William Glock

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Sir William Frederick Glock (born 3 May 1908 in London; died 28 June 2000 in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire) was a British musical administrator and BBC Controller of Music from 1959 to 1972.

A pupil of Artur Schnabel, Glock was first music critic of the Daily Telegraph in 1934 and then of The Observer (1934-1945) and the New Statesman 1958-1959. On the encouragement of Schnabel, he founded the Dartington Summer School of Music in 1953, and was its director until 1979. The summer school put on performances of works by contemporary composers and courses for musicians. Notable participants included the Amadeus Quartet, Nadia Boulanger, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Boris Blacher and Georges Enescu. He later served as Director of the Bath Festival 1976-1984.

From 1960 to 1973, Glock was also responsible for the Proms, and he arranged performances of works by Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, Luigi Dallapiccola, Elliott Carter, Michael Tippett, Roberto Gerhard, Witold Lutosławski, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hans Werner Henze, György Ligeti and Malcolm Arnold. Peter Maxwell Davies dedicated three works to him: his first symphony (1976), Unbroken Circle (1984) and Mishkenot (1988).

He published his autobiography in 1992. He was appointed CBE in 1964 and knighted in 1970 for his services to musical life.