Adrian Francis Cruft (10 February 1921 – 20 February 1987) was a British composer. Cruft, the son of the double-bassist Eugene Cruft was educated at

Westminster Abbey Choir School Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers (i.e. only choirboys attend the school). It is loca ...

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

, and as a Boult conducting scholar at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

from 1938, completing his studies there briefly in 1946-1947 after service in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He was a composition student of

Gordon Jacob Gordon Percival Septimus Jacob CBE (5 July 18958 June 1984) was an English composer and teacher. He was a professor at the Royal College of Music in London from 1924 until his retirement in 1966, and published four books and many articles about ...

and Edmund Rubbra but also studied

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

with his father. Cruft became chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain 1966. Cruft, called a "performers' composer" by Roderick Swanston in an article in ''The Musical Times'' a couple of years after his death was, as a young chorister at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, influenced by the revival of Tudor music and later by the counterpoint of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

. Grove's music dictionary calls his music "diatonic, firmly based in tradition and generally straightforward in idiom". He composed church music as well as orchestral works and chamber music.Hugh Cole & John Cruft, "Cruft, Adrian (Francis)",
Grove Music Online
', ed. L. Macy (Accessed 3 May 2006).

Notes

References

*Cole, Hugh & Cruft, John, "Cruft, Adrian (Francis)",
Grove Music Online
', ed. L. Macy (Accessed 3 May 2006). *Rubbra, Edmund, "The music of Adrian Cruft", ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainze ...

'', 1969, p. 822-825. *Swanston, Roderick, "The music of Adrian Cruft", ''

'', 1991, p. 119-123.

External links

*Adrian Cruft's papers are held in the archives of the

Adrian Cruft's papers
in the AIM25 database (Archives in London and the M25 area). {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruft, Adrian 1921 births 1987 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Music People educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School Choristers at Westminster Abbey 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English composers British military personnel of World War II