Fires of London
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The Fires of London, first formed in 1967 as the Pierrot Players under the joint direction of the composers Peter Maxwell Davies and Harrison Birtwistle, were an English chamber ensemble. The ensemble was originally created in order to play Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, scored for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. A percussionist would often join the group. In 1970 Birtwistle left the group, and under the new name Davies became sole director. The group were disbanded by Davies after a 20th anniversary concert in 1987.
The Fires of London were just one of many ensembles created to play Pierrot Lunaire, and the presence of these ensembles led to many new works being written for the same instrumentation. This in turn led to the formation of yet more groups, leading to the establishment of the Pierrot ensemble as a standard instrumentation in contemporary music.
