Robin Holloway

Robin Greville Holloway (born 19 October, 1943 in Leamington Spa) is an English composer. From 1952 to 1957, he was a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral.Northcott, Bayan, "Robin Holloway" (August 1974). "The Musical Times", 115 (1578): pp. 644-646.] He attended King's College, Cambridge and studied composition with Alexander Goehr. In 1974, Holloway became an Assistant Lecturer in Music at the University of Cambridge, and in 1980 attained a full Lecturer position. In 1999, he became a reader in Musical Composition at Cambridge, and since 2001, a Professor of Musical Composition. He is also a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

Holloway's doctoral thesis "Debussy and Wagner" (published by Eulenburg), discussed a close relationship between music and language as well as romanticism and tonality. This can be heard in his works, "Scenes from Schumann" (1969-70), the opera "Clarissa" (1976) premiered in 1990 at English National Opera under the baton of Oliver Knussen, and "Seascape and Harvest" (1983-4) composed for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle. [cite web|url=http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2703&ttype=BIOGRAPHY&ttitle=Biography/ |title=Robin Holloway Biography|publisher=Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.|accessdate=2008-08-14]

Holloway has contributed a regular music column to The Spectator magazine since 1988. A collection of his journalistic writings has been compiled and published as "On Music: Essays and Diversions 1963-2003" (Continuum Press, ISBN 0-8264-7629-5).

Holloway has been described as a "neo-romantic" composer, reflecting his own affinity for music of the last part of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries. [Bye, Antony, "Acts of Possession" (October 1993). "The Musical Times", 134 (1808): pp. 567-568, 570.]

Compositions

Holloway's list of compositions, as of 2006, is as follows:

1962:
Opus 1, "Garden Music" for 9 players
1964:
Opus 2, "Concertino No. 1" for small orchestra
1964-65:
Opus 3, "Three Poems of William Empson" for mezzo-soprano and ensemble
1965:
Opus 4, "Music for Eliot's 'Sweeney agonistes"' for 6 players and speakers
1965-66:
Opus 5, "In Chymick Art", cantata for soprano, baritone and 9 players (text of Edward Benlowes)
Opus 6, Concerto for organ and wind
Opus 7, "Four Housman Fragments" for soprano and piano
1966-69:
Opus 8, "First Concerto for Orchestra"
1967:
Opus 9, "Melodrama" for speaker, small male chorus, and ensemble (text of Sylvia Plath)
Opus 10, "Concertino No. 2" for small orchestra
1968:
Opus 11, "Divertimento No. 1" for amateur orchestra and piano
1968-69:
Opus 12, "Tender Only to One" for soprano solo (text of Stevie Smith)
1970:
Opus 13, "Scenes from Schumann" for orchestra [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1068008,00.html Pauline Fairclough, "Holloway 60th Birthday" (concert review). "The Guardian", 22 October 2003.] ]
Opus 14, "The Wind Shifts" for high voice and strings (text of Wallace Stevens)
1971:
Opus 15, "Banal Sojourn" for high voice and piano (text of Wallace Stevens)
Opus 16: "Fantasy-Pieces" for piano and 12 instruments
1972:
Opus 17, "Evening with Angels" for 16 players
Opus 18, "Divertimento No. 2" for wind nonet
Opus 19, "Georgian Songs" for baritone and piano
1972-73:
Opus 20, "Cantata on the Death of God" for soloists, speaker, SATB chorus, organ and orchestra
Opus 21, "Five Little Songs about Death" for mezzo-soprano or contralto solo (text of Stevie Smith)
1973:
Opus 22, "Five Madrigals" for unaccompanied chorus
1973-74:
Opus 23, "Domination of Black" for large orchestra
Opus 23a, "Diptych"
Opus 23b, "Summer Rain"
Opus 23c, "Night Hunt"
1974:
Opus 24, "Lights" Out for baritone and piano (text of Edward Thomas)
Opus 25, "In the Thirtieth Year" for tenor and piano (text of J.V. Cunningham)
Opus 26, "Author of Light" for contralto and piano (Jacobean texts)
Opus 27, "The Leaves Cry" for soprano and piano (texts of Wallace Stevens and Christina Rosetti)
1974-75:
Opus 28, "Sea-Surface Full of Clouds", cantata for soloists, choir, and chamber orchestra
1975:
Opus 29, "Homage to Weill: Concertino No. 3" for 11 players [Whittall, Arnold, "Reviews of Music: New British Chamber Music" (July 1977). "Music & Letters", 58 (3): pp. 380-381.]
1976:
Opus 30, "Clarissa", Opera in two acts [Bye, Antony, "Holloway's "Clarissa" (May 1990). "The Musical Times", 131 (1767): pp. 243-244, 246.] [Gallagher, David, "First Performances: "Clarissa" at the Coliseum" (September 1990). "Tempo" (New Ser.), 174: pp. 21-22.]
Opus 30a, "Clarissa Symphony" for soprano, tenor and orchestra
Opus 30b, "Clarissa Sequence" for soprano and orchestra (1995)
Opus 31, "Romanza" for violin and small orchestra [Knussen, Oliver, "Robin Holloway's "Romanza" (1978). "Tempo" (New Ser.), 126: p. 54.]
1977:
Opus 32, "This is Just to Say" for tenor and piano
Opus 33, "Nursery Rhymes" for soprano and wind quintet
Opus 33a, "Nursery Rhymes: Divertimento No. 3" for soprano and wind quintet
Opus 33b, "Conundrums: Divertimento No. 4" for soprano and wind quintet (1979)
Opus 33c, "A Medley of Nursery Rhymes and Conundrums" for mezzo-soprano and piano (1986)
Opus 34, "The Rivers of Hell" for 7 players
Opus 35/1, "The Blue Doom of Summer" for high voice and harp (text of Ronald Firbank)
Opus 35/2, "Willow Cycle" for tenor and harp (Elizabethan texts)
Opus 36, "Hymn for Voices" for unaccompanied chorus
Opus 37, "From High Windows" for baritone and piano (text of Philip Larkin)"
Opus 38/1, "The Consolation of Music" for unaccompanied chorus
1978:
Opus 38/2, "He-She-Together" for unaccompanied chorus (text of James Joyce)
"Killing Time" for soprano solo
1978-79:
Opus 39, "The Noon's Repose" for tenor and harp (Eliot/Stevens/Marvell)
Opus 40, "Second Concerto for Orchestra" [Hewett, Ivan, Review of recording of Robin Holloway: "Second Concerto for Orchestra" (1994). "The Musical Times", 135 (1815): p. 301.]
Opus 41, "Serenade in C" for octet
1979-80:
Opus 42, "First Idyll" for small orchestra
Opus 43, "Horn Concerto"
Opus 44, "Aria" for 14 players
1980:
Opus 45, "Ode" for 4 winds and strings
1980-81:
Opus 46, "Wherever We May Be" for soprano and piano
1981:
Opus 47, "Sonata for Violin Solo"
Opus 48, "Brand", dramatic ballad for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra
Opus 49, "The Lover's Well" for baritone and piano (text of Geoffrey Hill)
1981-82:
Opus 50, "War Memorials" for brass band
1982:
Opus 51, "Women in War", revue for 4 female soloists and piano
"Suite for Saxophone"
Opus 52, "Serenata Notturna" for 4 horns and small orchestra
1982-83:
Opus 53, "Showpiece: Concertino No. 4" for 14 players [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1060661,00.html Tom Service, "Philharmonia/Brabbins/Dohnanyi" (concert review). "The Guardian", 11 October 2003.] ]
Opus 54, "Second Idyll" for small orchestra
1983-84:
Opus 55, "Seascape and Harvest" for orchestra
Opus 56, "Viola Concerto" for viola and small orchestra
1983:
Opus 57, "Serenade in Eb" for wind quintet and string quintet
1984:
Opus 58, "Moments of Vision" cycle for speaker and 4 players
Opus 59, "Romanza" for oboe and string orchestra
"On Hope" cantata for soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists, and string quartet (ms)
Opus 60a, "Souvenirs de Monsalvat" for piano four-hands
"Since I believe", Anthem for a cappella choir (text of Robert Bridges)
1984-85:
Opus 61, "Ballad" for harp and small orchestra
Opus 63, "Bassoon Concerto" for bassoon and small orchestra
1985:
Opus 62/1, "First Partita" for solo horn
Opus 62/2, "Second Partita" for solo horn
"Concertino No. 4 ½" Signature for "BBC Young Musician of the Year" for ensemble (ms)
1986:
Opus 64, "Serenade in G" for string septet
Opus 64a, "Serenade in G" for string orchestra
Opus 64b, "Serenade in G" for string sextet
Opus 65, "Organ Fantasy"
Opus 66, "Inquietus" for small orchestra
1987:
Opus 67, "Brass Quintet: Divertimento No. 5
1988:
Opus 68, "Double Concerto" for clarinet, saxophone and two chamber orchestras
"Panorama" for orchestra
1989:
Opus 60, "Wagner Nights", Waltz-sequence for orchestra
1990:
"The Spacious Firmament" for chorus and orchestra (Dryden/Blake/Tennyson)
Opus 70, "Violin Concerto"
Opus 71, "Entrance: Carousing: Embarkation" for symphonic band
Opus 72, "Hymn to the Senses" for large chorus (text of John Fuller)
Opus 73, "Serenade for Strings" in E
1991:
Opus 74, "Summer Music: Concertino No. 5" for mixed sextet
1991-95:
Opus 75, "Boys and Girls Come Out to Play" Opera Buffa in two acts
Opus 75a, "Overture on Nursery Rhymes" for chamber orchestra
Opus 76, "Winter Music" for six players
1991:
Opus 77, "Lord, what is man?" for unaccompanied chorus (text of Crashaw)
1992:
"Love will find out the way", for soprano and chamber ensemble
1993:
Opus 78, "Third Idyll: Frost at Midnight" for chamber orchestra
"A Singing Telegram for Amelia Freedman" for string sextet or septet
"Berceuse with Burlesque" for piano quartet (ms)
"Bourée Fantasque", Orchestral Arrangement of Chabrier
1993-94:
Opus 79, "Trio for clarinet, viola and piano"
1981-94:
Opus 80, "Third Concerto for Orchestra" [Holloway, Robin, "Fishing in Ruffled Lakes" (April 1996). "The Musical Times", 137 (1838): pp. 5-9.]
1994:
Opus 81, "The Blackbird and the Snail" for narrator and piano (text of Walter de la Mare)
1996:
Opus 82, "Clarinet Concerto"
1996-97:
Opus 83, "Double-bass Concerto"
c.1984-97:
Opus 84, "Peer Gynt"
1997:
Opus 85, "Scenes from Antwerp" for orchestra
1992-97:
Opus 86, "Gilded Goldbergs" for two pianos [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/review/0,,875996,00.html Andrew Clements, "Holloway: Gilded Goldbergs" (CD review). "The Guardian", 17 January 2003.] ]
1999:
"8 Haydn Miniatures"
Opus 87, "Viola Sonata"
1996-99:
Opus 88, "Symphony"
Opus 89:
i. "Woefully arrayed", motet for choir and organ (anon/? Skelton)
ii. "Felicity" motet for choir and organ (Traherne)
2000:
Opus 90, no. i, "Ballade" for piano, no. ii, "Nocturne" for piano (series is 'to be continued')
Opus 91, "Sonata" for solo 'cello
Opus 92, "Serenade in Bb" for wind octet
1993-2001:
Opus 93, "Missa Caiensis" for choir and organ (Kyrie; Sanctus and Benedictus; Agnus, written 1993: Gloria; Credo, written 2001)
2002:
Orchestration of Debussy's "en blanc et noir"
Opus 94: Various pieces for solo trumpet, 2 trumpets, trumpet and organ
Opus 95: "Christmas Sequence" for choir and organ
Opus 96: "Spring Music" for 6 players [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1056598,00.html Tom Service, "Nash Ensemble, BBC Singers" (concert review). "The Guardian", 6 October 2003.] ]
Opus 97: "String Quartet no. 1"
Opus 98: "Four-Piece Suite" for organ
2004:
Opus 99, "Serenade in D flat" for 4 players [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,1564029,00.html Rian Evans, "Okeanos/Schubert Ensemble" (concert review). "The Guardian", 7 September 2005.] ]
"Magnificat" and "Nunc Dimittis" for choir and organ
Opus 100, "String Quartet No. 2"
2004-2006:
Opus 101, "Fourth Concerto for Orchestra" (world première in February 2007 with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas) [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/03/DDG9ONTBID1.DTL&hw=Symphony&sn=009&sc=231 Joshua Kosman, "Big audio dynamite -- Holloway a huge undertaking for Symphony". "San Francisco Chronicle", 3 February 2007.] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.mus.cam.ac.uk/external/people/academicstaff/rgh1000.html Cambridge Biography]
* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2703&ttype=SNAPSHOT&ttitle=Snapshot Robin Holloway @ Boosey & Hawkes]