Arthur Oldham

Arthur William Oldham OBE (6 September 1926 – 4 May 2003) was an English composer and choirmaster. He founded the Edinburgh Festival Chorus in 1965, the Chorus of the Orchestre de Paris in 1975, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus in Amsterdam in 1979. For his work with the LSO Chorus, he won three Grammy Awards. He was also a composer, mainly of religious works, but also a ballet and an opera. at Aldeburgh between 1945 and 1951. (He claims that the bar lines on the manuscript of Peter Grimes were his work. ) He and Britten came into conflict over their ideas about choral music, but they later worked together in Edinburgh on Britten's Voices for Today, Op. 75, and the War Requiem.

He was appointed musical director of the Ballet Rambert in 1945, aged only 19. His music first came to public notice in 1946, when his ballet Mr Punch was performed by the Ballet Rambert at Sadler's Wells, and was included in the Rambert's 1947–48 tour of Australia and New Zealand.

He arranged Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (a work for string orchestra) for full orchestra, for the ballet Le Rêve de Léonor, choreographed by Frederick Ashton. This had its first performance on 26 April 1949 at the Prince's Theatre, London, by the Ballet de Paris de Roland Petit.

1950s In 1952, after Edmund Rubbra pulled out of the project, Oldham provided a variation for Variations on an Elizabethan Theme, a collaborative work with other contributions by Lennox Berkeley, Britten, Imogen Holst, Humphrey Searle, Michael Tippett and William Walton. That year, his modern treatment of Thomas Arne's pastiche opera Love in a Village was staged by the English Opera Group. Criticism of the work led to a nervous breakdown and his working outside music for some time. He also worked with the London Symphony Chorus between 1969 and 1976, winning three Grammy Awards.

Oldham left for Paris in 1976 to create the Orchestre de Paris's Chorus at Daniel Barenboim's request. For his farewell appearance in Edinburgh he wrote Psalms in Time of War, which was performed at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival.

Arthur Oldham died in Villejuif in 2003, aged 76. Fauré's Requiem was performed in his memory.

Grammy Awards Arthur Oldham shared the credit for three Grammy Awards for his work with the London Symphony Chorus: 14th Grammy Awards (1972) – Best Choral Performance, Classical Berlioz's Requiem (Colin Davis, conductor; Oldham and Russell Burgess, choir directors) 16th Grammy Awards (1974) – Best Choral Performance, Classical (other than opera) Walton's Belshazzar's Feast (André Previn, conductor; Oldham, choirmaster) 19th Grammy Awards (1977) – Best Choral Performance (other than opera) Rachmaninoff's The Bells (Previn, conductor; Oldham, choirmaster)

Works This is an incomplete list of Arthur Oldham's compositions:

Angels from the Realms of Glory (arrangement) Blind Audlay's Carol (commissioned by the Purcell Singers for the Aldeburgh Festival) Hymn of dedication Hymns for the Amusement of Children, for soprano soloist, chorus and organ (or orchestra) I sing of a maiden Laudes Creaturarum (1961), recorded by the St Mary's Cathedral Choir and the Scottish National Orchestra, and by the London Choral Sinfonia The Land of Green Ginger, a musical for children Psalms in Time of War choral, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, 1977 Remember O thou man, carol (This has been recorded a number of times. ) Three Chinese Lyrics, song cycle (recorded by Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten) Two Hymn Tunes, SATB/organ Variations on an Elizabethan Theme (1952), Variation 1, Allegro non troppo The Will of Villon (1996), choral