Benjamin Burrows

Benjamin Burrows (20 October 1891 – 28 January 1966 in Leicester, England) was an English composer of art songs and instrumental music.[1]

Biography

Burrows was born in Leicester, England. He was the son of organist Dr. Ben Burrows, and brother of violinist and orchestra conductor Grace Burrows. He studied organ with H. P. Ellis and music theory with Charles Kitson. He worked as music teacher at Leicester University, but also had skills as a precision engineer and horologist. He is noted for his development of a system for music typography and founded his own publishing house, Bodnant Press, to publish his music and teaching monographs.[1] Among his prominent music students is the composer Joyce Howard Barrell.

Music

Burrows is best known for his art songs. Under the influence and friendship of Jane Vowles, a soprano to whom he taught theory, he composed 93 songs in 21 months. After her parents insisted on her abandoning studies with him, Burrows wrote only one more song (in 1953). His songs have been compared with those by Ivor Gurney and Peter Warlock. They include settings of poetry by A. E. Housman, Rossetti, Herrick, de la Mare, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson, several of which have been recorded.[1]

He also composed several instrumental works. Between 1929 and 1935 composed a string quartet and sonatas for violin, viola, violoncello, and piano.,[1] In later years he concentrated on church music, for his own use at Leicester church where he was organist from 1929 to 1955.[1]

Selected compositions

Orchestral

Chamber music

Keyboard

Organ
Piano
  1. Twilight
  2. By the Stream
  1. Stillness
  2. June Night
  3. Consolation
  1. The Day Is Done
  2. Pleasant Visions
  3. Night
  4. Resignation
  5. Lullaby
  1. The Close of Day
  2. A Hidden Brook
  3. Woodland Depths
  4. Still Waters
  5. The Brookside
  6. Summer Night
Piano 4-hands
2 Pianos
  1. Under the Rose
  2. The beggar Boy
  3. Admiral Benbow
  4. The Northumbrian Bagpipes
  5. The Broom
  6. Shropshire Round
  7. I'm seventeen come Sunday
  8. Banstead Down
  9. The Banks of the Clyde
  10. A Young Serving-Man
  11. Gossip Joan
  12. My Johnny was a Shoemaker (1945)
  13. O Waly Waly (1946)
  14. Shackley Hay (1946)
  15. Cold Blows the Wind
  16. Three Dukes (1947)
  17. Captain Grant (1948)
  18. Did you ever (from The Beggar's Opera) (1948)
  19. Greensleeves (1949)
  20. Peas, Beans, Oats and the Barley (1950)
  21. The Trees They are So High (1950)
  22. Eggs in Her Basket (1950)
  23. The Thresherman and the Squire (1950)
  24. The Spanish Lady (1950)

Vocal

  1. O Gentle Moon
  2. There Is Sweet Music Here
  3. O Happy Lark
Choral
  1. Fain Would I Change That Note; anonymous words
  2. Take, O Take Those Lips Away; words by William Shakespeare
  3. Music, When Soft Voices Die; words by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Unknown author, The Oxford Dictionary of Music online

References

External links

See also

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