Anthony Payne Explained

Anthony Payne
Birth Date:2 August 1936
Birth Place:London, UK
Death Place:Islington, Greater London, UK
Spouse:Jane Manning
List Of Works:List of compositions

Anthony Edward Payne (2 August 1936 – 30 April 2021) was an English composer, music critic and musicologist. He is best known for his acclaimed completion of Edward Elgar's third symphony, which gained wide acceptance into Elgar's oeuvre. Payne is particularly noted for his chamber music, much of which was written for his wife, the soprano Jane Manning, and the couple's new music ensemble Jane's Minstrels. Initially an unrelenting proponent of modernist music, by the 1980s his compositions had embraced aspects of the late English romanticism, described by his colleague Susan Bradshaw as "modernized nostalgia".

Born in London, Payne first seriously studied music at Durham University. His professional career began around 1969 with his first major work, the staunchly modernist Phoenix Mass for choir and brass band. He continued to write choral and vocal works, almost exclusively to British poets. From his 1981 chamber work A Day in the Life of a Mayfly on, he synthesised modernism with the English romanticism of Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams. Two orchestral commissions for The Proms, The Spirit's Harvest (1985) and Time's Arrow (1990) were well received. After his successful completion of Elgar's unfinished third symphony, Payne became unsure of his musical identity. He found difficulty in subsequent composition until a series of orchestral works for the Proms, Visions and Journeys (2002), The Period of Cosmographie (2010) and Of Land, Sea and Sky (2016).

Payne held academic posts at various institutions throughout his career, including Mills College, the London College of Music, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the University of Western Australia and the University of East Anglia. Despite regular commissions from a variety of English ensembles, he was not a particularly mainstream composer and was forced to supplement his income with writings. A noted critic, he wrote for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Country Life. Other writings include publications on a variety of musical topics, notably —a study on the composer Arnold Schoenberg—and numerous works on the music of Frank Bridge, to whom he was particularly devoted.

Life and career

Youth and education (1936–1964)

Anthony Edward Payne was born in London on 2 August 1936 to Edward and Muriel (née Stroud) Payne;[1] his father was a civil servant.[2] Not from a particularly musical background, at the age of 10 Payne went to see relatives in Godalming and first experienced classical music from a radio broadcast of Brahms's Symphony No. 1.[3] Recalling the significance of the moment in a 2013 interview with Time Out, he said he "was absolutely translated" and "hooked like a fish".[3] [4] A recording he was given the next year of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 solidified his interest; he began composing at around age 11. From 1947 to 1955, Payne attended Dulwich College[5] where he mainly studied the classics, though he still found time to engage in music. Besides private study with Stanley Wilson, he worked on an orchestral suite and piano sonata and regularly played clarinet with Alan Hacker. Payne began further exploration of Western Classical repertoire, particularly Mozart and Haydn of the classical period and the Romantics Dvořák and Sibelius. However, his principal compositional inspirations were the late English Romantics Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams,[3] [6] influences which are increasingly prominent in various early works: two—in addition to the earlier one—piano sonatas, a clarinet sonata, and the Polyphonic suite.

After a brief stint in the Royal Corps of Signals (1955–1957), Payne read music at the Durham University Department of Music in St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University (1958–1961). During this time, studying Palestrinian counterpoint and working with the musicologist Peter Evans assisted the growth of his musical maturity. Around his graduation, he had a nervous breakdown and largely stopped composing for four years.[2] He spent his hiatus primarily as a freelance music critic and musicologist.[3] Before his halting of composition, in 1959 Payne had drafted parts of the symphonic poem It Happened Once, and returning to it in 1964 under the name of Liebestod, he began to discover a newly personal style of composition.

Emerging composer (1965–1980)

Payne's new compositional style was first fully realised in the Phoenix Mass for SATB choir and brass, which he began in 1965 and finished by 1969. Commentators note that the 'Phoenix' of the title is both metaphorical and literal, because it is, in the words of music critic Barry Millington, "a symbolic revivification of his compositional ambitions with a newly fashioned method of structural organisation."[2] Characterised by the use of harmonic intervals for specific themes and movements, Payne declared the work to be his first major composition.[1] Payne married the soprano Jane Manning in 1966.[7]

Paraphrases and Cadenzas (1969), his next work, was a 14-minute piece for viola, clarinet and piano, that shared much of the harmonic language of the Phoenix Mass. Payne later revised both the Phoenix Mass and Paraphrases and Cadenzas in 1972 and 1978 respectively.[7] Commissioned and premiered by the Baccholian Singers of London in 1970, his Two Songs without Words for five unaccompanied male voices shifted focus from intervallic organization to music based on numerology. Payne's Sonatas and Ricercars premiered the next year; the nine-movement work featured four full ensemble movements and five movements of solos for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn. Later in 1971 Payne wrote Paean for solo piano, in which a synthesis of the aria and toccata forms is dominated by numerology and tone clusters. Throughout 1972 and early 1973, various writing commissions halted his music composition. By 1970 Payne and Manning had moved to a house in Islington, where they lived until the end of their lives.[4]

In the Spring of 1973 Payne returned to Liebestod, but quickly set it aside to work on the unaccompanied vocal piece A Little Passiontide Cant to an anonymous text from 14th-century England, and later his Concerto for Orchestra (1974) commissioned by Richard Bradshaw and the New London Ensemble.[8] The latter was his largest-scale work to date, featuring ritornellos and—like the Sonatas and Ricercars—rotating instrumental solos.[8] For 16 voices and text by Thomas Hardy, Payne won the Radcliffe Award for another unaccompanied vocal piece, First Sight of Her and After (1975).[9] Though now he planned to finish Liebestod, he was commissioned by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Elgar Howarth so instead wrote a tone poem-funeral ode inspired by Beowulf, Fire on Whaleness (1975–1976), for brass band.[9] [10] Throughout 1976 to 1979, Payne embarked on four more choral pieces, three of which were by British figures: The World's Winter (1976, text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson); The Sea of Glass (1977, text from the Book of Revelation); A Little Ascension Cant (1977, text attributed to Cynewulf); and A Little Whitsuntide Cant (1977, text by Emily Brontë).[7] He was commissioned by the BBC Proms for The Stones and Lonely Places Sing (1979), a tone poem that has a numerology-based structure[2] and evokes "the bleak coastline of western Britain and Ireland".[1]

English Romanticism (1981–1992)

In the A Day in the Life of a Mayfly (1981) Payne first embraced his earlier English Romantic influences, and synthesised them with his predominant modernist style;[7] Susan Bradshaw described this as "modernized nostalgia".[7] Commissioned by the Fires of London and premiered 24 September 1981 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London,[11] A Day in the Life of a Mayfly soon became Payne's best known work up to that point.[1] He continued his renewal of the English tradition in his next major orchestral work, The Spirit's Harvest, which was his second commission for the Proms.[7] [2] Throughout the 1980s he engaged in a variety of genres; he wrote solo, choral, orchestral, brass and chamber works.[7] Also in the 1980s, he held various academic posts. He spent 1983 as a visiting professor at Mills College, California and from 1983 to 1985–6 taught composition at the London College of Music.[7] [1] During 1986 he was also a composition professor at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, New South Wales.[7] Among his students was the composer Enid Luff.[12]

In 1988 he co-founded the new music ensemble Jane's Minstrels with Manning.[3] Many of his works, such as transcriptions of seven songs by Peter Warlock entitled the Aspects of Love and Contentment (1991),[13] were composed for Jane's Minstrels.[3] The group also performed music by Purcell, Elgar, Bridge, Grainger, Webern, Schoenberg,[3] and Maxwell Davies.[2]

Payne's next important orchestral work, Time's Arrow (1990) was his third orchestral commission for the BBC Proms. The piece was well received[7] and described by Millington as "one of his finest achievements".[2] The work is a musical depiction of the Big Bang, beginning in almost complete silence and utilizing dense brass and percussion textures to represent the immensity of the subject.[2] Another orchestral work, Symphonies of Wind and Rain (1991), was commissioned by the Endymion Ensemble and premiered the following year.[14]

Elgar's Third Symphony (1993–1997)

See main article: Symphony No. 3 (Elgar/Payne). Payne's realisation of the sketches for Edward Elgar's incomplete Third Symphony took several years to complete.[2] When Elgar died in 1934, he left an incomplete score for a third symphony commissioned by the BBC.[15] Elgar's own thoughts on posthumous completions were ambiguous: though he had expressed a wish that no-one should 'tinker' with the sketches, but also said "If I can't complete the Third Symphony, somebody will complete it".[16] Although initially reluctant to allow anyone to use this material, the Elgar family realised that in 2005 the sketches would come out of copyright.[15] After hearing Payne's 1995 radio talk on his ideas,[1] the composer's estate approved his elaboration, which Payne had been working on since 1993, having studied the sketches since 1972.[15] Elgar's sketches were fragmentary; he often wrote inconsistently and haphazardly, recording unrelated ideas side by side in the 130 pages—141 individual sketches—that he left behind.[15]

Payne's version of the symphony, titled Edward Elgar: the sketches for Symphony No 3 elaborated by Anthony Payne, was first performed in February 1998 at the Royal Festival Hall, London by Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.[2] The work was immediately acclaimed and after it quickly began receiving further performances, totalling over 150 performances in four years.[1] As of 2021 the piece has been recorded six times,[2] and it has gained wide acceptance into Elgar's oeuvre.[7] Payne released a book in 1998,, discussing his process of completion for the work.[17]

While Payne worked on the symphony from 1993 to 1997, he simultaneously engaged in commissions for various English ensembles: Hidden Music (1992) for the London Festival Orchestra;[18] Orchestral Variations – The Seeds Long Hidden (1994) for the English Chamber Orchestra;[19] and Empty Landscape – Heart's Ease (1995) for the Nash Ensemble.[20] Other activities during this time include his tenure as the co-artistic director of the 1994 Spitalfields Music with Judith Weir and Michael Berkeley,[1] and teaching composition at the University of Western Australia during 1996.[7]

Later career and death (1998–2021)

After his international success in completing Elgar's 3rd symphony, Payne initially found difficulty in composing further.[1] Payne explained "It was rather like an actor must feel in a role – I was playing Elgar to the best of my ability. However, I was seriously worried at the end of it that I would not be able to be myself again. For 18 months I was living inside this work. It was fantastic while I was doing it, but I thought: How can I possibly get back to writing my stuff?".[4] He wrote the Micro-Sonata (1997) and Hommage to Debussy (1998)—his first solo piano works since 1980.[7] Payne's resurgence in large-scale composition came with the Isles of Scilly-inspired Visions and Journeys (2002),[1] an orchestral commission for the Proms that was especially well received.[7]

Payne subsequently also composed a version of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6 from Elgar's incomplete sketches for the work, which received its first performance under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis at a Prom concert on 2 August 2006 – Payne's 70th birthday.[1] From 2012 to 2013, Payne was a Professorial Fellow the University of East Anglia's composition department.[21] His String Quartet No. 2 (2010) won the Chamber category of the 2011 British Composer Awards.[22] His last major work, Of Land, Sea and Sky (2016) was a commission for The Proms.[1] The piece was written around his 80th birthday, and took inspiration from the sounds of horses' hooves, masses of clouds and the landscape art of Arthur Streeton.[1]

Payne died on 30 April 2021.[2] He was 84, and died a month after the death of his wife, which reportedly affected his health.[3] His colleague and fellow composer Colin Matthews noted that "They were inseparable in life, and I suppose it's not a surprise that he would follow her so soon after".[3] Payne and Manning had no children,[1] but were survived by a nephew and two nieces.[2]

Music

General character

Though Payne was drawn to various Classical and Romantic composers in his youth, the late English Romanticism of Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams proved to be the most impactful on his work.[6] His success from the Elgar Symphony completion led to orchestrations of various works by all three;[1] [7] he likened Vaughan Williams in particular to a "musical godfather".[4] These influences are considerably apparent in the works from his time at Dulwich and Durham. By the mid-1960s, Payne began to readily engage with modernist aesthetics, looking for musical content by more narrow means.

As a part of his interest in modernistic music, each movement of the Phoenix Mass centres on a particular interval, such as whole tones in the Gloria and major thirds in the Sanctus.[2] Paraphrases and Cadenzas (1969) also utilises specific intervallic designations for each movement, each of which align with a movement of the Mass. Another interest of Payne's was numerology; the virtuosic Paean (1971) is built on a series of sequences based on a random number table: 7 3 4 1 1 2 5 2 1 9 5 5 7 8 4 2 3 3 4 9 9 6. The Stones and Lonely Places Sing (1979) uses numerology of a different fashion; the proportions of 3 2 7 4 1 6 5 decide the phrase length, resulting in phrases of 21 bars (3x7), 14 bars (2x7), 49 bars (7x), 28 bars (7x4), 7 bars (7x1), 42 bars (7x6) and 35 bars (7x5).[2] Other musical trademarks include wide spaced harmonies and frequent alternation between strict and fluid rhythmic frameworks.[7]

Apart from opera, Payne engaged in most traditional genres: large-scale orchestral, brass band, chamber works, solo piano, solo strings, choral works and song cycles.[7] However, he was principally a composer of chamber music,[7] much of which was written for Jane's Minstrels and often included vocal parts specifically for Manning.[7] Other chamber ensembles Payne wrote compositions for include the Baccholian Singers of London, New London Ensemble,[8] the Fires of London,[11] the Endymion Ensemble,[14] the London Festival Orchestra,[18] the English Chamber Orchestra[19] and the Nash Ensemble.[20] Bradshaw asserts that these chamber works most clearly demonstrate the compositional evolution of Payne throughout his career.[7] Despite these regular commissions, Payne said in 2005 that after 30 years as a composer he made only what would be £15,000 in 2020 annually.[1] He was forced to supplement his composition with work as a music critic and musicologist.[23] Reflecting on this, Payne said "Still, you do it for love, don't you?".[1]

Legacy and reputation

Payne was not a particularly mainstream composer of contemporary classical music, in part from his straddling the worlds of English Romanticism and modernism.[1] Payne reflected on this, recalling his 2003 Radio 3 British Composer Awards, saying "I was absolutely amazed... because I’m one of those composers who never win awards."[1] Along these lines, Michael White of The Independent described Payne as "a quiet but thoughtful presence in British music [that] always strikes me as a kind of anchorage in sanity, confirming the continuing life of trusted values".[24]

Payne made substantial contributions to both the orchestral and choral/vocal repertoires: his Time's Arrow (1990) and Visions and Journeys (2002) for orchestra were acclaimed, and he was a prolific composer of song cycles.[7] However, he remains most noted as a composer of chamber music;[7] he was best known for the chamber work A Day in the Life of a Mayfly (1981) before his 1997 Elgar completion.[1] Though he developed a highly individual style, The Telegraph asserts that Payne's legacy is "inevitably dominated" by his Elgar completion.[1]

At the Proms on 13 August 2021, the BBC Symphony Orchestra played Payne's Spring’s Shining Wake as a memorial tribute.[25] [26]

Selected recordings

+Selected recordings of compositions by Anthony Payne
YearAlbumPerformers (conductor)Label
1990Judith Hall, flute; Elinor Bennett, harpNimbus Records NI5247[27]
1995Jane's Minstrels (Roger Montgomery)NMC D025[28]
1996BBC Symphony Orchestra (Sir Andrew Davis)NMC D037S[29]
1996ChromaRiverrun Records RVRCD56[30]
1998BBC Symphony Orchestra (Sir Andrew Davis)NMC D052[31]
1998Jane's Minstrels (Roger Montgomery)NMC D056[32]
1999Spectrum; Spectrum 2: 50 contemporary works for solo pianoThalia Myers, pianoNMC D057[33]
2001Paul Silverthorne, viola; John Constable, pianoBlack Box BBM1058[34]
2002Purcell: Hail! Bright Cecilia: Plus Bright Cecilia Variations BBC Singers (Ronald Corp)Musicians Benevolent Fund MBF1[35]
2005In Flanders' FieldsFiona Kimm, mezzo soprano; Andrew Bell, pianoQuartz Music QTZ2038[36]
2007Jane's Minstrels (Roger Montgomery)NMC D130[37]
2008Sapporo Symphony Orchestra (Tadaaki Otaka)Signum Classics SIGCD118[38]
2009BBC Symphony Orchestra (Sir Andrew Davis)Chandos CHAN10570[39]
2010The NMC SongbookRoderick Williams, baritone; Iain Burnside, pianoNMC D150[40]
2010Endymion (Quentin Poole)NMC D160[41]
2013VariousNMC D159[42]
2024BBC Symphony Orchestra (Martyn Brabbins) (Sir Andrew Davis)NMC D281[43]

List of compositions

+ List of compositions by Anthony Payne[44]
TitleYearGenre

Orchestral

Suite from a Forgotten Ballet1955
1985
data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Contrapuncti1958
1979
data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
solo string quartet; string orchestra
Concerto for Orchestra1974data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Song of the Clouds1979–80data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
solo oboe, 2 horns, perc, string orchestra
Spring's Shining Wake1980–81data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Songs and Seascapes1984data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
string orchestra
The Spirit's Harvest1985data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Half-Heard in the Stillness1987data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Time's Arrow1989–90data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Symphonies of Wind and Rain1991data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Hidden Music1992data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Orchestral Variations: The Seeds Long Hidden1992–94data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Visions and Journeys2001–02data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Bright Cecilia, Variations on a Theme of Purcell
with Lindberg, C. Matthews, Ruders, Sawer, Torke and Weir
2002data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Windows on Eternity2006–07data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
The Period of Cosmographie2010data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Of Land, Sea and Sky2016data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Orchestra and chorus
Variation XIII
from Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M.C.B.
2019data-sort-value="ZZZZ1B" Orchestral
Orchestra[45]

Brass

Fire on Whaleness1975–76data-sort-value="ZZZZ2B" Brass
Brass band, perc
Fanfares and Processional1986data-sort-value="ZZZZ2B" Brass
hn, 4 tpt, 4 trbn, tuba
Echoes of Courtly Love1987data-sort-value="ZZZZ2B" Brass
hn, tpt, flugel hn, trbn, tuba
River-race1990data-sort-value="ZZZZ2B" Brass
4 hn, 4 tpt, 4 trbn, tuba, perc

Chamber

Paraphrases and Cadenzas1969
1978
data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
cl, va, pf
Sonatas and Ricercars (Wind Quintet)1970–71data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl, ob, cl, bn, hn
String Quartet No. 11978data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
String quartet
Footfalls Echo in the Memory1978data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
vn, pf
The Stones and Lonely Places Sing1978–79data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl + pic, cl + b cl, hn, pf, vn, va, vc
A Day in the Life of a Mayfly1981data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl + pic, cl, perc, pf, vn, vc
The Song Streams in the Firmament1986data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
cl, 2 vn, va, vc, db
Consort Music1987–88data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
2 vn, 2 va, vc
A 1940s Childhood1986–87data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl, gui
1989data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl, hp
Sea-Change1988data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl, cl, hp, 2 vn, va, vc
The Enchantress Plays1990data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
bn, pf
Empty Landscape – Heart's Ease1994–95data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
ob, cl, hn, vn, va, vc
Engines and Islands1996data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
fl, cl, perc, pf, vn, va, vc
Piano Trio1988data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
Piano trio
Of Knots and Skeins2000data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
vn, pf
Horn Trio2005–06data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
Horn trio
Piano Quintet2007data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
Piano quintet
Out of the Depths Comes Song2008data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
vc, pf
From a Mouthful of Air2009data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
tpt, hp, vn, va, vc
String Quartet No. 22010data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
String quartet
Piano Quartet2014data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
Piano Quartet
String Quartet No. 32018data-sort-value="ZZZZ3B" Chamber
String quartet[46]

Instrumental solos

Paean1971data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Piano
Miniature Variations on a Theme of E.L.1980data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Piano
Reflections in the Sea of Glass1983data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Organ
Amid the Winds of Evening1987data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Viola
Song Without End1995data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Piano[47]
Micro-Sonata1997data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Piano
Hommage to Debussy1998data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Piano
Storm Chorale2003data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Violin
Conundrum2004data-sort-value="ZZZZ4B" Solo
Cello

Choral and vocal

Phoenix Mass1969
1972
data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
, 3 trumpet, 3 trombone
Two Songs without Words1970data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
5 male voices
A Little Passiontide Cant
(Text from 14th-century England)
1974
1984
data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
First Sight of Her and After
(Text by Thomas Hardy)
1975data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
16 solo voices
1988data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
, ob, cl, bn, hn, perc, vn, va, vc, db
The World's Winter
(Text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
1976data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Soprano, flute + piccolo, oboe, clarinet
The Sea of Glass
(Text from the Book of Revelation)
1977data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
, organ
A Little Ascension Cant
(Text attributed to Cynewulf)
1977
1984
data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
A Little Whitsuntide Cant
(Text by Emily Brontë)
1977
1984
data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Evening Land
(Text by Pär Lagerkvist)
1980–81data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Soprano, piano
A Little Christmas Cant
(Text from traditional carol texts)
1983data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Alleluias and Hockets
(after Machaut)
1987data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
, 2 ob, eng hn, 2 bn, 2 tpt, 3 trbn
Adlestrop
(Text by Edward Thomas)
1989data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Soprano, piano
First Sight of Her and After
(Text by Thomas Hardy)
1989data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
, ob, cl, bn, hn, perc, vn, va, vc, db
Aspects of Love and Contentment
(8 Songs of Peter Warlock)
1991data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
S, fl, ob, cl, hn, hp, str qt
Break, break, break
(Text by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
1996data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
From the Woodlanders
(Text by Thomas Hardy)
1999data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Soprano, 2 clarinets, violin, cello
Betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross
(Text by Francis Thompson)
2001data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Poems of Edward Thomas
(Text by Edward Thomas)
2002–03data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Soprano, piano, violin, vila, cello
Ghost Train
(Text by Payne, after Pär Lagerkvist)
2008data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Baritone, pf
The Headland
(Text by Ursula Vaughan Williams)
2008data-sort-value="ZZZZ5B" Choral and vocal
Mezzo soprano, piano

Other

+ List of completions, arrangements and orchestrations by Anthony Payne
TitleYearTypeGenre
Fresh Dances for the Late Tchaikovsky 1993ArrangementsOrchestral (ballet)
2 vn, 2 va, 2 vc, piano 4 hands
Edward Elgar

Symphony No. 3

1993–1997CompletionOrchestral
Gerald Finzi

"Proud Songsters"
From Earth and Air and Rain

2000OrchestrationOrchestral
Frederick Delius

"Hidden Love"
From Seven Songs from the Norwegian

2000OrchestrationOrchestral
Edward Elgar

So Many True Princesses

2002OrchestrationOrchestral
Edward Elgar

Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6

2005CompletionOrchestral
Edward Elgar

The Crown of India

2007–2008OrchestrationOrchestral
Vaughan Williams

Four Last Songs

2013OrchestrationOrchestral[48]

Selected publications

Alongside his career as a composer, Payne simultaneously built up a reputation as a writer on music, writing books about Arnold Schoenberg and Frank Bridge.[3] He also became a renowned critic,[3] regularly writing for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Country Life.[7] Other writing contributions include articles in Tempo, Musical Times and Music and Musicians.[2]

Books

Articles

Awards and honours

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 2 May 2021 . Anthony Payne, superb British composer who completed Elgar's Third Symphony using the sketches – obituary . . 2 May 2021 . 2 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210502193105/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2021/05/02/anthony-payne-brilliant-british-composer-completed-elgars-third/ . live . subscription . .
  2. News: Millington . Barry . 4 May 2021 . Anthony Payne obituary . . 5 May 2021 . 6 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210506054054/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/04/anthony-payne-obituary . live .
  3. News: Savage . Mark . 30 April 2021 . Celebrated composer Anthony Payne dies . . 30 April 2021 . 30 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210430224250/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-56943640 . live .
  4. News: Lennie . Jonathan . 28 August 2013 . Anthony Payne interview . . 24 October 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201024155705/https://www.timeout.com/london/opera-classical-music/anthony-payne-interview . live . 16 May 2021 .
  5. Web site: Dulwich College – Old Alleynians in Music. https://web.archive.org/web/20071025195419/http://www.dulwich.org.uk/OA_Document_1.aspx?id=1%3A29461&id=1%3A29454&id=1%3A29431%2F. dead. 25 October 2007. 25 October 2007. 10 November 2021.
  6. News: Northcott . Bayan . Bayan Northcott . 1 August 1996 . Payne's pleasure . . 9 May 2021 . 10 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210510144355/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/payne-s-pleasure-1307790.html . live .
  7. Encyclopedia: Bradshaw . Susan . Susan Bradshaw . . Bayan . Northcott . 2010 . 2001 . . Payne, Anthony . . Oxford . 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.21136 . 978-1-56159-263-0 . subscription . 1 May 2021 . 1 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210501044907/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000021136 . live .
  8. Web site: Concerto for Orchestra (1974) . Wise Music Classical . 25 May 2021 .
  9. September 1975 . Front Matter: Contributors . . . 114 . 1–52 . 943692 .
  10. Web site: Fire on Whaleness (1976) . Wise Music Classical . 25 May 2021 .
  11. Web site: A Day in the Life of a Mayfly (1981) . Wise Music Classical . 28 May 2021 .
  12. Encyclopedia: Calam . Toni . 2001 . . Luff, Enid . . Oxford . 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.2020225 . subscription .
  13. Web site: Aspects of Love and Contentment (1991) . Wise Music Classical . 9 June 2021 .
  14. Web site: Symphonies of Wind and Rain (1992) . Wise Music Classical . 9 June 2021 .
  15. News: Payne . Anthony . 13 February 1998 . Anthony Payne on Elgar's Symphony No 3 . . 6 May 2021 . 21 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210321063905/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/elgar/56393.stm . live .
  16. News: Matthews . Colin . Colin Matthews . 18 September 2011 . Letter: Elgar's symphonic sketches deserve a hearing . . 24 July 2021 . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letter-elgar-s-symphonic-sketches-deserve-a-hearing-1609782.html . 7 May 2022 . subscription . live .
  17. Web site: Music and the Creative Process: Elgar's Third Symphony . Payne . Anthony . . 11 June 2021 .
  18. Web site: Hidden Music (1992) . Wise Music Classical . 9 June 2021 .
  19. Web site: Orchestral Variations – "The Seeds Long Hidden" (1994) . Wise Music Classical . 9 June 2021 .
  20. Web site: Empty Landscape – Heart's Ease (1995) . Wise Music Classical . 9 June 2021 .
  21. Web site: Anthony Payne . Composers Edition . 17 July 2021 .
  22. Web site: Smith . Charlotte . 1 December 2011 . British Composer Awards winners announced . . 19 January 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140505195504/http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/british-composer-awards-winners-announced . 5 May 2014 .
  23. News: 3 May 2021 . Anthony Payne obituary . . subscription . 5 May 2021 . 5 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210505065554/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/anthony-payne-obituary-2zcvtgt9b . live .
  24. News: White . Michael . 23 October 2011 . Gallic sang-froid eclipsed by the deb's delight . . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/gallic-sangfroid-eclipsed-by-the-deb-s-delight-1612877.html . 7 May 2022 . subscription . live . 11 July 2021 .
  25. News: Martyn Brabbins & the BBC Symphony Orchestra . . 17 August 2021 .
  26. News: Michael White's music news: LSO in Trafalgar Square; Proms this week; sax in Peckham; City Music Foundation . 13 August 2021 . White . Michael . . 17 August 2021 .
  27. Book: Images & Impressions: Music for Flute and Harp . . 26102614 . 19 June 2021 .
  28. Book: Jane Manning sings Weir, Nash, Connolly, Bauld, Elias, Payne, Gilbert . . 41228023 . 9 June 2021 .
  29. Book: Time's arrow (Music, 1996) . . 642525781 . 9 May 2021 .
  30. Book: Chroma . . 1173872693 . 14 May 2021 .
  31. Book: The Sketches for Symphony No 3 . . 1252724098 . 25 July 2021 .
  32. Book: Symphonies of wind and rain; The song streams in the firmament; Evening land; Paraphrases and cadenzas; A day in the life of a Mayfly . . 878532302 . 14 May 2021 .
  33. Book: Spectrum; Spectrum 2: 50 contemporary works for solo piano . . 225734245 . 19 June 2021 .
  34. Book: Invocations: Contemporary Viola Works . . 48483429 . 9 June 2021 .
  35. Web site: Purcell: Hail! Bright Cecilia: Plus Bright Cecilia Variations . . 19 June 2021 .
  36. Book: In Flanders' Fields . . 227149521 . 24 July 2021 .
  37. Book: The stones and lonely places sing . . 840348815 . 14 May 2021 .
  38. Book: Symphony No. 3; Pomp & Circumstance March No. 6 . . 244008082 . 25 July 2021 .
  39. Book: The Crown of India Imperial March; The Coronation March; The Empire March . . 793341656 . 25 July 2021 .
  40. Book: The NMC Songbook . . 906957982 . 24 July 2021 .
  41. Book: Sound census . . 644282025 . 19 June 2021 .
  42. Book: Phoenix mass; Paean; The world's winter; Horn trio . . 849518077 . 19 June 2021 .
  43. Book: Visions and Journeys. . 28 May 2024 .
  44. Information is from unless otherwise noted.
  45. Web site: Various - Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M.C.B. . . 24 July 2021 .
  46. Web site: String Quartet No. 3 . Composers Edition . 24 July 2021 .
  47. Web site: Song Without End . anthonypayne.org.uk . 24 July 2021 .
  48. Web site: Vaughan Williams/Payne: Four Last Songs . anthonypayne.org.uk . 17 July 2021.
  49. Web site: Elgar Society Awards . . 26 May 2021 . 7 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200407095236/https://elgarsociety.org/elgar-society-awards/ . dead .
  50. Web site: Anthony Payne (1936–2021) . Wise Music Classical . 26 May 2021 .