Brief biography

Philip Cannon is a Cornish composer of Anglo-Burgundian descent. As a youth he studied at Dartington

Dartington

Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 1,917. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington Hall and about two miles from Totnes...

 with Imogen Holst

Imogen Holst

Imogen Clare Holst, CBE was a British composer and conductor, and sole child of composer Gustav Holst.Imogen Holst was brought up in west London and educated at St Paul's Girls' School, where her father was director of music...

 and later at the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

 with Gordon Jacob

Gordon Jacob

Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob was an English composer. He is known for his wind instrument composition and his instructional writings.-Life:...

 and Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...

. He scored his first success with his symphonic study Spring which received its premiere at the proms in 1950 under the baton of Sir Adrian Boult. This was followed soon after by several works that have proved enduringly popular such as the Cinq Chansons de femme for soprano and harp and Son of God for double chorus (recently recorded by the singers of Royal Holloway and Bedford New College in 2005).

After graduating, he received the Octavia travelling scholarship award and proceeded to tour Europe with his new wife, the librettist and writer Jacqueline Laidlaw, visiting and taking part in many workshops with luminaries such as Hindemith.

After returning to England he began his long acquaintance with music education which resulted in appointments as Professor of Composition at the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 and, later, the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

, a post he held until retirement in 1995. A stylistic change of direction in 1964 resulted in his String Quartet 1964, the first work by an English composer to be awarded both the Grand Prix and the Critics Prize in Paris. A major commission followed resulting in his Oraison Funebre de l'ame humaine for strings.

In 1975 he was commissioned to write Son of Man to mark Britain's entry into Europe. Shortly after Cannon was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II to compose a Te Deum for the Royal Chapel at Windsor. Other chamber works of note appear from this period such as the Clarinet Quintet and Piano Trio as well as the choral masterpiece The Temple.

At the start of the 1980s, Cannon's success with his Lord of Light requiem was followed by a period of great tragedy after learning that his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Around the time of her death in 1984, Cannon finished his String Sextet which was his last major work for several years. In 1989 he began his Ralegh Triptych which had its premiere in 1994 at the Three Choirs Festival

Three Choirs Festival

The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...

and soon after his song cycle The Six Birdsongs.

Since an operation for stomach cancer in 1995, Cannon has composed still less frequently although he has continued to write and amass a wealth of recordings detailing his career and experiences. He married the artist Jane, Baroness Buijs van Schouwenburg in 1996. Together they rebuilt an old Buckinghamshire cottage he has owned for many years, and retired there to concentrate on creative work.

List of works

Operas

• Morvoren, 1963
  
• The Man from Venus, 1966-67
  
• Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, 1973
  

Orchestra

• Sinfonietta, (chamber orch) 1947
  
• Spring, (orchestra), 1949
  
• Piano Concertino, (piano & strings) 1949
  
• Fanfares, (8 tpt, 6 trbn, tuba, perc) 1963
  
• Oraison Funebre de l'ame humaine, (24 solo strings) 1970
  
• Symphony, (orchestra) 1998-9
  

Choral

• Songs to Delight, (SSA & strings) 1950
  
• Fleeting Fancies, (SATB) 1953
  
• Son of God, (double chorus) 1956
  
• To Music, (SSSA & piano) 1960
  
• Son of Science, (Tenor, boys choir, perc, piano, strings) 1961
  
• Idea, (SATB) 1964
  
• En hiver, (SSSA) 1968
  
• The Temple, (SSATB) 1974
  
• Son of Man, (T, Bar, SATB, orch) 1975
  
• Te Deum, (SATB, org, (state) tpt, orch) 1975
  
• Lord of Light, (soprano,tenor,baritone, boys vv, SATB, org, orch) 1980
  
• Missa Chorea, (solo vv, double semi-chorus, double chorus) 1984
  
• A Ralegh Triptych, (SATB) 1989-91
  

Songs

• Cinq Chansons de femme (soprano & harp) 1952
  
• Cecilia, (1 voice & harp) 1953
  
• River Lullaby, (soprano & piano) 1962
  
• Three Rivers, (tenor & piano) 1963
  
• Six Bird Songs, (coloratura s & piano) 1993
  
• Le Mort, (baritone & piano) 1998
  

Instrumental

• Two Rhapsodies, (piano) 1943
  
• String Quartet, 1945
  
• String Trio, 1945
  
• Sextet, (flute, oboe and string quartet) 1945
  
• Fantasia, (string quartet) 1946
  
• Variations for two violins, 1946
  
• Variations on a canto firmo, (violin) 1948
  
• Galop Parisien, (two pianos) 1950
  
• L'enfant s'amuse, (piano) 1954
  
• Carillon, (harp) 1955
  
• Carillon, (organ) 1955
  
• Sonatine Champetre, (for piano) 1959
  
• Sonata (two pianos) 1960
  
• String Quartet, 1964
  
• Jazz and Blues, (piano) 1970
  
• Piano Trio, (piano, violin & cello) 1973-4
  
• Clarinet Quintet, (clarinet & string quartet) 1977
  
• Boutades Bourguignonnes, (piano) 1984
  
• String Sextet, (2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos) 1985
  
• Trois Chiffres, (piano) 1994
  
• Carillon "Joyeux Noel" (harp) 1994
  
• Septain (piano) 1995

External links

• http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/cannon