Lewis Foreman (born 1941) is a musicologist and author of books, articles, programme notes and CD sleeve notes on classical music, specialising in British music. He has been particularly associated with the Dutton Epoch and Lyrita record labels and with the British Music Society. His biography of

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 ...

, now (2024) in its third edition, was first published in 1983. He writes obituaries of composers and music record executives for ''The Independent''. He is also a contributor to ''Grove Music Online''. Foreman qualified as a librarian in 1964, and after a period developing the music library holdings at

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

Central Library he became a government librarian – head of bibliographic services with

HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the U ...

– until 1982. He continued as a civil servant, including time at the Department of Trade and Industry, until 1997, when he retired to devote his energies to musical activities full time. In 2005 he completed a PhD at

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

with the musicologist John Tyrrell. The same year

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

awarded him an honorary fellowship. Foreman has been the discoverer and performance facilitator of many previously forgotten or lost scores by British composers, including the reconstruction of performance materials, and he has worked with conductors, professional (and sometimes amateur) ensembles, music trusts, publishers, broadcasters and record labels to promote and secure recordings, often world premiere recordings.Review of ''Recording British Music'', in ''MusicWeb International'', 30 May, 2024
/ref> He has written over 30 books, including several with his wife Susan Foreman, who died in 2023. He lives in

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in south-west Hertfordshire, England, located approximately north-west of central London, south-west of Watford and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal ( ...

, from where he ran the Triad Press, and the Sir Arnold Bax Trust for many decades.

Selected publications

* ''Havergal Brian: a collection of essays'', ed. (Triad Press, 1969) * ''The British Musical Renaissance: a guide to research'' (1972) * ''Systematic Discography'' (1974) * ''British Music Now'', ed. (1975) * ''Edmund Rubbra: composer'', ed. (Triad Press, 1977) * ''Arthur Bliss: catalogue of the complete works'' (1980) * ''The Percy Grainger Companion'', ed. (1981) * ''Bax: a composer and his times'' (1983, revised 1988 and 2007) * ''From Parry to Britten: British music in letters'' (1987) * ''Lost and Only Sometimes Found: a seminar on music publishing and archives'', ed. (1992) Stephen Banfield
'Lost and Found (?)'
in ''Tempo'' No. 175 (December, 1990), pp. 61-62 * ''Oh My Horses! Elgar and the Great War'', ed. (2001) * ''London: a musical gazetteer'' (2005) (with Susan Foreman) * ''The John Ireland Companion'', ed. (2011) * ''Armstrong Gibbs: a countryman born and bred'' (2014) (with Angela Aries) * ''The Cyril Scott Companion'' (2018) (with Desmond Scott and Leslie De'Ath) * ''Felix Aprahamian Diaries and Selected Writings on Music'', ed. (2023) (with Susan Foreman) * ''Recording British Music: a personal history of fifty years researching and recording neglected repertoire'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreman, Lewis 1941 births Living people English biographers English male non-fiction writers English music critics British classical music critics 20th-century British biographers English musicologists 20th-century British musicologists Music librarians Librarians from London