Paul Drayton (born 28 December 1944) is 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 ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He was educated at High Wycombe Royal Grammar School from 1956 to 1962. He studied music at

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and was subsequently Director of Music at

New College School New College School (officially St Mary's College School) is a private preparatory school for boys aged 4 to 13 in Oxford. It was founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham to provide for the education of 16 choristers for the chapel of New Coll ...

, Oxford. While there he composed the music for one of the earliest adaptations of ''

The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...

'', with the text adapted by

Humphrey Carpenter Humphrey William Bouverie Carpenter (29 April 1946 – 4 January 2005) was an English biographer, writer, and radio broadcaster. He is known especially for his biographies of J. R. R. Tolkien and other members of the literary society the Inkli ...

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

gave his permission and came to see the performance. The play ran from 14-17 December 1967. Drayton later taught and was composer-in-residence at

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

near Buckingham. Many of his compositions are vocal. His piece entitled ''Masterpiece'' was sung by the

King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella Choir, vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College, Cambridge, King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six Choir of King's College, Cambridge, chor ...

in their 2005 DVD release ''From Byrd to the Beatles''. He is the author of a listeners' guide to music entitled ''Unheard Melodies or Trampolining in the Vatican'' (Athena Press 2008) He now lives 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, ...

where he has lectured at

Truro College Truro and Penwith College is a further education college in Cornwall, England. History Truro College was founded in 1993 in Gloweth near Threemilestone, Truro, Cornwall, to replace the Truro Sixth Form College. Penwith College was founded in ...

on both

A-Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

and

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

courses. He is also a lecturer in adult education. His opera ''The Hanging Oak'', based on a story by

M.R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English Medieval studies, medievalist scholar and author who served as provost (education), provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as w ...

, was premiered in October 2009 in several church locations in the south-west of England. 2015 saw the premiere of his choral/orchestral work ''The Passion of Christ as told by Mark the Evangelist'', in Truro Cathedral. He was the musical director of Duchy Opera until the end of 2018.

Works

*''New College Service'' (unaccompanied choral Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, written for

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

) *''Nero'' (cantata) *''Six Characters in Search of an Opera'' (cantata, circa 1988) *''Lotos-Land'' (SATB and piano; words by

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

) *''Pavane'' (organ) *''Choral Prelude and Fugue on "Nun Ruhen Alle Walder"'' (organ) *''Dance in a Desolate Place'' (organ) *''Ecce Ancilla Domini'' (choir) *''The World's Desire'' (SATB) *''This Starry Stranger'' (SATB and organ; words by

Richard Crashaw Richard Crashaw (c. 1613 – 21 August 1649) was an English poet, teacher, High Church Anglican cleric and Roman Catholic convert, who was one of the major metaphysical poets in 17th-century English literature. Crashaw was the son of a famous ...

) *''Jesu Dulcis Memoria'' (SSATTB) *''My Soul, There is a Country'' (SATB) *''The Spacious Firmament'' (SSATTBB) *''Templa Quam Dilecta'' (cantata SATB and orchestra; words from

Psalm 84 Psalm 84 is the 84th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!". The Book of Psalms forms part of the ''Ketuvim'' section of the Hebrew Bible and part of ...

) *''Now Glad of Heart Be Everyone'' (SATB and organ) *''How Like an Angel'' (SATB and organ) *''Come Rejoicing'' (SATB) *''Love's Redeeming Work is Done'' (chorus) *''Corpus Christi Carol'' (unison) *''The Hanging Oak'' (opera) *''Masterpiece'' (1986 or earlier, for choral ensemble) *''The Mermaid of Zennor'' (opera, circa 2011, based on the legend of the

mermaid of Zennor The ''Mermaid of Zennor'' () is a Cornish folk tale which originates in the village of Zennor. The legend tells the story of a mysterious woman who occasionally attended the parish church of Zennor; a young man followed her home one day, and n ...

) *''

The Lark Ascending "The Lark Ascending" is a poem of 122 lines by the English poet George Meredith about the song of the skylark. Siegfried Sassoon called it matchless of its kind, "a sustained lyric which never for a moment falls short of the effect aimed at, s ...

'' (choral arrangement, 2019)

References

External links

Duchy Opera

Paul Drayton Composer
1944 births Living people British composers People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford {{UK-composer-stub