Deryck Cooke
Encyclopedia
Deryck Cooke was a British
musician
, musicologist
and broadcaster.
, where he was taught by Patrick Hadley
and Robin Orr
. His undergraduate studies were interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served in the Royal Artillery
and took part in the invasion of Italy. Towards the end of the war he became pianist in an army dance band.
Back in Cambridge, a number of his compositions were successfully performed, but he was insecure about their unfashionably conservative idiom, and eventually destroyed most of his works. After graduating in 1947 Cooke joined the BBC
; apart from an interlude (1959-65) working as a freelance writer and critic, he worked for the Corporation for the remainder of his life. His job involved writing and editing scripts for the music department and broadcasting for radio and television, where his thoughtful, unaffected manner made him an ideal communicator. In 1959 his first book The Language of Music argued that music is essentially a language of the emotions, and showed that composers throughout history had tended to choose the same musical phrases to express similar feelings or dramatic situations.
Beginning in the run-up to the Mahler centenary in 1960, Cooke (in association with Berthold Goldschmidt
) made his first attempt at producing a 'performing version' of the unfinished
draft of Mahler's
10th Symphony
. Originally a lecture demonstration broadcast by the BBC in 1960, the first full (continuous) version was premièred on 13 August 1964 at The Proms
by the London Symphony Orchestra
under the baton of Goldschmidt. Revised editions followed, with the composers David Matthews
and Colin Matthews
assisting Cooke and Goldschmidt in the attempt to produce an authentically Mahlerian orchestration. Finally seen into print by Cooke and his collaborators in 1976, the work has now become a part of the repertoire.
Cooke's last years marred by ill-health, and he died prematurely of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1976, at the age of 57. During the final years of his life he had worked on a large-scale study of Wagner's massive operatic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen
. However, only part of the first volume, dealing with the text, was finished; it was published after his death as I Saw the World End. The loss of what would almost certainly have been the definitive study of the music of the Ring is deeply regrettable. Cooke's archive is held at Cambridge University Library
. A collection of Cooke's essays and talks was also published after his death as Vindications.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, musicologist
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
and broadcaster.
Life
Cooke was born in Leicester to a poor and working class family; his father died when he was a child, but his mother was able to afford piano lessons. Cooke acquired a brilliant technique and began to compose. He won an organ scholarship to Selwyn College, CambridgeSelwyn College, Cambridge
Selwyn College is a constituent college in the University of Cambridge in England, United Kingdom.The college was founded by the Selwyn Memorial Committee in memory of the Rt Reverend George Selwyn , who rowed on the Cambridge crew in the first Varsity Boat Race in 1829, and went on to become the...
, where he was taught by Patrick Hadley
Patrick Hadley
Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley was a British composer.-Biography:Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke College...
and Robin Orr
Robin Orr
Robert Kelmsley Orr CBE was a Scottish composer.Born in Brechin, he studied at the Royal College of Music in London and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Following studies with Alfredo Casella and Nadia Boulanger he returned to Cambridge in 1938 as Organist of St John's College. During his war...
. His undergraduate studies were interrupted by the Second World War, during which he served in the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
and took part in the invasion of Italy. Towards the end of the war he became pianist in an army dance band.
Back in Cambridge, a number of his compositions were successfully performed, but he was insecure about their unfashionably conservative idiom, and eventually destroyed most of his works. After graduating in 1947 Cooke joined the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; apart from an interlude (1959-65) working as a freelance writer and critic, he worked for the Corporation for the remainder of his life. His job involved writing and editing scripts for the music department and broadcasting for radio and television, where his thoughtful, unaffected manner made him an ideal communicator. In 1959 his first book The Language of Music argued that music is essentially a language of the emotions, and showed that composers throughout history had tended to choose the same musical phrases to express similar feelings or dramatic situations.
Beginning in the run-up to the Mahler centenary in 1960, Cooke (in association with Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England...
) made his first attempt at producing a 'performing version' of the unfinished
Unfinished work
An unfinished work is creative work that has not been finished. Its creator may have chosen never to finish it or may have been prevented from doing so by circumstances outside of their control such as death. Such pieces are often the subject of speculation as to what the finished piece would have...
draft of Mahler's
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
10th Symphony
Symphony No. 10 (Mahler)
The Symphony No. 10 by Gustav Mahler was written in the summer of 1910, and was his final composition. At the time of Mahler's death the composition was substantially complete in the form of a continuous draft; but not being fully elaborated at every point, and mostly not orchestrated, it was not...
. Originally a lecture demonstration broadcast by the BBC in 1960, the first full (continuous) version was premièred on 13 August 1964 at The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
by the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
under the baton of Goldschmidt. Revised editions followed, with the composers David Matthews
David Matthews (composer)
David Matthews is an English composer of mainly orchestral, chamber, vocal and piano works.- Life :He was born in London into a family that was 'not especially' musical; the desire to compose did not manifest itself until he was sixteen, and for a time he and his younger brother Colin Matthews,...
and Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews
Colin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...
assisting Cooke and Goldschmidt in the attempt to produce an authentically Mahlerian orchestration. Finally seen into print by Cooke and his collaborators in 1976, the work has now become a part of the repertoire.
Cooke's last years marred by ill-health, and he died prematurely of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1976, at the age of 57. During the final years of his life he had worked on a large-scale study of Wagner's massive operatic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
. However, only part of the first volume, dealing with the text, was finished; it was published after his death as I Saw the World End. The loss of what would almost certainly have been the definitive study of the music of the Ring is deeply regrettable. Cooke's archive is held at Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library
The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of Cambridge University in England. It comprises five separate libraries:* the University Library main building * the Medical Library...
. A collection of Cooke's essays and talks was also published after his death as Vindications.
Books
- The Language of Music, OUP (1959)
- Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): A Companion to the BBC's Celebrations of the Centenary of his Birth (BBC, 1960); republished in an edition revised and expanded by Colin and David Matthews (Faber, 1980; CUP, 1988).
- Ed. Deryck Cooke: Thematic Patterns in Sonatas of Beethoven, by Rudolph Reti (London, Faber, 1967)
- I Saw the World End: A Study of Wagner's Ring (incomplete; text published by Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979)
- Vindications: Essays on Romantic Music (posthumous collection of essays and broadcast scripts), Faber, 1982; reprinted 2008
Recordings
- An Introduction to "Der Ring Des Nibelungen" (audio, with extracts from the SoltiGeorg SoltiSir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...
version and some specially recorded demonstrations). Recorded 1967; released on LP 1968.
Articles by Cooke
- 'Ernest Newman (1868–1959)', Tempo, No.52, Autumn 1959, 2-3
- 'Anton Bruckner', in R. SimpsonRobert Simpson (composer)Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells...
(ed.), The Symphony, Vol.1: Haydn to Dvořák (Harmondsworth, 1966). - 'The Measure of Mahler', The ListenerThe ListenerThe Listener was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in January 1929 which ceased publication in 1991. The entire digitised catalogue was made available online to libraries, educational and research institutions in 2011....
, 7 December 1967, 761. - 'The Bruckner Problem Simplified', Musical TimesThe Musical TimesThe Musical Times is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It is currently the oldest such journal that is still publishing in the UK, having been published continuously since 1844. It was published as The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular until...
, Vol.CX, 20-22 (Jan '69), 142-4 (Feb '69), 362-5 (Apr '69), 479-482 (May '69); reprinted in a revised version (1975) as a booklet by 'The Musical Newsletter' in association with Novello & Co. Ltd; revised version reprinted in Vindications: Essays on Romantic Music (Faber and Faber, London, 1982). - 'The Language of Mahler: David Holbrook's Interpretation', in Musical Times, November 1976, 899.
- 'Bruckner, (Joseph) Anton', in S. Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, iii, 352; reprinted in S. Sadie (ed.), Late Romantic Masters: Bruckner, Brahms, Dvořák (London, 1985).