Bernard (George) Stevens (2 March 1916 – 6 January 1983) was a British composer who first became known to the wider public when he won a newspaper composition prize for a 'Victory Symphony' post-war in 1946. The broader success was not sustained, but Stevens went on to become a respected composer and teacher at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, using traditional forms for his compositions while extending his essentially tonal harmonic language towards serialism.Macdonald, Malcolm. 'Stevens, Bernard (George)', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)

Early career

Born in

Stamford Hill Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about northeast of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the largest concentration of orthodox Ashken ...

, London, Stevens grew up in Essex, and received his first musical education at Southend High School, where his teacher was

Arthur Hutchings Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings (14 July 1906 – 13 November 1989) was an English musicologist, composer and professor of music.David Scott. 'Hutchings, Arthur (James Bramwell)' in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001) Life Born in Sunbury-on-Th ...

. He began piano lessons at the age of eight. The pianist and Bach specialist Harold Samuel heard him play and offered encouragement. He went on to study English and Music at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, with E. J. Dent and

Cyril Rootham Cyril Bradley Rootham (5 October 1875 – 18 March 1938) was an English composer, educator and organist. His work at Cambridge University made him an influential figure in English music life. A Fellow of St John's College, where he was also or ...

, then at the

with R. O. Morris (composition) and

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 ...

(orchestration) from 1937 to 1940. At the college,

Arthur Benjamin Arthur Leslie Benjamin (18 September 1893 in Sydney – 10 April 1960 in London) was an Australian composer, pianist, conductor and teacher. He is best known as the composer of ''Jamaican Rumba'' (1938) and of the '' Storm Clouds Cantata'', fea ...

taught him piano and

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founding music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton) he was a major figu ...

conducting. Called up for war service in 1940, he was rejected for a combat role due to his poor eyesight, so he served in the

Royal Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" existed in the army before the fo ...

. While there, he composed his Piano Trio and his Violin Sonata, Op. 1, written for his wife Bertha, a violin teacher whom he married in 1941. The sonata attracted the attention of

Max Rostal Max Rostal (7 July 1905 – 6 August 1991) was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship. Biography Max Rostal was born in Cieszyn to a Jewish merchant family. As a child prodigy, he started studyin ...

, who commissioned a Violin Concerto, which Stevens also wrote during his army service.Hutchings, Arthur. 'Introducing Bernard Stevens' in ''The Listener'', Issue 901, April 18, 1946, p. 28 In 1946 his First Symphony, entitled ''Symphony of Liberation'', won first prize in a competition sponsored by the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' newspaper for a 'Victory Symphony' to celebrate the end of the war with a high-profile premiere at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. The competition judges were

Arthur Bliss Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss (2 August 189127 March 1975) was an English composer and conductor. Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army. In the post-war years he qui ...

, Constant Lambert and

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

. The symphony was dedicated to the memory of his friend, the artist and poet Clive Branson, who was killed in action in 1944. The success of the symphony led to some lucrative work scoring films in the late 1940s, but after completing three scores, Stevens decided not to continue writing film music. In 1948, he was appointed Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music, a post he combined from 1967 with a professorship at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. As an examiner he travelled widely, especially in Eastern Europe. His students included Keith Burstein,

Stephen Dodgson Stephen Cuthbert Vivian Dodgson (17 March 192413 April 2013) was a British composer and broadcaster. Dodgson's prolific musical output covered most genres, ranging from opera and large-scale orchestral music to chamber and instrumental music, as ...

Michael Finnissy Michael Peter Finnissy (born 17 March 1946) is an English composer, pianist, and pedagogue. An immensely prolific composer, his music is "notable for its dramatic urgency and expressive immediacy". Although he rejects the label, he is often reg ...

, Erika Fox,

Malcolm Lipkin Malcolm Lipkin (2 May 1932 – 2 June 2017) was an English composer. Early life and career Malcolm Leyland Lipkin was born in Liverpool. While a schoolboy at Liverpool College, he studied the piano privately with Gordon Green from 1944 to ...

, Carlo Martelli and John White.

Politics

Stevens was intellectually and emotionally committed to the left and associated with other socialist artists and writers, such as his friends

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prol ...

, Mary and Geraldine Peppin,

Randall Swingler Randall Carline Swingler MM (28 May 1909 – 19 June 1967) was an English poet, writing extensively in the 1930s in the communist interest. Early life and education His was a prosperous upper middle class Anglican family in Aldershot, with an ...

and

Montagu Slater Charles Montagu Slater (23 September 1902 – 19 December 1956) was an English poet, novelist, playwright, journalist, critic and librettist. Life One of five children, Slater was born in the small mining port of Millom, Cumberland faci ...

, and was active in the Workers' Music Association. In 1955, a contentious slander case served by Edward Clark on

Benjamin Frankel Benjamin Frankel (31 January 1906 – 12 February 1973) was a British composer. His best known pieces include a cycle of five string quartets, eight symphonies, and concertos for violin and viola. He was also notable for writing over 100 film sc ...

(involving an accusation that Frankel had embezzled

ISCM The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

funds) involved Bernard Stevens and

Christian Darnton Philip Christian Darnton (born Philip Christian von Schunck; 30 October 1905 – 14 April 1981), also known as Baron von Schunck, was a British composer and writer. Amongst his admirers was Vaughn Williams. Early life and family He was born in ...

as witnesses. Frankel accused them of lying at the behest of the Communist Party. This had a devastating effect on Stevens. He resigned his Party membership a year later, also as a protest against the Soviet suppression of the 1956 Hungarian uprising. He nevertheless remained committed to

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

principles.

Later life

Stevens lived at 71 Parkhill Road,

Belsize Park Belsize Park is a residential area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, in the Inner London, inner North West London, north-west of London, England. The residential streets are lined with Georgian and Victorian villas and mews houses. ...

after the war, a house he bought from Max Rostal. Seeking a more peaceful environment where he could compose, he moved in 1951 to a village in Essex, where his address was The Forge,

Great Maplestead Great Maplestead is a village and a civil parish in the Braintree (district), Braintree District, in the English county of Essex. In the sixteenth century the Deane family were Lords of the Manor of Great Maplestead. Later in the century the ma ...

. His music room was in a converted blacksmith's forge next to the house. In the late 1960s, he and Bertha acquired a small plot of land near

Mahón Mahón (), officially Maó (, ; formerly spelled ''Mahó''), and also written as Mahon or Port Mahon in English, is the capital and second largest city of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the ar ...

on the island of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

and built a holiday villa there, where they spent many summers over the following decade. His final work, the Concertante for Two Pianos (written for Isobel Beyer and Harvey Dagul), was composed at the villa. Stevens died in January 1983 after being diagnosed with cancer six years earlier. He was survived by his wife Bertha and daughter Catherine Stevens (born 1952), a viola player.BBC Radio 3, ''Composer of the Week'' (2016)
/ref>

Music

Influenced by composers such as

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

, Alan Bush and

Edmund Rubbra Edmund Rubbra (; 23 May 190114 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak o ...

, Stevens also used fantasia-like elements of form which he took from the Elizabethans Dowland and Farnaby. He frequently composed tightly compressed works, such as the Opus 1 Violin Sonata and the later Piano Sonata, incorporating three individual movements within a single, uninterrupted span. The Symphony No.1 (1945), a cry of "Liberation" after Nazism, could seem gestural with its looser structure and programmatic elements, and is not typical. Even so, it "completely avoids the rhetoric and pomp of many other 'Victory' pieces".Stephen Johnson. 'Stevens Cello Concerto; Liberation Symphony', in ''Gramophone'', March 1987 His ''Fugal Overture'' received its premiere at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

in 1948, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. The more inward-looking pieces that followed use an essentially diatonic but increasingly individual harmonic language. An example is the 1952 Cello Concerto written for

William Pleeth William Pleeth OBE (12 January 1916 – 6 April 1999) was a well-known British cellist and an eminent teacher, who became widely known as the teacher of Jacqueline du Pré. Biography Early years William Pleeth was born in London. His pa ...

, with its dark and expressive central Chaconne. The later works attracted less public attention, but were highly regarded by musicians. Stevens began to explore a very personal application of 12-note serialism. This is best illustrated in three key works: the String Quartet No 2 (1962), the Symphony No 2 (1964) and the ''Variations for Orchestra'' (1964). In these works, everything that follows is derived from the opening materials, and (as

Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...

has pointed out) the 12-note series employed is used in the context of tonalism "to supply triads, scalic segments, leading notes and other elements of tonal vocabulary". Of the String Quartet No 2, Macdonald says: Towards the end of his life, Stevens explored new methods of tonal organization involving correspondence with the

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

- evident in his final piece of chamber music, ''Autumn Sequence'' (1980) for guitar and harpsichord.Stevens, Bertha (ed.). ''Bernard Stevens and His Music: A Symposium'' (1989), p.70 In recent years most of his major orchestral, chamber and piano works have been recorded.

List of works

Orchestral

* Violin Concerto, Op. 4 (1943) * ''Ricercar'', Op. 6, for string orchestra (1944) * ''A Symphony of Liberation'', Op. 7 (1945) * ''Eclogue'', Op. 8, for small orchestra (1946) * ''Fugal Overture'', Op. 9, for orchestra (1947) * Sinfonietta, Op. 10, for string orchestra (1948) (dedicated to

Norman Fulton Robert Norman Fulton (23January 19095August 1980) was an English-born composer, broadcaster and teacher of Scottish ancestry. Life and career Fulton was born in London but educated in Scotland at Glasgow High School. From 1929 until 1933 he stu ...

) * Overture ''East and West'', Op. 16, for wind orchestra (1950) * Cello Concerto, Op. 18 (1952) * Piano Concerto, Op. 26 (1955, rev. 1981) * ''Dance Suite'', Op. 28, for orchestra (1957) * Adagio and Fugue, Op. 31a, for wind orchestra (1959) * Prelude and Fugue, Op. 31b, for orchestra (1960) * Symphony No. 2, Op. 35 (1964) * Variations, Op. 36, for orchestra (1964) * ''Choriamb'', Op. 41 (1968) * ''Introduction, Variations and Fugue on a theme of Giles Farnaby'', Op. 47, for orchestra (1972)

Opera

* ''Mimosa'', Op. 15, unfinished opera in 3 acts to libretto by

(1950) * ''The Shadow of the Glen'', Op. 50, opera in 1 act to libretto by

J. M. Synge Edmund John Millington Synge (; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, essayist, and collector of folklores. As an important driving force behind the Irish Literary Renaissanc ...

(1978–79)

Choral and vocal

* Mass, for unaccompanied double choir (1938–39) * ''The Harvest of Peace'', Op. 19, cantata for speaker, soprano, baritone, mixed choir and string orchestra to text by

(1952) * ''The Palatine Coast: Three Folkish Songs'', Op. 21, for high voice and piano (1952) * ''The Pilgrims of Hope'', Op. 27, cantata for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra to text by

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

(1956, rev. 1968) * ''Two Poetical Sketches'', Op. 32, for female voices and strings to text by

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

(1961) * ''Thanksgiving'', Op. 37, motet for mixed choir and string orchestra (or organ) to text by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

(1965) * ''Et Resurrexit'', Op. 43, cantata for alto, tenor, mixed choir and orchestra to texts from Ecclesiastes and Randall Swingler (1969) * ''Hymn to Light'', Op. 44, anthem for mixed choir, organ, brass and percussion to text by Rabindranath Tagore (1970) * ''The Turning World'', Op. 46, motet for baritone, mixed choir, orchestra and piano to text by Randall Swingler (1971) * ''The True Dark'', Op. 49, song cycle for baritione and piano to text by Randall Swingler (1974)

Chamber and instrumental

* Violin Sonata, Op. 1 (1940) * Theme and variations for piano, Op. 2 (1941) * Piano Trio, Op. 3 (1942) * Theme and Variations, Op. 11, for string quartet (1949) (implicitly String Quartet No. 1) * Two Fanfares, Op. 12, for four natural trumpets (1949) * Fantasia on ''The Irish Ho-Hoane'', Op. 13, for piano duet (1949) * Five Inventions for piano, Op. 14 (written for James Gibb) * Ballad No 1, Op. 17 for solo piano * Fantasia on a Theme of Dowland, Op. 23, for violin and piano (1953) * Two Improvisations on Folk Songs, Op. 24, for brass quintet (1954) * Piano Sonata in One Movement, Op. 25 (1954) * Introduction and Allegro, Op. 29, for piano duet (1957) * ''Lyric Suite'', Op. 30, for string trio (1958) * ''Two Dances'', Op. 33, for piano duet (1962) * String Quartet No. 2, Op. 34 (1962) * Horn Trio, Op. 38 (1966) * Fantasia for organ, Op. 39 (1966) * Suite, Op. 40, for flute, oboe, violin, viola da gamba or viola, cello and harpsichord or piano (1967) * Ballad No 2, Op. 42 for solo piano (1969, premiere

Ronald Stevenson Ronald James Stevenson (6 March 1928 – 28 March 2015) was a Scottish composer, pianist, and music scholar. Biography The son of a Scottish father and Welsh mother, Stevenson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1928. He studied at the Roya ...

) * Ballad (The Bramble Briar), Op.45 for guitar (1971) * Fughetta for organ (1974) * ''Autumn Sequence'', Op. 52 for guitar and harpsichord (1980) * ''Elegiac Fugue on the name Geraldine'' (1981) (in memory Geraldine Peppin) * Concertante for two pianos, Op.55 (1982)

Film

* ''

The Upturned Glass ''The Upturned Glass'' is a 1947 British film noir psychological thriller directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring James Mason, Rosamund John and Pamela Kellino. The screenplay concerns a leading brain surgeon who murders a woman he believ ...

'' (1947) (concert orchestral sequence arranged by Adrian Williams) * '' The Mark of Cain'' (1947) (concert orchestral sequence arranged by Adrian Williams) * ''

Once a Jolly Swagman ''Once a Jolly Swagman'' (U.S. title: ''Maniacs on Wheels'') is a 1949 British film starring Dirk Bogarde, Bonar Colleano, Bill Owen, Thora Hird and Sid James. It was written by William Rose and Jack Lee, based on the 1944 novel of the sa ...

'' (1948)

References

External links

Obituary by Ronald Stevenson, Cambridge University Press

Catalogue of Works, Impulse MusicBBC Radio 3. ''Composer of the Week'', 4 July 2016

Russell, Ken. ''Classic Widows'', television documentary, 1995
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Bernard 1916 births 1983 deaths 20th-century British classical composers English classical composers British music educators Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the University of London Composers from London 20th-century English composers English male classical composers 20th-century British male musicians British Army personnel of World War I British Army soldiers Military personnel from the London Borough of Hackney English film score composers English male film score composers People from Stamford Hill