Peter Dickinson (musician)


Peter Dickinson was an English composer, musicologist, author, and pianist.

Biography

Dickinson was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and studied organ at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was a student of Philip Radcliffe. In 1958 he became a student at the Juilliard School in New York City, and studied with Bernard Wagenaar, and encountered the works of experimental composers such as Cowell, Cage, and Edgard Varèse. Returning to England in 1962, he established courses in improvisation and experimental music at the College of St. Mark and St. John, Chelsea. After a lectureship at Birmingham, he became the first professor of music at Keele University in 1974, where he created an important centre for the study of American music. He held that position until 1984. He served as chair of music at Goldsmiths College, University of London from 1991 to 1997, and in 1996 became a Fellow and head of music at the Institute of United States Studies in London.
In July 1964, he married Bridget Jane Tomkinson. Their marriage produced two sons. As a pianist, he often performed works by Charles Ives with his sister, mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson, reflecting his affinity for that composer. He also accompanied several acclaimed instrumentalists, such as violinist Ralph Holmes and oboist Sarah Francis. He also made several international lecture-recital tours.
In 1980, Dickinson became a founding member of the Association of Professional Composers and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts a year later. He was a board member of Trinity College of Music and a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. He was also chair of the Bernarr Rainbow Trust, a charity set up in 1997 for the benefit of music education.
Dickinson died on 16 June 2023, at the age of 88. His widow Bridget and their two sons survive him.

Music

His musical compositions include experimental and aleatoric elements, and are compared to works by Stravinsky, Ives and Satie. Other influences include the music of John Cage, as well as ragtime, blues, and jazz. He layers both serious and popular musical styles together to create what he calls a style modulation. The composer explained his interest in combining musical styles: "Ever since hearing live performances of Charles Ives in New York in the late 1950s and first meeting John Cage there, I have been interested in the effect of hearing different types of music simultaneously." His layering is achieved in a different manner to William Bolcom's "aggressively parodic and deconstructive manner", using more of a "genuine warmth of enthusiasm for the material he is exploiting which suggests something closer to a homage.",
Dickinson composed three concertos, for organ, piano and violin. The Organ Concerto was written for the 1971 Three Choirs Festival. The Piano Concerto was commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival and first performed on July 22, 1984, at Cheltenham Town Hall, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edward Downes. The Violin Concerto was commissioned by the BBC and first performed and broadcast on 27 March 1987 by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, soloist Ernst Kovacic, conducted by Bryden Thomson. It was recorded for the first time by the BBC in 2014 to mark the composer's 80th birthday by Chloe Hanslip with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Clark Rundell. All three are concentrated works, in single movement form and all three have connections with popular music. The Organ Concerto includes a blues song, there's a rag in the Piano Concerto, and the Violin Concerto's opening theme combines Beethoven with a waltz and a 1930s popular song.
His instrumental compositions are for a great variety of musical ensembles, from full orchestra to a single instrument, and there are many keyboard works. He has also composed many songs for solo voice and pieces for various choral ensembles. His modern works for historical instruments are notable. He has composed for better-known historical instruments such as recorder and harpsichord, as well as for less-familiar ones, such as the clavichord and baryton. In contrast to the use of these instruments, he has also added electronic sounds to some works.

Writing

A prolific writer, he had often shown his varied interests in American music. He wrote a series of articles on improvisation in 1964, and more recently has discussed postmodernism, coining the term 'style modulation' to describe the weaving together of serious and popular or past and present music. The term can be applied to his own music, which adds a mix of ragtime, jazz, serial music, and even electronic playback to more traditional types of instrumental musical forms.

Musical compositions

Vocal music
Stage worksThe Judas Tree, actors, 2 T, chorus, brass, perc, str, 1965
Choral works
  • 'Jesus Christ is Risen Today', SATB, 1955Mag and Nunc, unison chorus, organ, 1963
  • 2 Motets : John, Mark, ATB, 1963, rev. SATB, 1990
  • Christmas is Coming, SATB, 1964
  • 4 Poems, Bar soloists, chorus, org, 1964Mass, SATB, 1965
  • When I was a Sailor, chorus, 2 insts, perc, 1965
  • For the Nativity, SATB, 1966
  • Martin of Tours, T, Bar, chorus 2vv, chbr org, pf duet, 19663 Complaints, unison chorus, insts, perc, 1966
  • The Dry Heart, SATB, 1967
  • Communion Service, 2 pt chorus, org, 1968
  • Outcry, A, SATB, orch, 1968
  • Late Afternoon in November, 16 solo vv, 1975A Mass of the Apocalypse, SATB, spkr, perc, pf, 1984Tiananmen 1989, double SATB, tubular bells, 1990
Solo vocal
  • Four Songs, S, pf, 1956A Dylan Thomas Cycle, Bar, pf, 1959
  • Let the Florid Music, T, pf, 1960
  • Three Comic Songs, T, pf, 1960, rev. 1972An E. E. Cummings cycle, Mez, pf, 1965
  • somewhere i have never travelled Mez, pf, 1965
  • Elegy, Ct, vc, hpd, 1966
  • A Red, Red Rose, Mez, pf, 1967
  • 4 Poems, Ct, hpd, 1967
  • Extravaganzas, Mez, pf, 1970
  • So We'll go no more A-Roving, Mez, pf, 1971 ;
  • Winter Afternoons, 6 solo vv, db, 1971
  • Surrealist Landscape, Ct/Mez, pf, tape
  • Lust, 6 solo vv, 1974
  • A Memory of David Munrow, 2 Ct, 2 rec, va da gamba, hpd, 1977
  • Schubert in Blue, Mez, pf, 1977
  • Songs in Blue, med voice, pf, 1977
  • Reminiscences, Mez, sax, pf, 1978
  • The Unicorns, S, brass band, 1982
  • Stevie's Tunes, Mez, pf, 1984Larkin's Jazz, spkr/Bar, fl + a fl, cl + b cl + E cl, s sax, tpt, vc, pf, perc, 1989
  • Summoned by Mother, Mez, hp, 1991
  • Three Carols, SSA, 1997
Instrumental works
Orchestral worksVitalitas, 1959/1960Monologue, strings, 1959Five Diversions, 1969Satie Transformations, 1970
  • Concerto for strings, percussion, and Electronic organ, 1971
  • Organ Concerto, 1971A Birthday Surprise, 1979
  • Piano Concerto, 1984
  • Violin Concerto, 1986Jigsaws, chamber orchestra, 1988Merseyside Echoes, 1988
Chamber and solo instrumentalFantasy, cl, pf, 1956; Threnody, vc, pf, 1956
  • String Quartet no. 1, 1958Air, fl, 1959Fantasia, vn, 19593 Juilliard Dances, fl, cl, bn, tpt, trombones, perc, pf, vc, 1959
  • Sonata, vn, pf, 1961
  • Baroque Trio, fl, ob, hpd, 1962
  • 4 Duos, fl/ob, vc, 1962
  • Music for Oboe and Chamber Organ, 1962
  • Sonatina, solo bassoon, 1966Fanfares and Elegies, 3 tpt, 3 trombones, org, 1967Metamorphosis, fl, 1971Translations, recorder, bass viol, harpsichord, 1971
  • Recorder Music, recorder, tape, 1973
  • String Quartet no.2, with tape/pf, 1975
  • Solo for Baryton, tape/b viol/baryton, 1976
  • Aria, ob, cl, bn, hn, 1977
  • Lullaby, ob/cl, pf, 1982The Unicorns, brass band, 1984, 1982–1984
  • American Trio, vn, cl, pf, 1985London Rags, 2 tpt, hn, trombones, tuba, 1986Auden Studies, ob, pf, 1988Cellars Clough Duo, 2 guitars, 19885 Explorations, guitar, 1989Suffolk Variations, guitar, 1992Swansongs, vc, pf, 1993Celebration Trio, vn, cl, pf, 2009Bach in Blue, vn, cl, pf, 2012Three Early Pieces, arr. recorder, piano, 2012
KeyboardA Cambridge Postlude, organ, 1953
  • Postlude on Adeste Fideles, organ, 1954
  • Toccata, organ, 1955Vitalitas Variations, piano, 1957, orchestrated for ballet, 1959
  • Variations on a French Folk Tune, harpsichord, 1957
  • Meditation on Murder in the Cathedral, organ, 1958
  • Study in Pianissimo, organ, 1959Five Forgeries for piano duet
  • Paraphrase 1, organ, 1967
  • Paraphrase 2, piano, 1967Satie Transformations, piano, 1970Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners, clavichord, 1972
  • Conc. Rag, piano, 1973, rev. 1984Piano Blues, 1973Quartet Rag, piano, 1975Blue Rose, piano, 1979Hymn-Tune Rag, piano, 1985Wild Rose Rag, piano, 1985Blue Rose Variations, organ, 1985Patriotic Rag, piano, 1986
  • Sonatas for piano, piano & tape playback, 1987A Millennium Fanfare, organ, 1999Bach in Blue, piano, 2004

Written publications

  • 'Charles Ives 1874–1954', MT, cv, 347–9
  • 'Improvisation', MT, cv, 294–5, 377–8, 538–9, 612–13, 688–9, 766–7
  • 'John Cage', Music and Musicians, xiv/3, 32–4, 54 only, 56 only
  • 'Erik Satie ', MR, xxviii, 139–46
  • 'A New Perspective for Ives', MT, cxv, 836–8
  • ed.: American Music: Keele 1975
  • ed.: Twenty British Composers
  • 'A Note on Some Recent Works', MT, cxviii, 559 only
  • 'Recent Research on American Musical Traditions', IMSCR XII: Berkeley 1977, 353–82
  • ‘The Achievement of Ragtime: an Introductory Study with some Implications for British Research in Popular Music’, PRMA, cv, 63–76
  • ‘Lord Berners, 1883–1950’, MT, cxxiv, 669–72
  • ‘William Schumann: an American Symphonist at 75’, MT, cxxvi, 457–8
  • ‘Stein, Satie, Cummings, Thomson, Berners, Cage: Toward a Context for the Music of Virgil Thomson’, MQ, lxxii, 394–409
  • ‘Directors of a Decade’, MT, cxxviii, 15–17
  • The Music of Lennox Berkeley
  • ‘The American Concerto’, A Companion to the Concerto, ed. R. Layton, 305–325
  • ‘Style-Modulation: an Approach to Stylistic Pluralism’, MT, cxxx, 208–11
  • ‘Virgil Thomson ’, MT, cxxxi, 31 only
  • ‘Nationalism is Not Enough: a Composer's Perspective’, Music and Nationalism in 20th-Century Great Britain and Finland, ed. T. Mäkelä, 27–34
  • Marigold: the Music of Billy Mayerl
  • Copland Connotations: Studies and Interviews
  • CageTalk: Dialogues with & about John Cage
  • Lord Berners: Composer, writer, Painter
  • Samuel Barber Remembered
  • Lennox Berkeley and Friends: Writings, Letters and Interviews
  • Words and Music
  • Many other articles and reviews in the Musical Times, Music and Letters, The Musical Quarterly, The Independent, The Times Literary Supplement, Musical Opinion and ''The Times Higher Education Supplement''