Roger David Edward Nichols (born 6 April 1939) is an English musicologist, critic, translator and author. After an early career as a university lecturer he became a full-time freelance writer in 1980. He is particularly known for his works on French music, including books about

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithology, ornithologist. One of the major composers of the 20th-century classical music, 20th century, he was also an ou ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

and the Parisian musical scene of the years after the First World War. Among his translations are the English versions of the standard biography of Gabriel Fauré by Jean-Michel Nectoux and of

Harry Halbreich Harry Halbreich (Berlin, 9 February 1931 – Brussels, 27 June 2016) was a Belgian musicologist.Dust jacket biography of Harry Halbreich from #Halbreich2007, Halbreich (2007).Patrick Szersnovicz. Harry Halbreich (obituary). ''Diapason (magazine), ...

's study of

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

Life and career

Nichols was born in the English city of

Ely, Cambridgeshire Ely ( ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district, in Cambridgeshire, England, northeast of Cambridge, southeast of Peterborough and from London. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built-up a ...

, the son of Edward Nichols and his wife Dorothy, ''née'' West, who were respectively a lawyer and an accountant."Nichols, Roger"
Gale Contemporary Authors online
retrieved 14 July 2016 He was educated at Harrow, where he read classics, and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, where he studied under Edmund Rubbra."Nichols, Roger"
''International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004'', retrieved 14 July 2016 In 1964, he married Sarah Edwards, a teacher; they have two sons and a daughter. After graduating he became a schoolmaster at St Michael's College, Tenbury (1966–1973), after which he was a lecturer for the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

(1975–1976) and the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

(1978–1980). In 1982 he studied piano in Paris with Magda Tagliaferro."Biography"
Roger Nichols, retrieved 14 July 2016 After research into the songs of

, Nichols's first book, published by the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(OUP) was a study of that composer (1972), an 86-page work, part of the OUP's "Oxford Studies of Composers" series. Later books include studies of Messiaen (1974) and Ravel (1977), and as editor or translator or both, collections of letters and reminiscences by and about Debussy (1987), Ravel (1987 and 2011),

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

(1995), Satie (1995) and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

(1997). Among his most substantial translations are the English versions of Jean-Michel Nectoux's ''Gabriel Fauré: les voix du clair-obscur'' (1990), published by the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

as ''Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life'' (1991), and

's ''Arthur Honegger'' (1992), published by the

Amadeus Press Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

under the same title (1999). In 2002 Nichols produced ''The Harlequin Years: Music in Paris 1917–1929''. ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...

'' said of it, "''The Harlequin Years'' is a marvellous book, and it deserves to be read by the widest possible audience. ... A classic." This volume grew out of a 12-part series of the same name for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. From 1980 to 1992 Nichols also presented the Radio 3 drive time programme ''Mainly for Pleasure'', now called ''In Tune''. Among his other broadcasts on Radio 3 was a five-part series on the life and art of Emmanuel Chabrier, with Clive Swift speaking the composer's words. For the 1980 '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', Nichols wrote the articles on Debussy and Poulenc. He has contributed regularly to ''The Musical Times'' and the ''

BBC Music Magazine ''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music. The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC, was the original owner and publisher together with ...

''. In 2006 the French government appointed Nichols a Chevalier of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

for his forty years of service to French music.

Works

Books by Nichols

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Translations

* * * * * * * * *

Editions

* Left unfinished after Burton's death.

Contributions to symposia

* "La sexualité de Maurice Ravel", in ''Cahiers Maurice Ravel'' no 16, 2013–2014 * "Ravel and the twentieth century", in ''The Cambridge Companion to Ravel'', edited by Deborah Mawer, Cambridge, 2000 * "The reception of Debussy's music in Britain up to 1914", in ''Debussy Studies'', edited by Richard Langham Smith, Cambridge University Press, 1997 * "Claude Debussy", "Francis Poulenc", in ''The New Grove Twentieth-Century Masters'', Macmillan, 1980

BBC Radio 3 documentaries

* "A Flower in the Jungle" ( Maggie Teyte) 1988 * "A Winning Hand" ( Benno Moiseiwitsch) 1990 * "

, a portrait" 1992"Arthur Honegger"
BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 6 September 2022

Music scores edited

For

Edition Peters Edition Peters is a classical music publisher founded in Leipzig, Germany in 1800. History The company came into being on 1 December 1800 when the Viennese composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) and the local organist Ambrosius Kühn ...

, London: * ''The Art of French Song'', 2 vols, each both high and medium low, ISMN: 9790577081618

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Roger 1939 births English musicologists English music critics Living people Opera critics Debussy scholars Ravel scholars Messiaen scholars