Dorothy Howell (composer)


Dorothy Gertrude Howell was an English composer and pianist. She received the nickname of the "English Richard Strauss" in her lifetime.

Early life and education

Howell was born in Birmingham, and grew up in Handsworth and Wollescote House, Stourbridge; from a young age, her studies of piano and composition were encouraged by her parents. One of six children, she came from a musical family, and enjoyed playing instruments and singing together. Her father, Charles Edward Howell, was a ironmaster by trade and self-taught pianist. Her mother, Viola Rosetta Feeny, was the daughter of Alfred Feeny, the Arts and Music Critic for the Birmingham Daily Post. One of her earliest works, a set of six pieces for piano, was written when she was only 13 years old; they were based upon The Tales of Beatrix Potter and Howell's love of nature.
She received a convent education, first in Birmingham, and then in Belgium, and finally at the Notre Dame Convent in Clapham. She much preferred music to her regular academic studies, and began studying at the Royal Academy of Music, at age 15, studying both piano and composition. Her teachers there included John Blackwood McEwen and Tobias Matthay. Her talents were greatly acknowledged by all her teachers at RAM, and she won the Hine Prize for composition of an English Ballad in 1914.

''Lamia'' and early success

Howell achieved fame with her symphonic poem Lamia which Sir Henry Wood premiered at The Proms on 10 September 1919; McEwen introduced Wood to the work. Wood directed Lamia again that same week and again in six subsequent Proms seasons, but after 1940 the piece was neglected until its revival at the 2010 Proms season. It received a centenary performance at the Proms in 2019. Howell dedicated Lamia on its 1921 publication to Wood. Her nickname of "English Strauss" was written in a press review of Lamia's first Proms performance. The press were very recognizing of Howell's success in the first performances of Lamia, with headlines emphasizing her age and her gender- "Girl Composer's Success" and "Girl Composer's Triumph". After Lamia's initial success, she returned to her family in Birmingham. In December of 1920, The staged a performance of Lamia, conducted again by Wood.

Other major works and teaching career

Only two years after the initial success of Lamia, Howell's Danse Grotesque was performed at Buckingham Palace in November 1921. She won the Cobbett Prize in 1921 for her Phantasy for violin and piano.
Her professional relationship with Sir Henry Wood remained stable throughout her career. Among other compositions by Howell, Wood conducted the ballet score Koong Shee in 1921, her piano concerto in 1923 and 1927. After the premiere of her piano concerto in August 1923, The Daily Mail reported "Girl Composer Plays Solo Part in Her Own Concerto", stating that the work was "of remarkable promise for so young an artist." Her overture, The Rock, was inspired by a visit to Gibraltar, in 1928, and was premiered at the 1928 Proms. 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. Premiere recordings of Koong Shee, The Rock and the Three Divertissements were issued in 2024.
Wood attempted to recruit Howell to his conducting class at the Royal Academy of Music in 1923, but she instead became a teacher at the RAM in 1924, working as a professor of Harmony and Composition. Both before coming to RAM and during her tenure there, she was a sought after teacher, teaching at the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School, the Birmingham School of Music, the Montpellier School of Music in Cheltenham, Rye St. Antony in Oxford, and St. Richard's School in Malvern.
During World War II, she served with the Women's Land Army. She retired from the RAM in 1970, and after her retirement, continued to teach students privately. She died in Malvern, aged 83. Howell tended the grave of Sir Edward Elgar for several years, and herself is buried near Elgar in the churchyard of St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church, Little Malvern. 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.
Howell died in Malvern on 12 January 1982.

Recordings

': Lorraine McAslan, Sophia Rahman. 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

Selected works

  • Piano Sonata Lamia Danse grotesque Spindrift, solo piano or piano duetTwo Dances Humoresque Koong Shee Minuet
  • Concerto for pianoforte Two Pieces for Muted Strings The Moorings for violin and pianoPhantasy for violin and pianoThree Preludes for pianoThe Rock Fanfare Recuerdos preciosos for piano duet, two movements Three Divertissements
  • Violin Sonata Air, Variations & Finale for oboe, violin & piano
  • Piano Sonata