Christopher Headington


Christopher John Magenis Headington was an English composer, pianist, musicologist, and music critic.

Early life and education

Born in London, he was educated at Taunton School and was a Scholar of the Royal Academy of Music. He studied with Sir Lennox Berkeley for composition and won a prize as best instrumentalist in his year. After graduating, he taught at Trinity College Glenalmond and subsequently at Lancing College and was Senior Assistant for Music Presentation for the BBC. In 1965 he became the Staff Tutor in Music for the Oxford University Department for External Studies, stepping down in 1982 to focus more on performance and music.

Career

Headington had been composing for most of his adult life: His Violin Concerto of 1959, premiered in 1959 by Ralph Holmes, was finally recorded in 1991 on ASV Records and brought him wide recognition. Headington also wrote several pieces of chamber music: his Third String Quartet, composed to mark Haydn's 250th anniversary, reworks material from Haydn's Quartet op. 77 no. 2. Headington's solo piano pieces were strongly influenced by Debussy, Ravel and Chopin. His song-cycle, The Healing Fountain, was written in tribute to Benjamin Britten, and Headington ranked it as his finest achievement. His Piano Concerto of 1991 was also recorded by ASV as part of a posthumous collection released in 1997.
He was a contributor to Gramophone magazine and Country Life.
He also wrote a book on Chopin. He contributed to Alan Walker's Franz Liszt symposium, The Dictionary of Composers, Building a Library, The Britten Companion, A Companion to the Concerto, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music, A Guide to Classical Composers, International Dictionary of Opera.
He wrote for The Inventions That Changed The World and The Fontana Biographical Companion to Modern Thought
Headington made few concert appearances. He was piano soloist on the soundtrack of the 1978 film The Thirty Nine Steps. He also went on to release four further albums on CD as performer.
Headington was a professional music advisor to the estate of the late JRR Tolkien with whom he had been a friend.
He was also an examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music during the 1980s and in March 1985 assessed students on the island of Barbados under the administration of John George Fletcher.

Death

Headington died in a skiing accident in Switzerland in 1996, aged 65.

Works

  • The Orchestra and Its Instruments
  • A History of Western Music
  • Illustrated Dictionary of Musical Terms
  • The Performing World of the Musician
  • Britten and later rewritten for Omnibus Press
  • Listener's Guide to Chamber Music
  • Opera: A History
  • Sweet Sleep - this is an anthology of lullabies.
  • Peter Pears: A Biography.
  • ''J.S. Bach In Association with Classic FM''