Adrian Boult

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Sir Adrian Cedric Boult (April 8, 1889 - February 22, 1983) was an English conductor.

Contents

[edit] Early years

Boult was born in Chester and educated at Westminster School (which has named its music centre after him)[1] and Christ Church, Oxford. As a schoolboy he was introduced to the world of music by a family friend, Frank Schuster, who was a friend of Elgar and introduced the young Boult to the composer. He completed his musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory where he learnt to conduct by watching the eminent Hungarian conductor Arthur Nikisch. He sang in choral festivals and at the Leeds Festival of 1913, where he went to watch Nikisch conduct, and made the acquaintance of George Butterworth and other British composers.

During World War I he was employed at the War Office, and whilst there in 1918 planned a series of concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, which included several important recent British works: Holst's The Planets, of which he gave the first (private) performance, A London Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, of which he gave the first performance of the revised version, and Elgar's Second Symphony which had fallen into neglect. Elgar wrote to him and said he felt sure the future of his music was safe in Boult's hands. In this way Boult laid the foundations for a long career as a champion of 20th-century English music. As one example, Vaughan Williams dedicated Job, A Masque for Dancing to Boult in the mid-1930's, several years after the actual première of the work.

[edit] Birmingham and the BBC

In 1920 Boult was appointed to the conductorship of the City of Birmingham Orchestra (later the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) and in 1930 he was made Director of Music at the BBC. When the BBC formed a symphony orchestra, Boult also became its chief conductor, combining both jobs in typically tireless fashion.

During the 1930s the orchestra became renowned for its high standard of playing and for Boult's competent performances of new and unfamiliar music, often rehearsed in a very short time. Among these successes were an early performance of Schoenberg's Variations, Op.31, the British première of Berg's opera Wozzeck and the première of Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 4 in F minor.[2]. In 1933, Boult married Ann Wilson, the ex-wife of Steuart Wilson, tenor singer and administrator. The marriage lasted until Boult's death. Boult was knighted in 1937.

During World War II the BBC Symphony Orchestra was evacuated to Bristol, where it suffered from bombing, and to Bedford, where Boult strove to maintain standards and morale as many key players left. In these years he made recordings of Elgar's Second Symphony, Holst's The Planets and Vaughan Williams' Job, A Masque for Dancing. After the war the start of the BBC Third Programme saw Boult involved in several pioneering ventures for Britain, including the British premières of Mahler's Third symphony and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra[3].

In 1948, Steuart Wilson was appointed Director of Music at the BBC. Suggestions that the standard of playing had fallen beyond Boult's ability to rectify were taken as a reason to insist on his retirement at the age of 60 in 1949, an incident which remains controversial to this day.[4]

[edit] London Philharmonic

After it became clear that Boult would not be able to retain his position with the BBC Symphony, Thomas Russell, the Managing Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), offered Boult the position of Principal Conductor of the LPO in succession to Eduard van Beinum. In the 1930s under Beecham, the LPO had been the other crack London orchestra, but since Beecham's departure, was in need of rebuilding. Boult accepted this position and threw himself into this task. The results can be heard to this day in a long series of recordings beginning in 1950 and including in their early years a complete set of the Vaughan Williams symphonies and much Elgar. He obtained for the orchestra a recording contract with American companies and recorded Brahms symphonies, Berlioz and Sibelius, among other composers.

There was controversy and ambiguity over Boult's role in the dismissal of Thomas Russell from his position as the LPO Managing Director, in 1952, during the Cold War years, as Russell was an avowed member of the Communist Party of Great Britain[5]. Boult served as the LPO's principal conductor until 1957. After the sudden resignation of Andrzej Panufnik from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Boult returned as Principal Conductor of the CBSO for the 1959-1960 season. That was his last chief conductorship, though as its President he remained closely associated with the LPO until his retirement.

[edit] Later career

After what Michael Kennedy described as a 'fallow' period in the early 1960s, Boult acquired the status of a revered figure in British music, and despite advancing years continued to conduct new works, being valued for his impartiality and reliability. He was guest conductor with UK orchestras and further afield (Vienna and Boston). In 1966 he resumed conducting for EMI and until his retirement enjoyed an 'Indian Summer', recording or re-recording his repertory in interpretations which have remained in the catalogues for thirty or forty years. Having recorded much British music he was encouraged to record the orchestral music of Brahms (whose Third Symphony filled an extra recording session in August 1970 and sparked this exploration of the standard repertory), Wagner, and Schubert. This surprised those listeners who did not know that his acquaintance with these works dated back to the pre-1914 era when he had heard Nikisch and Karl Muck conduct them in Germany. His repertory in general was much wider than his late discography might indicate; not only did he conduct seven of the nine Mahler symphonies well before the Mahler revival of the 1960s[6], but he also frequently programmed Ravel's complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé and even Busoni's rarely-staged opera Doktor Faust in the late 1940s.

His last public performance was conducting Elgar's ballet The Sanguine Fan for London Festival Ballet at the Coliseum, in London on 24 June 1978. His final record, completed in December 1978, was of music by Hubert Parry. He formally retired from conducting in 1981.[7]

[edit] Books

Boult was the author of two books on conducting, Thoughts on Conducting and A handbook on the technique of conducting. A selection of his essays was published in the year of his death, as Boult on Music: Words from a Lifetime's Communication. His autobiography, My Own Trumpet was published in 1973. He was also a frequent broadcaster, notable for his courteous, understated Edwardian style of speaking.

[edit] Recordings

Boult was a prolific recording artist. Unlike many musicians he felt at home in the recording studio and was happy working without an audience [8]. Most of the recordings below have been released on CD. Except where indicated they are EMI recordings.

  • Berlioz
    • Overtures (Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra) (Pye)
  • Holst
    • Choral Symphony (LPO)
    • Egdon Heath (LPO) (Decca)
    • The Hymn of Jesus (BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus) (Decca)
    • The Perfect Fool Ballet Music (LPO) (Decca)
    • The Planets (five recordings between 1945 (BBC SO) and 1979 (LPO)
  • Moeran
    • Symphony (NPO) (Lyrita)
  • Parry
    • Blest Pair of Sirens (LPO)
    • Symphonic Variations (LPO)
    • Symphony No 5 (LPO)

[edit] Adrian Boult Hall

The Conservatoire in Birmingham, (a department of the University of Central England) includes in its home building the Adrian Boult Hall, a purpose built 500 seater recital hall, in a theatre style setting. It is primarily for classical concerts and recitals, and is occasionally used as a concert venue for jazz and world music. It opened in 1986 and was extensively refurbished in 2006.[9]

[edit] References

  • Boult, Adrian: 'My Own Trumpet', Hamish Hamilton, London, 1973, SBN 241 02445 5
  • Boult, Adrian: 'Thoughts on Conducting', Phoenix House, London, 1963, ISBN 0-460-07623,
  • Boult, Adrian: 'A handbook on the technique of conducting', Hall, Oxford, 1920, 7th ed. 1951, ASIN B0000CODO0
  • Boult, Adrian: 'Boult on Music: Words from a Lifetime's Communication', Toccata Press, 1983, ISBN 0-907689-03-5
  • Kennedy, Michael: 'Adrian Boult', Hamish Hamilton, London, 1987 and Macmillan, London, 1989, ISBN 0-333-48752-4
  • Birmingham Conservatoire website
  • Westminster School website

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Westminster School website, January 2007
  2. ^ ’My Own Trumpet’, p. 186/7
  3. ^ ’My Own Trumpet’, p. 188
  4. ^ Kennedy, ch 25
  5. ^ Kennedy, ch 27
  6. ^ The First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth – Kennedy, p. 336
  7. ^ Kennedy, pp. 287/8 and 294
  8. ^ ’My Own Trumpet’, p. 98
  9. ^ Conservatoire website, January 2007

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Appleby Matthews		 Principal Conductor and Music Director, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
1924–1930		 Succeeded by
Leslie Heward
Preceded by
none		 Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra
1930–1950		 Succeeded by
Malcolm Sargent
Preceded by
Eduard van Beinum		 Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra
1950–1957		 Succeeded by
William Steinberg
Preceded by
Andrzej Panufnik		 Principal Conductor, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
1959–1960		 Succeeded by
Hugo Rignold
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