Enid Luff (21 February 1935 – 19 February 2022) was a Welsh musician,

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

, and

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 ...

Biography

Luff was born in

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; ) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr conurbation has a ...

, Wales, and trained as a pianist. She was educated at the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and graduated with a Master of Arts degree. She took time out from her career for a family, and then studied piano at Royal Northern College. A Welsh Arts Council Bursary allowed her to study with

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 ...

Anthony Payne Anthony Edward Payne (2 August 1936 – 30 April 2021) was an English composer, music critic and musicologist. He is best known for his acclaimed completion of Edward Elgar's third symphony, which gained wide acceptance into Elgar's ''oeuvre' ...

and

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

. After ending her musical studies, Luff lived and worked for many years in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Manchester and

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 ...

, where she taught at the University School of Continuing Studies. She founded a music publishing firm with composer Julia Usher called Primavera. Luff resided in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. She died on 19th February 2022, two days short of her 87th birthday.

Works

Luff composed a large number of works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, voice, choir and piano orchestra. Selected works include: *1971: Tapestries (for clarinet, viola, cello, piano) *1972: Thanksgiving At Morning Prayer (for choir) *1973: The Bird (for choir) *1973: String Quartet No. 2 *1973: Four Pieces (for piano) *1973: Mixed Feelings (five short mood pieces for piano) *1974: Y Cerddi Gloyw (for baritone, clarinet, guitar, percussion) *1974: Spring Bereaved (for baritone and guitar) *1974: Statements (for piano) *1975: Counterpoints (for soprano and piano) *1975: Five Nocturnes (for soprano and piano) *1975: Three Pieces (for ensemble) *1976: String Quartet No.3, ‘About Phaedra’ *1977: The Mad Maid In Summer (song cycle for choir, flute, horn) *1977: Weather And Mouth Music (for soprano and double bass) *1978: Mathematical Dream (for harp) revised 1983 *1978: Three Shakespeare Sonnets (for voice, violin, piano) *1979: Canto and Doubles (for unaccompanied flute) *1979: Vox Ultimate Crucis (for baritone and piano) *1979: Christmas Night (for choir) *1980: Midsummer Night’s Dream (for flute and piano) *1980: The Coastal Road (for wind quintet) *1980: Three Japanese Songs (for soprano/tenor and piano) *1981: Sŵn Dwr (for flute, mezzo-soprano, piano) *1982: Swiss Interiors (for two flutes) *1985: Dream Time For Bells (for flute, cello, vibraphone, harp, percussion, piano) *1985: Sky Whispering (for piano) *1986: Piano Sonata, ‘Storm Tide’ *1986: Bell Tower (for piano) *1986: Ships (for piano) *1986: Come The Morning (for ensemble) *1987: The Hands of God (for choir) *1987: The Haunted Nightclub (for piano) *1989: Arctic Landscapes (for two flutes) *1989: Sleep, Sleep, February (for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano) *1990: God Our Mother (for choir, soprano, organ) *1990: Rags (for piano and electronics) *1991: Listening For The Roar Of The Sun (for oboe and speaker) *1992: Listening for the Roar of the Sun (for solo oboe, dancer, speaker, slides) *1993: Symphony No. 2 ‘Down’ (for orchestra) *1995: Meister Eckhart’s Flute (for unaccompanied flute) *1995: The Patchwork Miles (for flute and piano) *1995: Lament For The Ashes of Language (for soprano, clarinet, piano) *1996: Lullaby (for viola) *1997: The Glass Wall (three dancers, solo cello, and electronic tape) *1997: Variations On The Waters Of Eden (for piano trio) *1997: Studies for the Glass Wall (for solo cello) *1998: Movements For String Quartet *1998: Shallow Sea (for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano) *1998: Raven (for unaccompanied cello) *1999: Telyneg (Lyric for oboe and harp) *1999: Shallow Sea With Dancing (for oboe and violin) *1999: Hierusalem (for ensemble) *2000: The Footprints of the Storm (for violin and piano) *2001: The Wake (for unaccompanied oboe) *2002: Heaven’s Bird (for flute, guitar, viola, cello) *2004: About The Wind (for flute and piano) *2005: The Sea And The Garden (for flute, viola, cello, piano) *2009: The Water Diviner (two songs for unaccompanied soprano) *2013: Three Steps In The Dark (for string quartet) *2014: Sad Story (for flute, horn, trombone) Unsure composition dates: ? The Lodging (carol for choir) ? Weary Was The Walking (carol for two treble voice and organ) ? ‘…trees dropped forth pearls… (for guitar) 2014 ? ‘…the horror of war and the pity of it…’ (for unaccompanied viola) ? From Switzerland (for flute, clarinet, piano) ? At Crack of Winter (for orchestra) ? By The Waters Of Babylon (for unaccompanied cello) ? Three Praises (for organ) ? The Coming of the Rain (for unaccompanied oboe) ? Lamentation (for trombone and woodwind quintet) Some of her works are published by Primavera Music (www.impulse-music.co.uk) but there are also scores available to view through the British Music Information Centre (www.britishmusiccollection.org.uk) and Tŷ Cerdd (www.tycerdd.org) which is the information centre for Welsh music and composers, based in Cardiff, Wales.

Discography

* ''Ariel'' Composers of Wales, Catherine Handley, flute, and Andrew Wilson-Dickson, piano. Cyfansoddwyr Cymru (2009) *''The Music of Enid Luff'' Contemporary chamber music. Ty Cerdd.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luff, Enid 1935 births 2022 deaths 20th-century British classical composers 21st-century British classical composers Welsh women classical composers Welsh classical composers 20th-century British women composers 21st-century British women composers People from Ebbw Vale