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 Defi ...

and pianist.

Biography

Howell was born in Birmingham, grew up in Handsworth, and received a convent education. She received private composition lessons from Granville Bantock before beginning her studies at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire 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 first Duke of ...

, aged 15. Her teachers there included John Blackwood McEwen and Tobias Matthay.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, ). 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 ''T ...

''Lamia'' (inspired by the Keats poem) which

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

premiered at The Proms on 10 September 1919. Wood directed ''Lamia'' again that same week, on 13 September 1919. He subsequently conducted ''Lamia'' again in the 1921, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1930 and 1940 Proms seasons, but in subsequent years ''Lamia'' was neglected, until its revival in the 2010 season of The Proms. 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. Among other compositions by Howell, Wood conducted ''Koong Shee'' in 1921, her Piano Concerto in 1923 and 1927 with the composer herself as pianist on both occasions, and ''The Rock'' in 1928. He was scheduled to conduct the first performance of ''Three Divertissements'' in 1940, but the concert was cancelled owing to The Blitz. Her Air, Variations & Finale for oboe, violin & piano (1949) can be obtained from June Emerson Wind Music (E620). ''Three Divertissements'', Howell's last known orchestral work, did not receive its premiere until the 1950 Elgar Festival in Malvern. Howell won the Cobbett Prize in 1921 for her '' Phantasy'' for violin and piano. She received the nickname of the "English Strauss" in her lifetime. 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. During World War II, she served with the Women's Land Army. She taught at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire from 1950–57. 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. Her music has been recorded commercially on the Dutton Digital and Harlequin labels. The Cameo Classics label recorded ''Lamia'' in 2008 with Marius Stravinsky conducting the first modern recording of Howell's orchestral music with the Karelia Symphony Orchestra. In 2010 Cameo Classics recorded Howell's Piano Concerto with Valentina Seferinova as soloist at Cadogan Hall. The conductor was Toby Purser with his Orion Symphony Orchestra of London, with the Cd (CC9041CD) released in September 2012. The CDs are now available from Nimbus Wyastone. In 2019 Rumon Gamba conducted the BBC Philharmonic in a recording of ''Lamia'' and other British tone poems for

Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.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) * ''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'' (composed for the Musicians' Benevolent Fund) * ''Three Divertissements'' * Violin Sonata (1947) * 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 English classical composers 1898 births 1982 deaths Women classical composers Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands English classical pianists English women pianists Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century English composers 20th-century English women musicians People from Handsworth, West Midlands Women music educators Women classical pianists 20th-century women composers 20th-century women pianists