (1967)
- Cello Concerto (1973)
- Symphony No.4 (1974)
- Symphony No.5 (1979)
- Clarinet Concerto No.2 (1982)
- Symphony No.6 (1984)
- Concerto for Orchestra (1986)
Chamber Music
- Octet, op.1 (1931)
- Harp Quintet, op.2 (1932)
- Duo for Violin and Viola (1935)
- String Quartet No.1 (1935)
- Flute Quartet (1936)
- Sonata for Viola and Piano (1936–1937)
- Quartet for Oboe and Strings (1948)
- Rondo in B flat for Horn and Piano (published 1950)
- Sonata No.2 for Violin and Piano (1951)
- Sinfonietta for 11 Instruments, op.31 (1954)
- Little Suite for Flute and Viola (1957)
- Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (1959)
- Suite for Treble Recorder and Piano (1961)
- Clarinet Quintet (1962)
- Quartet-Sonata for Recorder, Violin, Cello and Harpsichord (1964–1965)
- Theme and Variations for Solo Recorder, op.65 (1966)
- Sonata No.2 for Cello and Piano (1980)
Piano Music
- Sonata for 2 Pianos, op.8 (1936-37)
- Piano Sonata No.1 (1938)
- Suite in C major (1943, rev. 1963)
- Piano Sonata No.2 (1965)
~Piano
Organ Music
- Prelude, Intermezzo and Finale (1962)
- Fantasia, op.60 (1964)
- Toccata and Aria, op.70 (1966)
- Impromptu (1966)
- Fugal Adventures (1967)
- Suite (1989)
Sources
- Arnold Atkinson Cooke at Musicweb International