Justin Riveagh Connolly (11 August 1933 – 29 September 2020) was a British composer and teacher.

Life

Justin Connolly was born on 11 August 1933 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 ...

. He was the son of John D'Arcy-Dawson, a journalist and author, and his wife Barbara (née Little). He changed his surname from D'Arcy-Dawson to that of his father's biological father in his early 20s. He was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

, went on to national service in the Army, and briefly studied law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

before deciding on a career in music. From 1958 he studied at 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 ...

– composition with Peter Racine Fricker, piano with

Lamar Crowson John Lamar Crowson (May 27, 1926 – August 25, 1998) was an American concert pianist and a chamber musician.''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (2009) Crowson was born in Tampa, Florida. His early education was in Portland, Oregon, wit ...

and conducting with

Sir 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 ...

– graduating with a BMus degree. At the same time he had informal contact with

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' ...

. From 1963 to 1965 he attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

on a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several co ...

, where he studied with

Mel Powell Mel Powell (born Melvin Epstein) (February 12, 1923 – April 24, 1998) was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, and the founding dean of the music department at the California Institute of the Arts. He served as a music educator for over ...

. He subsequently taught at Yale for 18 months before returning to the UK in 1967. He taught for many years at the

, later moving 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 ...

, retiring from teaching in 1995. Justin Connolly died on 29 September 2020, in London.

Compositional career

His music is published by

Novello & Co Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

(

Wise Music Group Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...

). Performers of his music have included conductors

David Atherton David Atherton (born 3 January 1944) is an English conductor and founder of the London Sinfonietta. Background Atherton was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, into a musical family. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. His father, Rober ...

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

, who premiered one of his orchestra works,

Norman Del Mar Norman René Del Mar Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (31 July 19196 February 1994) was an English Conductor (music), conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialised in the music of late romantic composers; ...

Sir Charles Groves Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors. After accompanying positions and conducting ...

Gustav Meier Gustav Meier (13 August 1929 – 26 May 2016) was a Swiss-born conductor and director of the Orchestra Conducting Program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He was also Music Director of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orche ...

Roger Norrington Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington (born 16 March 1934) is an English conductor. He is known for historically informed performances of Baroque, Classical and Romantic music. In November 2021 Norrington announced his retirement. Life Norri ...

David Porcelijn David Porcelijn (born 7 January 1947 in Achtkarspelen) is a Dutch composer and conductor. David Porcelijn studied flute, composition and conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Music in The Hague. He also studied the baroque flute, specialising i ...

, soloists Ronald K. Anderson,

Jane Manning Jane Marian Manning OBE (20 September 193831 March 2021) was an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and visiting professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music. A specialist in contemporary classi ...

Gillian Weir Dame Gillian Constance Weir (born 17 January 1941) is a New Zealand-British organist. Biography Weir was born in Martinborough, New Zealand, on 17 January 1941. Her parents were Clarice Mildred Foy ( Bignell) and Cecil Alexander Weir. She ...

Ralph Kirshbaum Ralph Henry Kirshbaum (born March 4, 1946) is an American cellist. His award-winning career combines the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy. Early life and education Kirshbaum was born in Denton, Texas, and raised ...

Frederick Riddle Frederick Craig Riddle OBE (20 April 19125 February 1995) was a British violist. He was considered to be in the line from Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, through to the violists of today such as Lawrence Power. Early life and career Frederi ...

Bertram Turetzky Bertram Jay Turetzky (born February 14, 1933) is a contemporary American double bass (contrabass) soloist, composer, teacher, and author of ''The Contemporary Contrabass'' (1974, 1989), a book that looked at a number of new and interesting ways o ...

Harry Sparnaay Harry Sparnaay (14 April 1944, Amsterdam – 12 December 2017, Lloret de Mar, Girona, Spain) was a noted Dutch bass clarinetist, composer, and teacher. Biography Harry Sparnaay studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Ru Otto. After gradua ...

, John Wallace,

Susan Bradshaw Susan Bradshaw (Monmouth, 8 September 1931 – London, 30 January 2005) was a British pianist, teacher, writer, and composer. She was mainly associated with contemporary music, and especially with the work of Pierre Boulez, several of whose writi ...

Stephen Savage Stephen Savage was born in England, attending St Albans School, and after early training with Dorothy Hesse, studied with Bruno Seidlhofer at the '' Wiener Akademie'' and Cyril Smith at the RCM London where he became his teaching assistant imm ...

Nicolas Hodges Nicolas Hodges (born 1970, in London) is a pianist living in Germany. Early years Nicolas Hodges was born into a musical family. His mother sang in the BBC Singers, including under Boulez in works by Nono. His father was a keen amateur musician, ...

, Marilyn Nonken, Chisato Kusunoki, as well as the

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 ...

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 ...

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

, the

Nash Ensemble The Nash Ensemble of London is an English chamber ensemble. It was founded by Artistic Director Amelia Freedman and Rodney Slatford in 1964, while they were students at the Royal Academy of Music, and was named after the Nash Terraces around t ...

and the Pierrot Players. Connolly was highly regarded as a teacher. His students included Catherine Jones,

Minna Keal Minna Keal, ''née'' Mina Nerenstein (22 March 1909 – 14 November 1999) was a British composer. After early compositions as a student, she only returned to composing at the end of her life. At the age of 80, when her music was first performed ...

Jay Alan Yim Jay Alan Yim (born April 24, 1958) is an American composer of Chinese descent and recipient of a 1994 Guggenheim Fellowship. Early life and education Yim was born into a Chinese family in St. Louis, Missouri on April 24, 1958. He attended the U ...

, Geoffrey King, Andrew McBirnie, Alwynne Pritchard and Kevin Raftery.

Style

Of Connolly's early music, Anthony Payne wrote (in 1971): On arrival in the US, Connolly's development was swift, such that Anthony Gilbert (writing in 2012) could describe the premieres of ''Antiphonies'' and ''Poems of Wallace Stevens I'' in the late 60s both as "electrifying". His subsequent music continues the outwardly modernist idiom, rigorously crafted: glittering, sometimes pointillist, often concerned with the interplay of complex and detailed textures. Some works refer to dance forms, and often a dance-like energy contributes to the forward propulsion (''Cinquepaces'', ''Antiphonies'', ''Ceilidh'', ''Canaries''); at the same time his music often explores ideas related to philosophy, literature and history, with even non-vocal works sometimes having their roots in poetry (''Sestina'' A and B, ''Sonatina II: Ennead'', ''Tesserae F''). Others yet refer to the composer's strong affinity with the music of the nineteenth century, such as the ''Tesserae'' series of works, all based on a hymn-tune by Parry, or his several arrangements of works by Brahms. Connolly's mature output has been described as "characterized by clear groupings, by massive overall integrity, and by movement upwards, inwards and outwards towards the op. 42 Piano Concerto of 2001-3". He composed works in all genres apart from opera. His purely orchestral works are limited to earlier works (''Antiphonies'', op. 4, ''Obbligati for orchestra'' (1966)), but both incorporate spatialised orchestras. Anthony Gilbert described ''Antiphonies'' thus: After these works, Connolly's orchestral output concentrated on the dramatic possibilities inherent in the concerto form: ''Anima'' written for violist

, ''Diaphony'' for organ and orchestra written for

, and the aforementioned Piano Concerto written for

(the result of a

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 ...

commission, premièred in 2003). He also wrote a large concertante work for the

, ''Obbligati III'', with solo clarinet, trumpet and cor anglais. Connolly was known for his sensitive and dramatic setting of poetry throughout his output. He composed four cycles to poems by

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

, also setting

Henry Vaughan Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 – 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author and translator writing in English, and a medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in ''Silex Scintillans'' in 1650, with a second part in 1655.''Oxfo ...

George Seferis Giorgos or George Seferis (; ), the pen name of Georgios Seferiadis (Γεώργιος Σεφεριάδης; March 13 – September 20, 1971), was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and ...

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

, Drummond of Hawthornden,

Thomas Traherne Thomas Traherne (; 1636 or 1637) was an English poet, Anglican cleric, theologian, and religious writer. The intense, scholarly spirituality in his writings has led to his being commemorated by some parts of the Anglican Communion on 10 October ...

Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a Germans, German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticis ...

, and Japanese poetry. ''Poems of Wallace Stevens II'' has been described as follows: Chamber works include a brass quintet ''Cinquepaces'', cycles such as the six ''Tesserae'' and six ''Triads'' all for different soloists or groupings, as well as solo works such as three ''Sonatinas'' for piano solo, and solo works for bass clarinet, flute, viola and cello. Between 1968 and 1971 Connolly collaborated extensively with

Peter Zinovieff Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British composer, musician and inventor. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pi ...

at the Putney

EMS Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

studio, producing six works. Of these only ''Tesserae D'' for trumpet and tape is available for performance. Anthony Payne chose to end his early survey of Connolly's work by describing this corner of his output: He also composed ''Triad VI'' for viola, piano and tape, with the collaboration of Lawrence Casserley.

List of completed works

* ''Sonatina in Five Studies'', Op. 1, piano, 1962, rev.1983 * ''Triad I'', Op. 2, tpt, vla, pno, 1964 * ''Obbligati I'', Op. 3, 13 instruments, 1966 * ''Antiphonies'', Op. 4, orchestra, 1966 * ''Cinquepaces'', Op. 5, brass quintet, 1965 * ''Triad IIa'', Op. 6/I, dbass, perc, piano, 1965 * ''Triad IIb'', Op. 6/II, dbass, perc, piano, 1982 * ''Prose'', Op. 7a, SATB, 1967 * ''Verse'', Op. 7b, SSAATTBB, 1969 * ''Triad III'', Op. 8, ob, va, vc, 1966 * ''Poems of Wallace Stevens I'', Op. 9, S, 7 insts, 1967 * ''M-piriform'', Op. 10, S, vln, fl, tape, 1968 (with

) * ''The Garden of Forking Paths'', Op. 11a, piano duet, 1969 * ''Fourfold'', for two pianos, Op. 11b, 1983, from The Garden of Forking Paths * ''Triad IV'', Op. 12, fl, 2 perc, tape, 1969 * ''Obbligati II'', Op. 13, fl, cl, vln, vcl, piano, tape, 1969 (with

) * ''Poems of Wallace Stevens II'', Op. 14, S, cl, pno, 1970 * ''Tesserae A'', Op. 15/I, ob, hpd, 1968, rev. ob, pno, 1983 * ''Tesserae B'', Op. 15/II, fl, pf, 1970 * ''Tesserae C'', Op. 15/III, cello solo, 1971 * ''Tesserae D'', Op. 15/IV, tpt, tape, 1971 * ''Tesserae E'', Op. 15/V, fl, db, 1972 * ''Tesserae F'', Op. 15/VI, bass clarinet solo, 1999 * ''Poems of Henry Vaughan'', Op. 16, 1&3: SATB. 2: SSATB, 1970 * ''Rebus'', Op. 17, orch., 1971 (lost presumed destroyed) * ''Poems of Wallace Stevens III'', Op. 18, sop, pno, tape 1971 * ''Triad V'', Op. 19, cl, vln, vc, 1971 * ''Obbligati III'', Op. 20, 20 inst., 1971 (commissioned by the London Sinfonietta, premiere April 14, 1971) * ''Triad VI'', Op. 21, vla, pf, tape, 1974 * ''Tetramorph'', Op. 22, strings, tape, 1972 * ''Divisions'', Op. 23, wind band, 1972 * ''Waka'', Op. 24, mezzo, pf, 1972, rev. 1981 * ''Sestina A'', Op. 25a, pf, fl, ob, cl, hn, bsn, 1972 (lost) * ''Sestina B'', Op. 25b, fl, ob, bcl, vln, vc, hpsd, 1972, rev. 1978 * Sonatina No. 2: Ennead, Op. 26, piano, 2000 * ''Anima'', Op. 27, vla, orch, 1974 * ''Obbligati'' IV, Op. 28, ensemble, 1974 * ''Ceilidh'', Op. 29/I, 4 vln, 1976 * ''Celebratio super Ter in lyris Leo'', Op. 29/II, 3 vla, accordion, 1994 * ''Collana'', Op. 29/III, vc, 1995 * ''Celebratio'' for solo viola, Op. 29/IV, 2005 * ''Diaphony'', Op. 31, organ and orchestra, 1977 * 'Spelt' from ''Sibyl's Leaves'', Op. 32, 5 voices, ensemble (3hn, 2 hp, pno, bgtr, 2perc), 1989 * ''Nocturnal'', Op. 33, fl, pf, cb, perc, 1991 * ''Sapphic'', Op. 35, S, 12 players (fl, ob, bcl, tpt, trb, 2perc, 2 vln, vla, vlc, cb), 1991 * Piano Trio - MK Lives!, Op. 36, 1999 (lost) * ''Scardanelli Dreams'', Op. 37, MS, pf, 1997-8 * ''Poems of Wallace Stevens IV'', Op. 38, MS, vla, pno, 1992 * ''Gymel A'', Op. 39a, fl, cl, 1993 * ''Gymel B'', Op. 39b, clarinet, cello, 1995 * ''Remembering the butterfly...'', Op. 40a, fl, pf, 1998 * ''Silbo'', Op. 40b, piccolo and piano, 2009 * Piano Concerto, Op. 42, piano and orchestra, 2001-3 * String Trio, Op. 43, 2009–10 * ''Canaries'', Op. 44, wind quintet, 2004 * ''Sonatina Scherzosa'', Op. 45, piano, 2015 * ''DOG/GOD'', Op. 48, for voice and tape, 2017 No opus number: * Variations, tape, 1968 * ''Chimaera'', dancer, 2 voices, and saxophone quartet, 1979, rev. for dancer, alto, bar., ch., pf., perc., and vc. 1981 (lost) * Brahms: Variations Op. 23, arranged for wind band, 1985 * ''MPF – his rebus'', for solo piano, 1996 * Scherzetti, solo flute, 2020

Discography

* ''Poems of Wallace Stevens I / Verse / Cinquepaces / Triad III'', Argo LP ZRG 747 (1973)
''Night Thoughts''
Sonatina No. 2: ''Ennead, Nocturnal, Tesserae F: Domination in Black, Scardanelli Dreams''. Métier MSVCD 92046 (2001) * ''The Solo Trumpet'': ''Tesserae D'', John Wallace, trumpet, Soma 781 (1980) * ''Jane Manning'': ''Poems of Wallace Stevens II'', Jane's Minstrels, NMC D025 (1995) * ''Sonatina in Five Studies'', Steven Neugarten, piano, Metier MSV CD92008 (1995) * ''MK lives!'' arly version of Piano Trio, op.36 Minna Keal 90th Birthday Concert (private release, 1999) * ''Remembering the Butterfly...'', op.40, Mark Underwood / Justin Connolly, Piping Hot, Chromattica 0500 (2000) *
Justin Connolly
', Lyrita CD SRCD305 (2008) *
Music for Strings (plus)
', Métier MEX 77209 (2025)

Bibliography

* Anon, ''Justin Connolly'', composer brochure with biography and worklist, Novello and Co. Ltd., January 1992 * Connolly, Justin, "Cardew's 'The Great Digest' and Gilbert's 'Missa Brevis'" Tempo, No. 86 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 16–17 * Connolly, Justin, Review of LPs by Carter, Sessions etc, Tempo No. 105 (June 1973), 40-41 * Connolly, Justin, Havergal Brian review, Tempo No. 167 (August 2000) * Connolly, Justin, The Songs of Bernard van Dieren, diss., U. of London, 1978 * Connolly, Justin, Preface to Beethoven Symphony no. 6 in F major, op. 68, 'Pastorale', Eulenburg audio+score, 2007 * Connolly, Justin, Preface to Beethoven 9th Symphony, Op. 125, Eulenburg audio+score, 2007 * Connolly, Justin, Preface to Schumann 3rd Symphony, Op. 97, Eulenburg audio+score, 2007 * Connolly, Justin, Preface to Symphony no. 8 D944, 'Great', Eulenburg audio+score, 2007 * Conway, Paul, "London, BBC Maida Vale Studios: Justin Connolly's Piano Concerto" ''Tempo'', Vol. 58, No. 228 (Apr., 2004), pp. 66–67 * Ford, Andrew, Interview with Pierre Boulez, ''Composer to composer'', Hale & Iremonger, 1993, p. 21 * Gilbert, Anthony, "Kaleidoscopes and a labyrinth – the musical vision of Justin Connolly", ''Tempo'', Volume 66, Issue 260 (April 2012), pp. 15–2

* Hodges, Nicolas, "Justin Connolly", ''New Grove, Second Edition'' * Kenyon, Nicholas, The BBC Symphony Orchestra: 1930-1980, London: BBC, 1981, pp370–1 (discussion of circumstances surrounding premiere of ''Tetramorph'') * Kurowski, Andrew, Justin Connolly in Interview, ''Tempo'', Volume 77, Issue 303, January 2023, pp. 43-5

* McBirnie, Andrew, Obituary of Justin Connolly, The Guardian, 1 November 2020, * Oliver, Michael, 'Miscellany' in British Music Now, ed. Lewis Foreman (1975), pp. 162–178, esp. pp. 162–164 * Padmore, Susan, Interview with Justin Connolly on ''Spelt from Sibyl's leaves'' (BBC Radio 3 broadcast, 1989) * Anthony Payne, Payne, Anthony, "Justin Connolly", New Grove (1st edition) * * Potter, Keith and Villars, Chris, "Interview with Justin Connolly". Contact, 1 (1971). pp. 16–20. ISSN 0308-5066

* Wolf, Benjamin, "The SPNM 1943–1975: a retrospective", The Musical Times, Vol. 154, No. 1925 (WINTER 2013), pp. 47–66

References

External links

*
Page at Wise Music website
– contains photograph, biography and list of published works {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Justin 1933 births 2020 deaths 20th-century British classical composers 21st-century British classical composers British male classical composers People educated at Westminster School, London Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians Harkness Fellows