Thomas Edward Clark (10 May 188830 April 1962) was an English conductor and music producer 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 ...

. Through his positions in leading new music organizations and his wide-ranging contacts with British and European composers, he had a major impact on making contemporary classical music available to the British public for over 30 years. He was a leading figure in the BBC's Concerts of Contemporary Music between 1926 and 1939, and he played a significant role in the founding and early development of the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

. He held prominent positions in the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) from its inception in 1922, and was its president from 1947 to 1952. He was responsible for producing a number of important world and British premieres (some of which he also conducted), and he was associated with most of the important European and British composers, such as

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

Anton Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

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 ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

, Arthur Bliss,

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

, Peter Warlock, John Ireland,

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 ...

, Arthur Benjamin,

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Sch ...

, Denis ApIvor,

Alan Rawsthorne Alan Rawsthorne (2 May 1905 – 24 July 1971) was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex. Early years Alan Rawsthorne was born in Deardengate House, Haslingden, Lancashire, to ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten as o ...

, Benjamin Frankel,

Roberto Gerhard Robert Gerhard i Ottenwaelder (; 25 September 1896 – 5 January 1970) was a Spanish and British composer, musical scholar, and writer, generally known outside his native region of Catalonia as Roberto Gerhard.Malcolm MacDonald. 'Gerhard, Roberto' ...

, Luigi Dallapiccola, Christian Darnton and others. Edward Clark was described by some as Mephistophelean. He was outspoken, immensely erudite, and a visionary. But he was also a loose cannon when it came to administrative matters, tending to ruffle feathers with his too-individual approach, brooking no interference, and being distrustful of those who did not share his vision but often inadequately communicating that vision to them. In 1936 these matters contributed in large part to his premature departure from the BBC, and from the inner sanctum of the contemporary music scene, which he had helped to create as much as anyone, and more than most. His personal integrity in regard to the use of official funds also came under question more than once, in one instance leading to a public scandal and court case in which he sued Benjamin Frankel for slander. Clark's ex-wife Dorothy Eckersley was jailed in 1945 for making anti-British broadcasts on a German radio station during World War II; their teenage son James Clark was also involved in this. His second wife was the composer

Elisabeth Lutyens Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer. Early life and education Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...

, with whom he had another son.

Early life

Thomas Edward Clark was born in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

on 10 May 1888. His father, James Bowness Clark (1863–1934), was a coal exporter and amateur musician who supported his son's musical interests and for two decades was the secretary of the Newcastle and Gateshead Choral Union. He and his wife Elizabeth née Thirlaway (1858–1939) had three children.Jennifer Doctor, 'Clark, (Thomas) Edward (1888–1962)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 31 January 2013 Edward Clark was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle. Studying in Paris in 1907 and 1908, he met

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

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 ...

and

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

. He returned to Newcastle and presented a paper called "Paper on a Modern French Composer: Claude Debussy"; at that time he formulated a strong desire to encourage British audiences "to understand this music of to-day before it becomes the music of the day before yesterday". In 1909 he studied conducting with Oskar Fried in Berlin while employed as the Berlin correspondent for ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...

''.

Meeting with Schoenberg and his circle

Clark's first exposure to the music of

was at a performance of his symphonic poem '' Pelleas und Melisande'' on 31 October 1910 at a concert by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He was profoundly impressed by this music, and he was introduced to Schoenberg and

after the concert. He became Schoenberg's champion and, along with people like

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...

, Oskar Fried and others, he convinced him to move from Vienna to Berlin, because of the greater opportunities and contacts there. From 1910 until 1912 Clark studied with Schoenberg in Berlin, the only British student he ever had. At first Clark was his sole pupil, then he was joined by

Eduard Steuermann Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892, Sambor, Austria-Hungary – November 11, 1964, New York City) was an Austrian-born American pianist and composer. Steuermann studied piano with Vilém Kurz at the Lemberg Conservatory and Ferruccio Busoni in ...

, and others later. Clark arranged for Schoenberg to give a series of ten public lectures at the Stern Conservatory ("10 Lectures on the Aesthetics of Music and the Rules of Composition"), which he also attended. He helped raise funds for Schoenberg, and played a part in having his '' Five Pieces for Orchestra'' published in a cheap edition, which sold out quickly. One of the purchasers was 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 Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

. On 3 September 1912, Wood conducted the world premiere of the ''Five Pieces for Orchestra'' at a Promenade Concert at the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

in London. At Wood's suggestion, Clark invited Schoenberg to make his British conducting debut, and on 17 January 1914 he conducted the same work at the same venue. Clark attended the Leipzig premiere of ''

Gurre-Lieder ' (''Songs of Gurre Castle, Gurre'') is a tripartite oratorio followed by a Melodrama, melodramatic epilogue for five vocal soloists, narrator, three choruses, and grand orchestra. The work, which is based on an early song cycle for soprano, te ...

'' in January 1914 along with Schoenberg, Webern and others. He had been considering settling permanently in Germany, and the matter was decided when he was offered a professional post in

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

. In early August 1914 he was attending the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

, on his way to take up that appointment, when World War I broke out. He was arrested at Bayreuth as an

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...

, and interned at

Ruhleben internment camp Ruhleben internment camp was a civilian detention camp in Germany during World War I. It was located in Ruhleben, a former ''Folwark, Vorwerk'' manor to the west of Berlin. This area is now split between the districts of Spandau and Charlotten ...

near Berlin; Edgar Bainton, his colleague from Newcastle, was also interned at that time, as were Ernest MacMillan, Arthur Benjamin and others. Clark was released in May 1918 through the offices of the Red Cross. On his return to London, he became assistant conductor to Ernest Ansermet and

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was a British conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

for

Sergei Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario an ...

's seasons of the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Russian Revolution, Revolution ...

, and he became friendly with Diaghilev and

. In the winter and spring of 1921 he presented two series of concerts of new music, which proved very popular but made him little money. On 8 April at the Queen's Hall he presented the UK premiere of Stravinsky's 1919 Suite from ''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

'', and two world premieres:

's ''The Bard of the Dimbovitza'', song cycle with orchestra, with Ethel Fenton (mezzo-soprano) and the "Storm Music" from Arthur Bliss's incidental music for ''

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

''. On 20 April 1921 Arthur Bliss's ''Conversations'' for string quartet had its world premiere at a Clark concert. On 6 May 1921 he presented Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, to British audiences for the first time, at the Aeolian Hall. The players were Charles Woodhouse (violin),

John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 ...

(cello), Léon Goossens (oboe), and Aubrey Brain and Alfred Brain (horns). This was part of a series of four concerts of recent works by French, German and English composers, many of them first English performances. On 20 May 1921 he conducted the British premiere of

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was a Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20t ...

's '' Nights in the Gardens of Spain'', with the composer at the piano. Clark attended the inaugural session of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

in 1922, and remained a significant figure in the organisation for the rest of his life. In August 1921 he married Dorothy ("Dolly") Stephen, and their son James Royston Clark was born in 1923.

British Broadcasting Corporation

Clark was hired by the

in August 1924 as Musical Director for their Newcastle station. His imagination, creativity and innovative approaches to programming were soon noted, attracting praise from local Newcastle musical circles; but so too were his administrative shortcomings. In December 1924, in Newcastle, Clark conducted the world premiere of the orchestral version of

's '' Verklärte Nacht''. The Newcastle station orchestra was disbanded at the end of 1926, and Clark transferred to London in January 1927 as a programme planner, at the request of

Percy Pitt Percy Pitt (4 January 1869 – 23 November 1932) was an England, English organist, Conductor (music), conductor, composer, and Director of Music of the BBC from 1924 to 1930. Biography A native of London, Pitt studied music in Europe at ...

. Although he was employed full-time by the BBC for only another seven years, it was primarily through his influence that the BBC became established as an international patron of new music. He also did a considerable amount of conducting during this period, sometimes of the works he was producing for the BBC, and sometimes on a freelance basis. On 19 June 1927 he conducted the British premiere of

's Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, with the composer (in his British radio debut) and the Wireless Symphony Orchestra. On 10–12 July 1927 he conducted three fully staged performances of ''

L'Histoire du soldat ', or ''Tale of the Soldier'' (as it was first published), is an hour-long 1918 theatrical work to be "read, played and danced ''()''" by three actors, one or more dancers, and a septet of instruments. Its music is by Igor Stravinsky, its libret ...

'' at the Arts Theatre Club; they were sung in English and the third performance was broadcast. Clark had also performed this work in its British premiere in the autumn of 1926 in Newcastle. In November of that year he was able to secure Oskar Fried his first British conducting engagement (the programme included Weber, Brahms and Liszt). Clark invited Schoenberg to London to conduct the first British performance of his ''

'' on 27 January 1928, and assisted with the rehearsals. (He had tried to have the premiere the previous year, on 14 April 1927, but these plans fell through.) In April 1929, Edward Clark along with Julian Herbage of the BBC's Music Department devised a plan for a 114-piece orchestra that was especially suited to broadcasting, and one that could be split into four different smaller groups as required. This was the original workable concept for the

after some earlier ideas from Sir

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philh ...

foundered. Beecham was the first choice for chief conductor, but he withdrew and

directed the orchestra for the next 20 years. Boult did not always support Clark's choices of repertoire, however. He refused to play the music of

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, scientific transliteration: ''Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin''; also transliterated variously as Skriabin, Skryabin, and (in French) Scriabine. The composer himselused the French spelling "Scriabine" which was a ...

that Clark programmed, calling it "evil music", and even issued a ban on Scriabin's music from broadcasts in the 1930s. It is also true that he had no personal sympathy with the music of the

Second Viennese School The Second Viennese School () was the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils, particularly Alban Berg and Anton Webern, and close associates in early 20th-century Vienna. Their music was initially characterized by late ...

, describing

's '' Lyric Suite'' as "a Kensington drawing room apology for what Berg really meant", but Clark's influence was such that he was at least prepared to participate in performances of this music. It was Clark who suggested to

that he invite

to be the soloist at the premiere of his Viola Concerto in 1929, when the dedicatee

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English viola, violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame, and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born ...

declined. Tertis also claimed to have suggested Hindemith in his place, but Walton confirmed it was Clark's idea. Walton was initially somewhat reluctant to invite Hindemith, as he felt he had modelled the concerto too closely after the latter's style, which he would quickly recognise; but thanks to Edward Clark, the invitation was sent and accepted, the premiere took place on 3 October, and the two composers became lifelong friends (they had met briefly in 1923). Clark played an even greater role in Walton's ''

Belshazzar's Feast Belshazzar's feast, or the story of the writing on the wall, chapter 5 in the Book of Daniel, tells how Neo-Babylonian royal Belshazzar holds a great feast and drinks from the vessels that had been looted in the destruction of the First Temple. ...

'': he was its progenitor. On 21 August 1929 he asked Walton for a work suitable for broadcasting, written for a small choir, soloist, and an orchestra not exceeding 15 players. Walton later thanked Clark for bringing ''Belshazzar's Feast'' to the attention of

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

, who showed some interest in it. His friend John Ireland introduced

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 ...

to Clark, who was responsible for having many of Bush's works broadcast between 1929 and 1936. On 3 March 1930, Edward Clark played a major part in the first complete broadcast (18 poems) of Walton's ''

Façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

'', at the Central Hall, Westminster, with

Edith Sitwell Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) was a British poet and critic and the eldest of the three literary Sitwells. She reacted badly to her eccentric, unloving parents and lived much of her life with her governess ...

and

(speakers), Leslie Heward conducting. On 9 January 1931, Schoenberg conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the British premiere of ''

Erwartung ' (''Expectation''), Op. 17, is a one-act monodrama in four scenes by Arnold Schoenberg to a libretto by . Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until 6 June 1924 in Prague conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the sop ...

''. Clark was able to use the prestige and contacts he had by now built up to secure the ISCM Festival for London and Oxford in July 1931. As well as Schoenberg, Clark invited

and

to visit England several times to conduct their own works. Berg was very reluctant, insisting he was no conductor. Clark nevertheless made sure his major works received performances in England: the '' Lyric Suite'' and Chamber Concerto (21 April 1933); the '' Wozzeck'' fragments (13 May 1932), and complete in concert performance (14 March 1934); ''Der Wein''; the Symphonic Pieces from ''

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

'' (20 March 1935; this was the first time Berg had ever heard this music (by radio broadcast); he was not to hear a live performance of it until 11 December in Vienna, a fortnight before his death); and, posthumously, the

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

. Between November 1932 and January 1933, while staying in Barcelona, Schoenberg wrote a transcription for cello and orchestra of the Keyboard Concerto in D by Georg Matthias Monn. He wrote it for

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Antoni Sala. There was no announcement of this world premiere and there is no extant documentation of the broadcast. Schoenberg was probably in attendance; he was in London to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra's world premiere (broadcast) performance of the Variations, Op. 31. On 1 March 1933, just four weeks after

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

had become German Chancellor, Schoenberg resigned from his teaching post in the face of imminent dismissal for being part of what Hitler had described as "the Jewish stranglehold on Western music". He moved to Paris on 16 May, intending to remain there, but he had no luck in securing a French publisher or any conducting opportunities. He wrote to Edward Clark by postcard later that month, asking him to use his contacts to get him some performances of the Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, and a British publisher for that work and the Cello Concerto. He was also seeking to have his Jewish drama, written 1925–26, be published by a British Jewish publisher. Clark approached a number of people on Schoenberg's behalf, but received only knockbacks. He did, however, arrange for two concerts in November, in which '' Pierrot Lunaire'' and the Suite, Op. 29 would receive performances. But it was not to be. Schoenberg received an offer of a teaching post at a Boston music academy, and decided to quit Europe, sailing for the United States on 25 October 1933. Clark was in Moscow in January 1934, where he conducted John Ireland's Piano Concerto in E-flat major. On 8 February 1935 he conducted the first British broadcast of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

's '' Die Dreigroschenoper''. It received scathing reviews from Ernest Newman and other critics. But the most savage criticism came from Weill himself, who described it privately as "the worst performance imaginable ... the whole thing was completely misunderstood". But his criticisms seem to have been for the concept of the piece as a Germanised version of ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...

'', rather than for Clark's conducting of it, of which Weill made no mention.''Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera''
by Stephen Hinton,

CUP Archive Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessm ...

1990, Also in 1935 he chose Harriet Cohen to perform new Soviet music by

Dmitri 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 First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

Dmitry Kabalevsky Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky ( ; – 14 February 1987) was a Soviet composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue of Russian gentry descent. He helped set up the Union of Soviet Composers in Moscow and remained one of its leading figures during ...

, Leonid Polovinkin and Georgy Kh. Mepurnov in London. The same year he was instrumental in arranging a series of BBC broadcasts, in which the émigré German composer and musicologist Ernst Hermann Meyer was engaged to present important revivals of 17th century consort music. Clark was responsible for bringing

to Britain to perform his works 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 ...

, such as the Piano Concerto No. 2 on 7 January 1936 under Sir Henry Wood. Through Clark's endeavours the world premiere concert performance of Schoenberg's Variations, Op. 31, took place in Vienna in 1936 under the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Edward Clark may have suggested

's name to

Alberto Cavalcanti Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (February 6, 1897 – August 23, 1982) was a Brazilian-born film director and producer. He was often credited under the single name "Cavalcanti". Early life Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a p ...

of the GPO Film Unit as a young composer he should consider for film scores. This led to Britten's score for '' Night Mail'' (1936). Clark had planned to have the world premiere of Britten's ''Cantique d'amour'' presented by the BBC in 1936, but perceptions about Britten's personal morality led to the plan being shelved, to Clark's chagrin. Under the direction of Edward Clark and

, some of Bernard van Dieren's larger works were performed by the BBC in the composer's last years, and just after his death in 1936. On 19 January 1936, Hindemith travelled to London, intending to play the British premiere of his viola concerto '' Der Schwanendreher'', with Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Queen's Hall on 22 January. However, just before midnight on 20 January,

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

died. The concert was cancelled, but Boult and Clark still wanted Hindemith's involvement in any music that was broadcast in its place. They debated for hours what might be a suitable piece, but nothing could be found, so it was decided that Hindemith should write something new. The following day, from 11 am to 5 pm, Hindemith sat in an office made available to him by the BBC and wrote '' Trauermusik'' in homage to the late king. It, too, was written for viola and orchestra. It was performed that evening in a live broadcast from a BBC radio studio, with Boult conducting and the composer as soloist.

Resignation from the BBC

Clark resigned angrily and abruptly from the BBC on 16 March 1936. The immediate cause of this protest was some alterations to the concert programmes for the

's forthcoming European tour, in which he had invested much time and great care. These changes were made without his knowledge and while he was on sick leave, and they included the complete removal of

's ''Four Orchestral Pieces'' from the Budapest programme. However, this parting of the ways suited many people in the BBC, as it came in the wake of very strong criticism that had been building over a long time about Clark's poor work habits, his general inefficiency, his unpunctuality and missing of important deadlines, his administrative bungling and his unwillingness to communicate with his colleagues about what he was doing, thinking or planning. His dismissal had been considered more than once. His conducting was also the subject of criticism, on the basis that he could not quickly establish rapport with or give strong and unambiguous directions to his players, and he was discouraged from this activity. His personal integrity had also come under question: He took sick leave in 1928 due to severe

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

that necessitated having his affected arm in a sling, but while on leave he conducted orchestras in both London and Prague. Then there was a trip to Europe to negotiate with

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

about his involvement in the forthcoming BBC Symphony Orchestra's appearances at the Florence May Festival; Clark changed his travel arrangements at the last minute, he stayed a week longer than he was scheduled to, he still did not complete the task he was sent to do, and the rocky relationship Toscanini already had with the BBC was further soured.

backed Clark to the hilt, saying he had done a very good job in very difficult circumstances; but it was too late. Clark never worked in a steady job again, although he was a consultant to the BBC on certain projects, and continued to conduct on a freelance basis for a few years until the work dried up.

After the BBC

Edward Clark's departure had the effect of relegating Schoenberg,

Webern Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

and other members of the Second Viennese School to fringe composers as far as British audiences were concerned, and they were not brought back into the mainstream until William Glock's appointment in 1959. The

's repertoire was similarly affected; it became more focused on the works of Romantic and post-Romantic composers for the next 25 years, leaving contemporary music to struggle for limited hearings. "Tonality had returned to the airwaves", to the relief of many. But Clark himself remained busy with the ISCM and other activities. On 19 April 1936 he was at the ISCM Festival in Barcelona for the world premiere of Berg's

, played by Louis Krasner. He arranged for Krasner to come to Britain for the local premiere; in the event, it was a private studio performance on 1 May, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

, who had gone to Barcelona to conduct the world premiere but withdrew at the last minute, fortunately proved up to the task on this occasion. Clark's influence was not confined to Britain and Europe. The

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n pianist and composer Roy Agnew heard some of Clark's broadcasts while he was in Britain in the 1920s. He was part of the network of like-minded people who spread the word about emerging compositions throughout the English-speaking world. Between 1937 and 1942 Agnew broadcast his own radio programme, "Modern and Contemporary Music", for the

Australian Broadcasting Commission The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is a ...

. This was no doubt strongly influenced by Clark's programmes. Clark produced concert versions of

's '' Doktor Faust'' (1937) and ''

Arlecchino Harlequin (, , ; , ) is the best-known of the comic servant characters ( Zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte, associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditionally believed to have been introduced by the Italian actor-manager Z ...

'' (1939), many years before the British stage premiere of either work.

Elisabeth Lutyens

In 1938 Edward Clark met the composer

. In quick succession they became lovers, she left her husband Ian Glennie, she and Clark had a child (her fourth), and they married in 1942. They spent the war years in Newcastle, where he founded the North East Regional Orchestra (NERO). Lutyens was equally well connected with the musical establishment, and was also a friend of

. Clark's influence may have been a decisive factor in her adopting serial techniques. It is certainly the case that her first truly serial composition, the Chamber Concerto No. 1, was completed in 1939, the year after she and Clark became partners, and she dedicated it to him. But because he was mostly unemployed now, this meant that Lutyens was the main bread winner for the family of six, and she took on certain commissions she might otherwise have declined. These included her

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s, which have received latter-day recognition as among her finest creations. She was also prepared to scrub floors to help make ends meet; but Clark would consider nothing but conducting, even though all offers dried up early. He was essentially unemployed for the last 23 years of his life. Lutyens said that she hated writing her 1972 autobiography ''A Goldfish Bowl'', and only did so to record Clark's earlier achievements. In 1945,

was able to repay Clark's good work from the Viola Concerto premiere in 1929. Elisabeth Lutyens approached Walton for an introduction to Muir Mathieson with a view to getting some film music work. He readily agreed to pass on her name, but he went a step further. He invited Lutyens to write any work she liked, dedicate it to him and he would pay her £100 sight unseen. The work she wrote was ''The Pit''. Clark conducted ''The Pit'' at the 1946 ISCM Festival in London, along with her ''Three Symphonic Preludes''.

Later life

If not a communist, Clark was always a dedicated socialist, and he was a member of the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR (now the Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies, SCRSS). It was in this capacity that in March 1940 he approached firstly Clifford Curzon, who declined, and then

Moura Lympany Dame Moura Lympany DBE (18 August 191628 March 2005) was an English concert pianist. Biography She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone at Saltash, Cornwall. Her father was an army officer who had served in World War I and her mother origina ...

, who agreed, to be the soloist at the UK premiere of

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Music of the Soviet Union#Classical music of the Soviet Union, Soviet composers. Khachaturian was born and rai ...

's Piano Concerto in D-flat. The work was still in manuscript, and there was only one month in which to learn it. The concert was at the

on 13 April 1940, and the orchestra was conducted by Clark's friend and committed communist

. In 1945–46 he presented three concerts at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in London, of music by British and European composers. He organised the 1946 London ISCM Festival, a year before being elected the organisation's third President. He been active with the ISCM since its inception in 1922, as Chairman of the British Chapter. He was also associated with the London Contemporary Music Centre 1947–52 (where the Australian composer Don Banks was his secretary), and music adviser to the Institute for Contemporary Arts from its inception in 1948.

became the ISCM's General Secretary with Clark's support. In 1946 Clark attended the first performance of Denis ApIvor's ''Lorca songs'' at a concert for the

Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music i ...

. He was impressed, and included these songs in a London Contemporary Music concert at the

in 1947. Later that same year, Clark produced ApIvor's Violin Sonata, Op. 9 played by Antonio Brosa and Kyla Greenbaum. It was through Clark that ApIvor became interested in

serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

. His administrative skills never improved. In 1947, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, President of the United States branch of the ISCM, was forced to write sharply to him to protest about unanswered correspondence in which the Americans had asked that the ISCM Festival scheduled for June 1948 in Amsterdam be held as late as possible in the month, in order to allow them the chance to attend, given their existing university teaching commitments. In the event, the US branch withdrew from the festival, but Glanville-Hicks attended in her personal capacity. In 1948, for the BBC's Third Programme, Clark presented "Turning Points in Twentieth-Century Music", a series of eight programmes of his own creation, which looked at the composers Schoenberg,

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

and Bartók. He gave the Commemoration Speech before the London Opera Guild's 'Arnold Schoenberg Memorial Concert' on 16 December 1951. In 1953 Sir

used his contacts to secure a Civil List pension for Clark. In 1955, Benjamin Frankel succeeded Clark as Chairman of the ISCM. That year issues arose about certain expenses Clark had claimed while he was Chairman. Clark alleged that Frankel had falsely accused him of fraud. Frankel denied he had ever made any such claim, but nevertheless said that such a claim, had he made it, would have been true. This amounted to slander as far as Clark was concerned, and he sued Frankel in the High Court. As part of the arguments, various allegations of communist sub-plots were given an airing. While Frankel's alleged slander itself was unproven, the jury exonerated Clark of any wrongdoing and he felt this meant his integrity was intact. Elisabeth Lutyens ever after referred to Frankel as "composer and ex-colleague". In 1960 and 1961 he used his influence to have Denis ApIvor's opera ''Yerma'' broadcast by the BBC after the Sadler's Wells Theatre refused to mount the production (even though it had been commissioned by the Sadler's Wells Trust). It was conducted by Sir Eugene Goossens. Edward Clark died suddenly of a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

in London on 30 April 1962, aged 73. Stravinsky wept on hearing of Clark's death.

Honours

In 1951 the Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) awarded Edward Clark the Arnold Schoenberg Medal. Clark is one of a select band of Honorary Members of the ISCM.

Works dedicated to Edward Clark

* John Ireland's Piano Sonatina (1926–27) and a number from his cycle '' Songs Sacred and Profane'' (1929). *

's ''Dance Overture'' for Military Band (1930). * Józef Koffler, the first Polish twelve-tone composer, dedicated his "Variations on a Waltz by Johann Strauss", Op. 23 (1935) "À mon ami Edward Clark". *

's orchestration of the Ricercare from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

's '' The Musical Offering'' *

' first truly serial composition, the Chamber Concerto No. 1, was completed in 1939, the year after she and Clark became partners, and she dedicated it to him. *

wrote a musical

palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...

for Clark, his Quartet for clarinet, bassoon, violin and viola, Op. 12. *

's ''Trois pièces nègres pour les touches blanches'', for piano 4-hands (1949). * After his death, Elisabeth Lutyens dedicated ''Music for Orchestra II'' (1962) to his memory. However, it had been sketched well before Clark's death, and she denied the chorale ending was in any way a tribute to him. But she did acknowledge she had made an annotation at bars 184–185 of the score, marking the moment of Clark's death.

Personal life

Dorothy Stephen

On 10 August 1921 he married Frances Dorothy ("Dolly") Stephen (18 December 1893 – 1971), who was related to the literary Stephen family (including Sir

Leslie Stephen Sir Leslie Stephen (28 November 1832 – 22 February 1904) was an English author, critic, historian, biographer, mountaineer, and an Ethical Culture, Ethical movement activist. He was also the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell and the ...

and his daughter

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer and one of the most influential 20th-century modernist authors. She helped to pioneer the use of stream of consciousness narration as a literary device. Vir ...

). Clark's and Dolly's son James Royston Clark was born in 1923. Dolly left him in the summer of 1925, taking James with her.

The Eckersley affair

Dolly later went to work for the BBC as a secretary, and had an affair with Clark's colleague, the engineer Peter Eckersley. This seemed to have Clark's blessing, as on one occasion he even arranged for Eckersley to visit Germany on BBC business, and for Dolly to accompany him. Eckersley was married, but although he and Dolly made no secret of their liaison, his wife Stella was unaware. It was Muriel Reith, the wife of the BBC Director-General John Reith, who broke the news to her. John Reith was strictly puritanical about such matters (although his own private life was questionable), and he was most unwilling to have a senior staff member on the payroll who was known to be conducting an adulterous affair or in the process of divorcing his own wife. Top level conferences were held; the Archbishop of Canterbury was even consulted. However, Eckersley was not sacked immediately, as he undertook to end the affair with Dolly Clark and return to his wife. But nature took its course, he and Dolly reunited, and he resigned in April 1929. The Eckersley affair prompted a public enquiry into the BBC's personnel practices. Dolly Clark and Peter Eckersley were married on 25 October 1930.

Dolly Eckersley's German sojourn

She had always been very much pro-Nazi in her politics. She was known as a strongly pro-German fascist and a fanatical admirer of

. She was a friend of

William Joyce William Brooke Joyce (24 April 1906 – 3 January 1946), nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an American-born Fascism, fascist and Propaganda of Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda broadcaster during the World War II, Second World War. After moving from ...

("Lord Haw-Haw") and Unity Mitford, and a member of Arnold Leese's Imperial Fascist League. Peter Eckersley himself held similar opinions. After they met Sir

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

, he became involved in his New Party, chairing its London Central Committee. He travelled throughout Europe constantly in a quest to expand the reach of international radio broadcasts; he claimed there were no sinister political motives behind his activities, but that they were simply his attempt to make himself very rich. From November 1939 the transmitter he had arranged to put in place at Osterloog transmitting station, which became the vehicle for William Joyce's broadcasts to Britain and Europe. Joyce was later hanged for treason, and Eckersley has been described as "at best a foolish Fascist fellow traveller and at worst a traitor". As for Dolly, she joined Mosley's

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

, but outdid Mosley in her enthusiasm for the Nazi concept of fascism. She also joined the National Socialist League, which had been founded by William Joyce after he was expelled by Mosley for being too anti-semitic. The Eckersleys took their holidays in Germany a number of times, and attended the Nuremberg rallies in 1937 and 1938. In July 1939 Dorothy took her and Edward Clark's 16-year-old son James to a Nuremberg rally, and also attended the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

. She had a chance encounter with William Joyce in August and got him a job as a radio announcer and scriptwriter. When Britain declared war in September, she felt no need to return to her own country but decided to stay. James was enrolled in a German school, and gained "a very favourable impression of Germany under Nazi rule". In December 1939 she commenced work for the radio station

Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...

(RRG), a propaganda machine for

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

. She was initially employed as an English-language announcer and later on office duties. James, although only aged 16, was taken out of school to also be a newsreader there. He changed his name to Richard, to sound less Jewish and more

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most ...

. He worked there on and off until July 1942; she continued until January 1943. For obscure reasons they were arrested by the Gestapo in December 1944 and incarcerated till the end of the war. They were liberated by the British, but promptly re-arrested. They were both tried in London in October 1945 for assisting the enemy by broadcasting. Dorothy was found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison. James, still only 22, pleaded he had been hypnotised as an impressionable youth by the trappings and tricks of Nazi propaganda; this was accepted, and he was

bound over In the law of England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions, binding over is an exercise of certain powers by the criminal courts used to deal with low-level public order issues. Both magistrates' courts and the Crown Court may issue ...

for two years. Dorothy Eckersley died in 1971. James Clark became an editor and translator and died in 2012.

Elisabeth Lutyens

In 1938 Edward Clark met the composer

, who was married to the baritone Ian Glennie. She and Clark quickly became lovers, and later that year she left Glennie for Clark, taking her and Glennie's three children (a son and twin daughters) with her. In 1941 Clark gave her a fourth child (a son, Conrad) before marrying her on 9 May 1942. Their son Conrad Clark became a sculptor, designer and painter; he moved to

and now lives in

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 ...

Premieres conducted by Edward Clark

World premieres

: ** '' The Bard of the Dimbovitza'', song cycle with orchestra, original version, 8 April 1921,

, Ethel Fenton (mezzo-soprano) * Arthur Bliss ** ''The Tempest'', storm music, 8 April 1921, Queen's Hall, Harriet Cohen (pianist) ** ''Rout'', soprano and orchestra, 6 May 1921, Aeolian Hall *

: ** '' Verklärte Nacht'', orchestral version, December 1924,

** Cello Concerto in D (transcription of Keyboard Concerto in D by Georg Matthias Monn), studio broadcast, 3 or 5 February 1933, Antoni Sala (cello), BBC Symphony Orchestra

British premieres

Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...

: ** first broadcast performance of '' In a Summer Garden'' ** first broadcast performance of '' North Country Sketches'' ** first broadcast performance of ''Legende'' for violin and orchestra (1924; one of only 4 performances ever given to the work up till 1983) *

: ** '' Nights in the Gardens of Spain'', 20 May 1921,

, composer (piano) *

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

: ** '' Pastorale d'été'', first British broadcast performance, 11 October 1925, BBC Newcastle station *** Clark had planned to conduct the first British concert performance on 20 April 1921, but this did not eventuate, and Eugene Goossens premiered it in the Queen's Hall on 27 October 1921 ** ''Chant de Joie'' (1923), first British broadcast performance, Newcastle station, 1 November 1926 *

** Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9, 6 May 1921 (or 16 April), Aeolian Hall, Charles Woodhouse (violin),

(cello), Léon Goossens (oboe), Aubrey Brain and Alfred Brain (horns) *

** ''

'', 1919 Suite, 8 April 1921, Queen's Hall ** ''

'', Autumn 1926, Newcastle; Clark also conducted the first radio broadcast of the work, in July 1927 ** Concerto for Piano and Winds, 19 June 1927, composer, piano (in his British radio debut), Wireless Symphony Orchestra *

** '' Die Dreigroschenoper'', first British broadcast, 8 February 1935 *

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as ''Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by ...

: ** ''Idillio-Concertino'' for oboe and orchestra, The Proms

Other premieres he was associated with

World premieres

* Denis ApIvor: ** Opera ''Yerma'', two BBC broadcasts between 1960 and 1962, Sir Eugene Goossens conducting (the opera has never received a stage performance) *

: ** ''Ballad of Heroes'', Op. 14, for tenor, chorus and orchestra, 5 April 1939, Festival of Music and the People, Queen's Hall, Dennis Noble,

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

(conductor) * Arthur Bliss ** ''Conversations'' for string quartet, 20 April 1921, Aeolian Hall *

: ** Piano Concerto, 5 April 1939, Festival of Music and the People, Queen's Hall, composer (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Constant Lambert *

: ** '' Trauermusik'', 21 January 1936, BBC broadcast, composer (viola),

(conductor) *

: ** '' Five Pieces for Orchestra'', 3 September 1912,

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 ...

, Sir

(conductor) (At Edward Clark's invitation, Schoenberg made his British conducting debut in the same work on 17 January 1914.) ** Variations, Op. 31: *** February 1933, London, BBC Symphony Orchestra, composer conducting; this radio broadcast was the world premiere public performance *** 1936, Vienna, BBC Symphony Orchestra; world premiere concert performance *

: ** Viola Concerto, 3 October 1929, Queen's Hall,

, viola, Henry Wood Symphony Orchestra, composer conducting (Clark suggested Hindemith be engaged as soloist when the dedicatee and intended soloist

declined.) ** ''

'', first complete broadcast (18 poems), 3 March 1930, Central Hall, Westminster,

and

(speakers), Leslie Heward conducting. ** ''

'', 8 October 1931, Leeds Festival, Dennis Noble (baritone),

, Leeds Festival Chorus,

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 ...

conducting (On 21 August 1929 Clark had asked Walton for a work suitable for broadcasting, written for a small choir, soloist, and an orchestra not exceeding 15 players, and ''Belshazzar's Feast'' was the result.) *

: ** First Cantata, Op. 29, 1946 ISCM Festival, London, Emelie Hooke, soprano, Karl Rankl conductor

British premieres

* Denis ApIvor: ** ''

The Hollow Men "The Hollow Men" (1925) is a poem by the modernist writer T. S. Eliot. Like much of his work, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary, concerned with post–World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles, hopelessness, religious conversi ...

'', 1950, Redvers Llewellyn (baritone),

conducting, Broadcasting House *

: ** ''

The Miraculous Mandarin ''The Miraculous Mandarin'' (, ; ) Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82), is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, and based on the 1916 story by Melchior Lengyel. Premiered on 27 November 1926 conducted by Eugen Szenka ...

'' ** (possible UK premiere) Piano Concerto No. 2, 7 January 1936, composer (piano), Sir Henry Wood conducting *

: ** '' Wozzeck'' fragments, 13 May 1932, studio concert,

, Sir

** Chamber Concerto, three movements arr. string orchestra, 21 April 1933, Rudolf Kolisch (violin),

(piano), studio concert,

conducting ** '' Lyric Suite'', three movements arr. string orchestra, 21 April 1933, studio concert, Anton Webern conducting ** ''Wozzeck'' complete, concert performance, 14 March 1934, Queen's Hall,

conducting ** ''

'' Symphonic Pieces, 20 March 1935, Queen's Hall, Adrian Boult conducting (this was broadcast to Europe by the BBC and Berg was able to hear it in his home in Vienna; it was the first time he had ever heard this music, and he was not to hear a live performance of the Symphonic Pieces until 11 December, a fortnight before his death) **

, 1 May 1936, studio broadcast, Louis Krasner, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Anton Webern conducting. *

: ** '' Doktor Faust'' (concert performance), 17 March 1937, Queen's Hall, Dennis Noble (Faust), Parry Jones (Mephistopheles), Sir Adrian Boult (conductor); English translation prepared by Edward J. Dent ** ''

'' (concert performance), 1939 *

: ** Piano Concerto in D-flat, 13 April 1940, Queen's Hall,

(conductor) *

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study of Johannes Ock ...

: ** '' Durch die Nacht'', three movements arr. string orchestra, 21 April 1933, studio concert, Anton Webern (conductor) *

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

: ** Violin Concerto No. 1 *

: ** ''

'', 27 January 1928, composer conducting. ** ''

'', 9 January 1931, BBC Symphony Orchestra, composer conducting *

: ** '' Perséphone'', 28 November 1934, Queen's Hall, composer conducting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Edward 1888 births 1962 deaths 20th-century English conductors (music) 20th-century English non-fiction writers Ballets Russes and descendants BBC radio producers BBC Symphony Orchestra British people of World War I Classical music in London Contemporary classical music performers English male conductors (music) English expatriates in France English expatriates in Germany English music journalists English radio people British founders Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne Musicians from London People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne English record producers Second Viennese School World War I civilian detainees held by Germany Writers from London Pupils of Arnold Schoenberg Lutyens family 20th-century English male musicians BBC Radio 3 presenters BBC Orchestras people