John William Duarte (2 October 1919 – 23 December 2004) was a British
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 ...
,
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
and writer.
Career
Duarte was born in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, but lived in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
from the age of six months.
[ He was educated at ]Manchester Central High School
Manchester High School Central is a public high school in Manchester, New Hampshire. Located in the city's downtown, it has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students. Students attend from Manchester Hooksett. The name was changed from Manc ...
(1931–35) and the Faculty of Technology at the University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
(1936–40). Duarte worked as a professional chemist, employed by the Bleachers' Association and as the chief chemist in a Ministry of Supply factory during the war.[John Duarte obituary]
John Turner
John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...
, ''The Guardian'', 31 January 2005 It was only in 1969 that he finally abandoned chemistry in favour of full-time dedication to music
Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
, after having been persuaded by Len Williams, father of John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...
. His only formal musical education consisted of jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
guitar lessons with Terence "Terry" Usher[ (1934–6); the rest he learned by self-instruction. He also worked professionally as a player of the ]trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
and double bass
The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
, performing music of many kinds, and regularly worked as a jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
musician until 1953, among others in the company of Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first ...
and Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...
.[John W. Duarte obituary]
in: '' ondonTimes'', 31 December 2004. No cause of death in this obituary (accessed 2 October 2011).
Duarte taught at the London-based Spanish Guitar Centre, which Williams senior had founded and where the young John Williams studied with him for a period of three years before entering the Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...
. Williams acknowledged the early influence of Duarte by including his transcriptions of Bach cello suites in his first recordings, along with ''Variations on a Catalan Folk Song'', Op. 25, one of the most enduring and most recorded of Duarte's compositions.
He sustained several lasting friendships with great musicians, including a 39-year-long relationship with Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987), was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were either students of Segovia or students of Segovia's students.
Segovia ...
and another with Ida Presti
Ida Presti (31 May 1924 – 24 April 1967) was a French classical guitarist and composer. She first came to prominence as a child prodigy, before maturing into what Alice Artzt has called "the greatest guitarist of the 20th century, and possibly ...
, who died prematurely at the age of 42. Duarte edited "Tríptico" by Venezuelan guitar composer Antonio Lauro, who, in 1982, published his "Suite: Homenaje a John Duarte". Duarte also wrote a memoir of his relationship with Andres Segovia, ''Andrés Segovia, As I Knew Him'' (1998). For Presti and her husband Alexandre Lagoya, Duarte wrote ''Variations on a French Nursery Song'', Op. 32 ("J'ai du bon tabac"), a difficult work that tested even that legendary duo's abilities. As late as 1985, Duarte wrote a piece in Ida Presti's memory, ''Idylle pour Ida'', Op. 93, for guitar solo.
John W. Duarte died on 23 December 2004. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy, whom he married in 1943, and by two sons and a daughter.[
]
Music
Duarte was the 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 ...
of over 150 works for the guitar and lute (many commissioned with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...
and other sources). Most have been published and many have been commercially recorded, some several times. He also made many arrangements (several also recorded), and wrote a number of didactic works, including an introduction to harmony for guitarists.
His music shows an exceptionally wide range of styles. Duarte's ''English Suite'', Op. 31, a three-movement work for guitar which Segovia performed and recorded,[ reflects the ]Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
style of court lute
A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
More specifically, the term "lu ...
nists such as John Dowland
John Dowland ( – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", " Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", " N ...
and John Johnson. ''Dreams'', Op. 91, written for the Amsterdam Guitar Trio
Amsterdam Guitar Trio is a classical guitar ensemble consisting of Johan Dorrestein, Olga Franssen and Helenus de Rijke, who met while they were students at the Sweelinck Conservatory (Sweelinck Conservatorium). Their discography includes transcrip ...
alternates in style between aleatory
Aleatoricism (or aleatorism) is a term for musical compositions and other forms of art resulting from "actions made by chance".
The term was first used "in the context of electro-acoustics and information theory" to describe "a course of sound ...
, atonal
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...
and graphic, contained within a conventionally notated framework and allowing spontaneous reaction between the performers. In many other works he employs a tonal language, often coloured by the folk music traditions of various nations, and romantic in mood. "This versatility puzzled some commentators, who found difficulty in perceiving the true Duarte. But this was, in fact, the true Duarte, never easy to categorise, always unpredictable, his agile and fertile mind able and willing to leap without apparent effort from one area of music to another."Colin Cooper. 'John Duarte: prolific composer for the guitar'
''The Independent'', 31 January, 2005 His works have appeared on three Grammy
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...
award-winning albums, by Sharon Isbin
Sharon Isbin is an American classical guitarist and the founder and director of the guitar department at the Juilliard School.
Personal life and education
Sharon Isbin was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Katherine Brudnoy, an attorney, and ...
and Berta Rojas
Berta Rojas (born 23 September 1966) is a Paraguayan classical guitarist. She was awarded a Latin Grammy for her album "Legado" (2022) in the category of "Best Classical Album". The same album received another statuette for "Best Contemporary Cl ...
.
Other than the ''English Suite'', Duarte's ''Variations On A Catalan Folksong'' and his arrangements of Bach's Cello Suites also achieved more widespread popularity. Over 60 different solo guitarists and ensembles have performed and recorded his music.[
]
Articles and publications
Duarte was a regular contributor to the magazine ''Soundboard'', an interviewer, and a reviewer of books, music, concerts and recordings of many kinds (specializing in Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
music) with ''Gramophone
A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding physic ...
'', ''Music Teacher'' and ''Classical Guitar'', and the author of numerous concert programme notes and about 250 liner notes for records of various kinds, including those for the complete reissue of Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...
's recordings for RCA (28 compact discs). He received a Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for his annotation to the reissue of Segovia's recordings of 1927–39. He contributed regularly to ''Music in Education'', ''Guitar Review'', ''Guitar International'', ''Music & Musicians'', ''Records and Recording'', and ''Performance'', and contributed to the revised edition of ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (London: Macmillan, 2001).
References
External links
Website
with biography in English, Italian and Spanish, list of compositions, discography, photo gallery and news etc.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, John W.
1919 births
2004 deaths
20th-century British classical composers
20th-century English composers
20th-century British guitarists
Alumni of the University of Manchester
British music critics
Composers for the classical guitar
Deaths from cancer in England
English classical composers
English classical guitarists
English male guitarists
English male classical composers
Musicians from Manchester
20th-century British male musicians