Samuel Basil Deane (27 May 1928 – 23 September 2006) was a musicologist and academic. After studying at

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and under

Étienne Pasquier Étienne Pasquier (7 June 152930 August 30 1615) was a French lawyer and man of letters. By his own account he was born in Paris on 7 June 1529, but according to others he was born in 1528. He was called to the Paris bar in 1549. In 1558 he be ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, he lectured at the universities of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, produced biographies of Roussel, Cherubini and Hoddinott, and co-presented several television programmes about music. He held a number of high-level academic posts; he was

James Rossiter Hoyle Professor of Music The James Rossiter Hoyle Professorship of Music at the University of Sheffield was established in 1927 and endowed with £16,000 by the will of Augusta Rossiter Hoyle in memory of her late husband, James (died 1926), a manufacturer of steel armour ...

at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

(1968–1974), Professor of Music at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

(1974–1980), director of the

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) is a provider of tertiary education in Hong Kong. Located near the north coast of Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island, the main campus also functions as a venue for performances. Béthanie (Hong Ko ...

(1983–1987) and Peyton and Barber Professor of Music at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

(1987–1992). Deane was also music director of the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

(1980–1983), during which time he prioritised funding for new touring groups, but oversaw the funding cuts which forced the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

to close.

Life

Deane was born on 27 May 1928 in Bangor,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, the son of Canon Richard Deane who was rector of St Thomas's,

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. After the Methodist College in Belfast and

The Royal School, Armagh The Royal School, Armagh is a co-educational voluntary grammar school, founded in the 17th century, in the city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. It has a boarding department with an international intake. It is a member of the Headmasters' and He ...

, he was educated at

;John Turner
"Obituary: Basil Deane"
''The Guardian'', 8 November 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2018. his parents did not encourage his interest in studying music at university (he had learnt to play the

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

), so his first undergraduate degree, obtained in 1948, was in French and German. With the recommendation of

Ivor Keys Ivor Christopher Banfield Keys, CBE (8 March 1919 – 7 July 1995) was a musicologist and academic. Life Keys was born on 8 March 1919, the son of Christopher Richard Keys.

, his father allowed him to enrol on the new

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

degree at Queen's, which he completed in 1950. He then studied the cello in

under

."Professor Basil Deane"
''The Independent'', 14 October 2006. Retrieved 20 December 2018."Professor Basil Deane", ''The Times'' (London) 23 November 2006, p. 80. In 1953 Deane was appointed to an assistant

lectureship Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. ...

at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, and was promoted to a full lectureship three years later. He also embarked on a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

, which was awarded by Glasgow in 1958. The following year, he moved to the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

to be a senior lecturer; while there, he and

Bill Fitzwater Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

presented a programme on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

called ''What is Music?''. They went on to present ''Cities of Music'' and ''Music is...'', as well as a biography of

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who moved to the United States in 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long and ...

for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

(1969) and a documentary about

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

(1972). Deane returned to England in 1966 to lecture at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. In 1968, he was appointed

at the

, and served in that post until 1975 when he became professor of music at the

. In 1980, he became music director for the

; he cut funding to the

(which "caused him some pain", according to ''The Guardian''), but allocated greater funding to

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

and the Contemporary Music Network. Then three years later moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

to be director of the

Academy for Performing Arts The Union County Academy for Performing Arts is a full-time four-year state school, public magnet school, magnet Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, Scotch Plains, in Union County, New Jer ...

. He then held – as his final academic post – the Peyton and Barber Professorship of Music at the

between 1987 and 1992, when he retired. While at Birmingham, he established a student-run music festival in the final week of the summer term. Deane's retirement came a year after the death of his wife, Norma (''née'' Greig). In 1994, he moved back to Northern Ireland with his partner Ana de Brito and worked with the Belfast Chamber Music Society. He settled in

Portaferry Portaferry () is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, at the southern end of the Ards Peninsula, near the Narrows at the entrance to Strangford Lough. It is home to the Exploris aquarium and is well known for the annual Gala Week Fl ...

, County Down, before moving to

Matosinhos Matosinhos () is a City#Portugal, city and a Concelho, municipality in the district of Porto District, Porto in Portugal. The municipality covers an area of approximately and had 172,557 inhabitants in 2021. It is bordered by the municipalities o ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He died on 23 September 2006. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' remarked in his obituary that he "enjoyed an energetic academic career .. andleft a trail of institutional and pedagogical improvements behind him".

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' that Deane's career helped to "build a new musical heritage" in the United Kingdom; he "was the urbane and politically adept director of music for the Arts Council of Great Britain during one of its most difficult periods". A commemorative concert for Deane was held at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in September 2007, and was the inspiration for a tribute CD issued in 2013. Two songs, ''The Rose Tree'' and ''I am of Ireland'', setting

W B Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

, were found among his papers, with just the vocal line. They were arranged (as specified by Deane) for soprano, recorder and cello by Raymond Warren.''Rawsthorne and Other Rarities'', Divine Art CD DDA25169 (2018)

Selected publications

* ''Albert Roussel'' ( Barrie and Rockliff, 1961). * ''Cherubini'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1965). * ''Alun Hoddinott'' (

University of Wales Press The University of Wales Press () was founded in 1922 as a central service of the University of Wales. The press publishes academic journals and around seventy books a year in the English and Welsh languages on six general subjects: history, poli ...

, 1978).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, Basil 1928 births 2006 deaths British musicologists Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Academics of the University of Glasgow Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Academics of the University of Nottingham Academics of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Birmingham 20th-century British musicologists People from Bangor, County Down Scholars and academics from County Down People educated at Methodist College Belfast People educated at The Royal School, Armagh