Geoffrey Grey (26 September 1934 – 2023) was a British classical composer.

Biography

Geoffrey Grey was born in

Gipsy Hill Gipsy Hill in south London is a hilly and leafy neighbourhood spanning the southern parts of the London Boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark characterised for its stunning views of the City of London and Dulwich. Historically, north of its tra ...

and lived on the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

until the onset of the

second world war 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 ...

, when he was sent to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to live with his paternal grandparents. A career as a concert violinist had been envisaged and encouraged by his parents as he had shown a precocious interest in the violin at a very early age.

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, however, was markedly unfriendly to the English in those days, and its indigenous juvenile population openly hostile to any child with artistic pretensions. In spite of this he eventually went to 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 ...

and studied

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 ...

, composition,

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 ...

and conducting. His composition teachers were

William Alwyn William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was a prolific English composer, Conducting, conductor, and music teacher who composed over 200 cinematic scores, of which some 70 were for full-length features, ...

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 ...

and later, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

. In 1959 he went to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

where he freelanced as a violinist for a time until he was appointed Tour Musical Director of the NZ Opera Company. He had a number of early pieces broadcast by the NZBS and returned to England in 1960. He now had a family to provide for and took the job of Director of the Suffolk Rural Music School. This only lasted for a year and then he moved to

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 ...

where he lived and freelanced as a violinist for the next forty years. He held a number of principal positions over this period with some of the major orchestras and continued to compose for many different combinations of instruments. He was very active in London musical life and gave many recitals of contemporary music as well as his own compositions. He played for the ballet, musicals and pop concerts and on a number of occasions toured with the Lindsay Kemp Theatre Company as violist, pianist & percussionist. In 1992 he went to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, working there for a year. In 1996 in went to live first of all in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and then

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

where he concentrated almost exclusively on composing. In March, 2003, after his friend Edwin Carr died, he contacted the oboist Dominique Enon to make the piano transcription of the Oboe Concerto which the composer dedicated to this oboist before the latter's death. This meeting turned out to be fruitful and Grey subsequently returned to France to become involved with the

Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...

and in particular the conducting of

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (; 18 July 192719 December 2015) was a German Conducting, conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewand ...

. He also maintained contact with Dominique Enon for to whom he has dedicated a work for

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

and

. Their meeting has also resulted in the publishing of some of his works in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

by Gilles Manchec, publishing director of Armiane in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

Grey later lived in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and in 2007 had three new works published. He died in Dorchester in 2023.

Works

Works by year

* 1956 ''The Tinderbox'', for narrator, violin & piano * 1958 Piano Sonata in C * 1958 ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', opera for children * 1959 ''A Christmas Cantata'', for boys/girls voices and string orchestra * 1961 Violin Sonata No. 1 * 1962 ''Six Cavalier Songs'', for high voice and piano * 1963 Capriccio, for string orchestra * 1964 ''Sarabande'', ballet for Sadlers Wells Opera Ballet * 1964 ''Patterns'', ballet for Sadlers Wells Opera Ballet * 1964 ''Cock Robin, Betty Botter'', lullaby for voices (children's pieces) * 1967 ''Dance-Game'', for orchestra * 1967 Serenade, for double wind quintet (for Portia Wind Ensemble) * 1967 String Quartet No. 1 * 1968 Sonata for Brass (3 trumpets and 3 trombones) * 1968 ''Aria'' for flute (or oboe) and piano * 1969 ''Inconsequenza'', for percussion quartet * 1969 ''Flowers of the Night'' for violin and piano * 1969 Quintet for woodwinds * 1969 Notturno, for string quartet * 1969 ''Autumn '69'' (''The Prisoner'') for 4 instrumental ensembles * 1969 ''John Gilpin'', for solo SATB and wind quintet * 1970 ''Divertimento Pastorale'', for brass quintet * 1970 The Autumn People (Chamber Orchestra) * 1970 ''Sarabande for Dead Lovers'', suite from the ballet ''Sarabande'', fir orchestra * 1971 ''A Mirror for Cassandra'', for piano, violin, oboe, horn and cello * 1971 ''12 Labours of Hercules'', for narrators and orchestra * 1972 ''Songs'', for instruments (septet) * 1972 Saxophone Quartet * 1972 Concerto Grosso No. 1 for string orchestra * 1972 ''Ceres'', ballet by Antony Tudor * 1973 ''Summons to an Execution'', Dirge, Celia, for voice & piano, voice and string orchestra * 1974 ''A Dream of Dying'', for soprano and ensemble * 1975 ''March Militaire'' No. 1 for brass and percussion * 1975 ''Three Pieces'' for two pianos * 1975 Concertante for 2 solo violins and chamber orchestra * 1975 ''Tryptych'', for large orchestra * 1976 Cello Sonata * 1977 ''Dreams of a Summer Afternoon, Violin, Horn & Piano) * 1978 ''Song from Death's Jest Book'', for soprano and piano) * 1980 Variations, for orchestra * 1981 ''12 Studies for Piano'', book 1 * 1981 Suite, for strings * 1983 Clarinet Sonata * 1984 ''Contretemps'', for wind quartet * 1984 Three Songs, for soprano, clarinet and piano * 1985 ''A Morning Raga'', for double bass and piano * 1986 Viola Sonata, (comm. Roger Chase) * 1988 ''Sonata in Four Movements'', for violin and piano * 1988 Partita, for trumpet and piano * 1988 Concerto Grosso No 2, for solo violin and string orchestra (comm. Blackheath Strings) * 1989 ''10 Easy Pieces'', for piano, violin, horn and oboe * 1996 ''A Bit of Singing & Dancing'', for orchestra (comm. Dartford S/O) * 1996 Quintet "The Pike", for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass (Hermes Ensemble, Rosslyn Hill) * 1997 ''Scherzo Strepitoso'', for orchestra * 1997 4 Bagatelles, for 2 flutes * 1998 ''Cantar de la Siguiriya Gitana'', for tenor and piano trio (comm. Jose Guerrero) * 1999 ''Flowers of the Night'', arr. for flute and piano * 1999 ''Preamble & 5 Variations'', for bassoon and piano (comm.

John Orford John Orford is a British classical bassoonist. He studied under Charles Cracknell and William Waterhouse at the Royal Manchester College of Music. After graduation, he became a member of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, and later the BBC Symphony O ...

) * 2000 Partita, for trumpet and piano, arr. fortrumpet and strings * 2001 ''De Vinetas Flamencos'', for tenor and piano (comm. Jose Guerrero) * 2002 ''Tango alla Sonata'', for cor Anglais and piano * 2002 ''Threnody, Capriccio & Anthem'', for oboe choir * 2003 ''The Weather in the East'', for flute, clarinet, bassoon and piano * 2004 ''A Scene from Old Russia'', for piano trio * 2004 ''The Man in the Moon'', for a capella SATB * 2004 ''Shine, Candle, Shine'', for a capella SATB * 2005 ''The Screech-Owl'' (Bestiary), for piano solo * 2005 ''The Disaster'', theatre piece for multiple ensembles * 2005 Aubade, for oboe and piano (comm. Domimique Enon) * 2006 ''Concertino de Printemps'', for piano and orchestra * 2007 ''Trio Concertante'', for piano, oboe and bassoon (comm. John Orford)

Arrangements

* The Seasons, (Tchaikovsky) for String Quartet * Selection of works by Grieg for String Quartet * Tartini Solo Sonatas for Violin & Harp * Victorian Salon Pieces for Piano Trio * Irish Suite for String Quartet * Francesa da Rimini (Tchaikovsky) for 16-piece orchestra * Sicilian Vespers Ballet Music (Verdi) for 16-piece orchestra

References

External links

Geoffrey Grey site Bibliographie nationale française
*http://www.rogerchase.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grey, Geoffrey 1934 births 2023 deaths 20th-century British classical composers 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century English composers English classical composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music English male classical composers Musicians from the London Borough of Lambeth