Dorothy Gertrude Howell (25 February 1898 – 12 January 1982) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. She received the nickname of the "English

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

" in her lifetime.

Early life and education

Howell was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, and grew up in Handsworth; from a young age, her studies of piano and composition were encouraged by her parents. One of six children, she came from a musical family, and enjoyed playing instruments (mainly violin and piano) and singing together. Her father, Charles Edward Howell, was a ironmaster by trade and self-taught pianist. Her mother, Viola Rosetta Feeny, was the daughter of Alfred Feeny, the Arts and Music Critic for the Birmingham Daily Post. One of her earliest works, a set of six pieces for piano, was written when she was only 13 years old; they were based upon The Tales of

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Heelis (; 28 July 186622 December 1943), usually known as Beatrix Potter ( ), was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' ...

and Howell's love of nature. She received a convent education, first in Birmingham, and then in Belgium, and finally at the Notre Dame Convent in Clapham. She much preferred music to her regular academic studies, and began studying at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

, at age 15, studying both piano and composition. Her teachers there included

John Blackwood McEwen Sir John Blackwood McEwen (13 April 1868 – 14 June 1948) was a Scottish classical composer and educator. He was professor of harmony and composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, from 1898 to 1924, and principal from 1924 to 193 ...

and

Tobias Matthay Tobias Augustus Matthay (19 February 185815 December 1945) was an English pianist, teacher, and composer. Biography Matthay was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1858 to parents who had come from northern Germany and eventually became naturalised Brit ...

.Mike, Celia, "Howell, Dorothy", in ''The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers'' (Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds.). The MacMillan Press (London & Basingstoke), p. 231 (1994, ). Her talents were greatly acknowledged by all her teachers at RAM, and she won the Hine Prize for composition of an English Ballad in 1914.

''Lamia'' and early success

Howell achieved fame with her

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

''Lamia'' (inspired by the

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

) which Sir Henry Wood premiered at

The 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 ...

on 10 September 1919;Broad, Leah.
Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World
', London, Faber and Faber (2023) McEwen introduced Wood to the work. Wood directed ''Lamia'' again that same week (on 13 September 1919) and again in six subsequent Proms seasons, but after 1940 the piece was neglected until its revival at the 2010 Proms season. It received a centenary performance at the Proms in 2019. Howell dedicated ''Lamia'' on its 1921 publication to Wood.Burton, Anthony, Programme Notes for Prom 68, 116th Season of The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, 5 September 2010. Her nickname of "English Strauss" was written in a press review of ''Lamia'''s first Proms performance. The press were very recognizing of Howell's success in the first performances of ''Lamia'', with headlines emphasizing her age and her gender- "Girl Composer's Success" and "Girl Composer's Triumph". After Lamia's initial success, she returned to her family in Birmingham. In December of 1920, Th
Birmingham Festival Choral Society
staged a performance of ''Lamia'', conducted again by

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

Other major works and teaching career

Only two years after the initial success of ''Lamia'', Howell's ''Danse Grotesque'' was performed at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

in November 1921. She won the Cobbett Prize in 1921 for her '' Phantasy'' for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

. Her professional relationship with Sir Henry Wood remained stable throughout her career. Among other compositions by Howell, Wood conducted the ballet score ''Koong Shee'' in 1921, her piano concerto in 1923 and 1927 (with the composer herself as pianist on both occasions). After the premiere of her piano concerto in August 1923,

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launch ...

reported "Girl Composer Plays Solo Part in Her Own Concerto", stating that the work was "of remarkable promise for so young an artist." Her overture, ''The Rock, was'' inspired by a visit to Gibraltar, in 1928, and was premiered at the 1928 Proms. In 1940, Wood was scheduled to conduct the first performance of ''Three Divertissements'', her last known orchestral work, but the concert was cancelled owing to

The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. The piece did not receive its premiere until the 1950 Elgar Festival in Malvern.Vincent James Byrne.
The Life and Works of Dorothy Howell
', University of Birmingham thesis (2015) Premiere recordings of ''Koong Shee'', ''The Rock'' and the ''Three Divertissements'' were issued in 2024. Wood attempted to recruit Howell to his conducting class at the

(RAM) in 1923, but she instead became a teacher at the RAM in 1924, working as a professor of Harmony and Composition. Both before coming to RAM and during her tenure there, she was a sought after teacher, teaching at the

Pianoforte School, the

Birmingham School of Music Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and doc ...

, the Montpellier School of Music in Cheltenham, Rye St. Antony in Oxford, and St. Richard's School in Malvern. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she served with the

Women's Land Army The Women's Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created in 1917 by the Board of Agriculture during the First World War to bring women into work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the ...

. She retired from the RAM in 1970, and after her retirement, continued to teach students privately. She died in Malvern, aged 83. Howell tended the grave of Sir Edward Elgar for several years, and herself is buried near Elgar in the churchyard of St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church, Little Malvern. She is one of the subjects of a 2023 group biography of four women composers by Leah Broad, ''Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World''.

Recordings

*
Chamber Music
': Lorraine McAslan (violin), Sophia Rahman (piano). Piano Sonata, Violin Sonata, ''Five Studies'' for piano, ''Humoresque'' for piano, ''The Moorings'' for violin & piano, ''Phantasy'' for violin & piano, ''Rosalind'' for violin & piano. Dutton CDLX7144 (2004) *
Danza Gaya: Music for Two Pianos
', Simon Callaghan, Hiroaki Takenouchi. Includes ''Recuerdos preciosos'' Nos. 1 and 2, ''Mazurka'' and ''Spindrift''. Lyrita SRCD433 (2024)

Karelia Symphony Orchestra, cond. Marius Stravinsky. ''British Composers Premiere Collection Vol. 1'', Cameo Classics CC9037CD (2014)
''Lamia''
BBC Philharmonic, cond. Rumon Gamba. ''British Tone Poems Vol. 2'', Chandos CHAN10981 (2019)
''Orchestral Works''
BBC Concert Orchestra, cond.

Rebecca Miller Rebecca Augusta Miller, Lady Day-Lewis (born September 15, 1962) is an American filmmaker and novelist. She is known for her films '' Angela'' (1995), '' Personal Velocity: Three Portraits'' (2002), '' The Ballad of Jack and Rose'' (2005), '' Th ...

. ''Humoresque'', ''Lamia'', ''Koong Shee'', ''The Rock'', ''Three Divertissements''. Signum SIGCD763 (2024)
Piano Concerto in D minor
Danny Driver, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, cond. Rebecca Miller, Hyperion CDA68130 (2017)
Piano Concerto in D minor
Valentina Seferinova, Orion Symphony Orchestra, cond. Toby Purser. ''British Composers Premiere Collection Vol. 4'', Cameo Classics CC9041 (2014)

Selected works

* Piano Sonata (1916)Hardy, Lisa, ''The British Piano Sonata, 1870-1945''. The Boydell Press (Woodbridge, UK), p. 52 (2001; ). * ''Lamia'' (1918, symphonic poem) * ''Danse grotesque'' (1919, for orchestra) * ''Spindrift'' (1920), solo piano or piano duet * ''Two Dances'' (1920, for orchestra) * ''Humoresque'' (1921, for orchestra) * ''Koong Shee'' (1921, revised 1933, for orchestra) * ''Minuet'' (1923 for orchestra) * Concerto for pianoforte (1923) * ''Two Pieces for Muted Strings'' (1926) * ''The Moorings'' for violin and piano * ''Phantasy'' for violin and piano * ''Three Preludes'' for piano * ''The Rock'' (1928, for orchestra) * ''Fanfare'' (1933) (composed for the Musicians' Benevolent Fund) * ''Recuerdos preciosos'' (''Precious Memories'') for piano duet, two movements (1934)Recorded by Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi, Lyrita SRCD 433 (2024) * ''Three Divertissements'' (1940) * Violin Sonata (1947) * ''Air, Variations & Finale'' for oboe, violin & piano (1949)Published by June Emerson Wind Music (E620) * Piano Sonata (1955)

References

External links

*
Presto Classical page with selected list of Dorothy Howell works

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography page on Dorothy Howell

* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/composers/6b85e5aa-6d1a-4680-a39c-d96a1ad567e2/works BBC Proms – Performances of works by Dorothy Howell
The life and works of Dorothy Howell - MA Thesis by V J Byrne (2015) Birmingham Libraries article on Dorothy Howell
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howell, Dorothy 1898 births 1982 deaths English women classical composers Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century English classical composers 20th-century English classical pianists People from Handsworth, West Midlands English women music educators Women classical pianists 20th-century English women composers 20th-century English women pianists Academics of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire