George Lloyd (composer)

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George Lloyd (28 June 1913 - 3 July 1998) was an English composer of late-Romantic classical music.

George Walter Selwyn Lloyd was born in Cornwall to a family with some money and great enthusiasm for music. He was mainly home-schooled because of rheumatic fever. He later studied violin with Albert Sammons and composition with Harry Farjeon.

George Lloyd showed his talent as a composer early. His first symphony, written at age 19, was premiered in 1933. A second symphony had its premiere in 1935 and was soon followed by a third. His first opera was performed in 1934 and his second was staged at Covent Garden when Lloyd was just 25.

The most extraordinary period in Lloyd's life began in World War II. As a Royal Marine bandsman, he doubled as a gunner on a ship. In 1942 a faulty torpedo did a U-turn in the sea and blew up his ship. Lloyd was rescued after seeing most of his fellow gunners drowned in oil. The subsequent "shell shock" triggered a complete collapse. Today this would be called post-traumatic stress disorder.

George Lloyd attempted to keep going and wrote two symphonies and an opera but his health deteriorated further and in 1952 he withdrew to Dorset where for 20 years he led a double life. He was a market gardener growing mushrooms and carnations. He continued to compose intermittently, rising at 4:30am and writing for three hours before the start of the working day.

When George Lloyd stopped market gardening and returned to composing full-time in the 1960s, he was like Rip van Winkle who had slept for many years to awaken to a new world. Musical tastes had changed. The musical establishment was enchanted by serialism and modernism.

Among the few who responded to his music were the conductors Charles Groves and Edward Downes and the pianist John Ogdon. The tide began to turn ever so slowly. Eventually many of his works began to be performed and a fair number were recorded.

Lloyd had heart trouble toward the end, but recovered sufficiently to resume work on a Requiem, which he completed three weeks before he died. He was survived by his wife Nancy. She was Swiss. They married in 1937 and had no children.

[edit] Music

Lloyd wrote several operas, including Iernin performed at Penzance (1934), The Serf (1938) performed at Covent Garden, and John Socman (1951) performed at Bristol, all to librettos provided by his father William Lloyd. Operas aside, George Lloyd composed much other music including 12 symphonies and 4 piano concertos, 2 violin concertos and a cello concerto.

Although his music had once been felt to be "regressive and out of date," toward the end of his life Lloyd and his works enjoyed a remarkable Indian summer. The critic David Hurwitz observed [1] in reviewing a recording of Lloyd's Symphony No. 11 for ClassicsToday.com that "George Lloyd composed one of the most impressive and appealing symphonic cycles of the 20th century.... All of Lloyd's music has great surface appeal, and this often conceals its intelligent organization and shrewd planning."