Peter Dickinson

Peter Dickinson (15 November 1934 – 16 June 2023) was an English composer, musicologist, author, and pianist.

Biography Dickinson was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, and studied organ at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was a student of Philip Radcliffe. In 1958 he became a student at the Juilliard School in New York City, and studied with Bernard Wagenaar, and encountered the works of experimental composers such as Cowell, Cage, and Edgard Varèse. Returning to England in 1962, he established courses in improvisation and experimental music at the College of St. Mark and St. John, Chelsea. After a lectureship at Birmingham (1966–1970), he became the first professor of music at Keele University in 1974, where he created an important centre for the study of American music. He held that position until 1984. As a pianist, he often performed works by Charles Ives with his sister, mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson, reflecting his affinity for that composer. He also accompanied several acclaimed instrumentalists, such as the violinist Ralph Holmes and oboist Sarah Francis. He also made several international lecture-recital tours.

In 1980, Dickinson became a founding member of the Association of Professional Composers and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts a year later. He was a board member of Trinity College of Music and a member of the Royal Society of Musicians. He was also chair of the Bernarr Rainbow Trust, a charity set up in 1997 for the benefit of music education.

Dickinson died on 16 June 2023, at the age of 88. His widow Bridget and their two sons survive him.

Music His musical compositions include experimental and aleatoric elements, and are compared to works by Stravinsky, Ives and Satie. as well as ragtime, blues, and jazz. He layers both serious and popular musical styles together to create what he calls a style modulation. His layering is achieved in a different manner to William Bolcom's "aggressively parodic and deconstructive manner", using more of a "genuine warmth of enthusiasm for the material he is exploiting which suggests something closer to a homage.", The Organ Concerto was written for the 1971 Three Choirs Festival. The Piano Concerto (dedicated to the soloist Howard Shelley) was commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival and first performed on July 22, 1984, at Cheltenham Town Hall, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edward Downes. The Violin Concerto was commissioned by the BBC and first performed and broadcast on 27 March 1987 by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, soloist Ernst Kovacic, conducted by Bryden Thomson. It was recorded for the first time by the BBC in 2014 to mark the composer's 80th birthday by Chloe Hanslip with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Clark Rundell. All three are concentrated works, in single movement form and (like much of Dickinson's music) all three have connections with popular music. The Organ Concerto includes a blues song, there's a rag in the Piano Concerto, and the Violin Concerto's opening theme combines Beethoven with a waltz and a 1930s popular song.

His instrumental compositions are for a great variety of musical ensembles, from full orchestra to a single instrument, and there are many keyboard works. He has also composed many songs for solo voice and pieces for various choral ensembles. His modern works for historical instruments are notable. He has composed for better-known historical instruments such as recorder and harpsichord, as well as for less-familiar ones, such as the clavichord and baryton. In contrast to the use of these instruments, he has also added electronic sounds to some works.

Writing A prolific writer, he had often shown his varied interests in American music. He wrote a series of articles on improvisation in 1964, and more recently has discussed postmodernism, coining the term 'style modulation' to describe the weaving together of serious and popular or past and present music. The term can be applied to his own music, which adds a mix of ragtime, jazz, serial music, and even electronic playback to more traditional types of instrumental musical forms.

Musical compositions Vocal music

Stage works The Judas Tree (music theatre, T. Blackburn), actors, 2 T, chorus, brass, perc, str, 1965 Choral works 'Jesus Christ is Risen [Born] Today', SATB, 1955 Mag and Nunc, unison chorus, organ, 1963 2 Motets (Blackburn): John, Mark, ATB, 1963, rev. SATB, 1990 Christmas is Coming, SATB, 1964 4 Poems (Gerard Manly Hopkins), Bar soloists, chorus, org, 1964 Mass, SATB, 1965 When I was a Sailor, chorus, 2 insts, perc, 1965 For the Nativity, SATB, 1966 Martin of Tours (Blackburn), T, Bar, chorus 2vv, chbr org, pf duet, 1966 3 Complaints, unison chorus, insts, perc, 1966 The Dry Heart (A. Porter), SATB, 1967 Communion Service, 2 pt chorus, org, 1968 Outcry (W. Blake, J. Clare, T. Hardy), A, SATB, orch, 1968 Late Afternoon in November (Dickinson), 16 solo vv, 1975 A Mass of the Apocalypse, SATB, spkr, perc, pf, 1984 Tiananmen 1989, double SATB, tubular bells, 1990 Solo vocal Four Songs (W. H. Auden), S, pf, 1956 A Dylan Thomas Cycle, Bar, pf, 1959 Let the Florid Music, T, pf, 1960 Three Comic Songs (W. H. Auden), T, pf, 1960, rev. 1972 An E. E. Cummings cycle, Mez, pf, 1965 somewhere i have never travelled (W. H. Auden)Mez, pf, 1965 Elegy (Swinburne), Ct, vc, hpd, 1966 A Red, Red Rose (Burns), Mez, pf, 1967 [from Songs in Blue] 4 Poems (A. Porter), Ct, hpd, 1967 Extravaganzas (G. Corso), Mez, pf, 1970 So We'll go no more A-Roving (Byron), Mez, pf, 1971 [in Songs in Blue]; Winter Afternoons (Emily Dickinson), 6 solo vv, db, 1971 Surrealist Landscape (Lord Berners), Ct/Mez, pf, tape Lust (St. Augustine, Dickinson), 6 solo vv, 1974 A Memory of David Munrow (wordless), 2 Ct, 2 rec, va da gamba, hpd, 1977 Schubert in Blue (William Shakespeare), Mez, pf, 1977 [after Franz Schubert; in Songs in Blue] Songs in Blue, med voice, pf, 1977 Reminiscences, Mez, sax, pf, 1978 The Unicorns (J. Heath-Stubbs), S, brass band, 1982 Stevie's Tunes (S. Smith), Mez, pf, 1984 Larkin's Jazz, spkr/Bar, fl + a fl, cl + b cl + E cl, s sax, tpt, vc, pf, perc, 1989 Summoned by Mother (J. Betjeman), Mez, hp, 1991 Three Carols, SSA, 1997

Instrumental works

Orchestral works Vitalitas, 1959/1960 Monologue, strings, 1959 Five Diversions, 1969 Satie Transformations (based on Trois Gnossiennes), 1970 Concerto for strings, percussion, and Electronic organ, 1971 [withdrawn] Organ Concerto, 1971 A Birthday Surprise (Three variations on Happy Birthday to You), 1979 Piano Concerto, 1984 Violin Concerto, 1986 Jigsaws, chamber orchestra, 1988 Merseyside Echoes, 1988

Chamber and solo instrumental Fantasy, cl, pf, 1956; Threnody, vc, pf, 1956 String Quartet no. 1, 1958 Air, fl, 1959 Fantasia, vn, 1959 3 Juilliard Dances, fl, cl, bn, tpt, trombones, perc, pf, vc, 1959 Sonata, vn, pf, 1961 Baroque Trio, fl, ob, hpd, 1962 4 Duos, fl/ob, vc, 1962 Music for Oboe and Chamber Organ, 1962 Sonatina, solo bassoon, 1966 Fanfares and Elegies, 3 tpt, 3 trombones, org, 1967 Metamorphosis, fl, 1971 Translations, recorder, bass viol, harpsichord, 1971 Recorder Music, recorder, tape, 1973 String Quartet no.2, with tape/pf, 1975 Solo for Baryton, tape/b viol/baryton, 1976 Aria, ob, cl, bn, hn, 1977 Lullaby, ob/cl, pf, 1982 The Unicorns, brass band, 1984 [arr. of vocal work], 1982–1984 American Trio (Hymns, Rags and Blues), vn, cl, pf, 1985 London Rags, 2 tpt, hn, trombones, tuba, 1986 Auden Studies, ob, pf, 1988 Cellars Clough Duo, 2 guitars, 1988 5 Explorations, guitar, 1989 Suffolk Variations, guitar, 1992 Swansongs, vc, pf, 1993 Celebration Trio, vn, cl, pf, 2009 Bach in Blue, vn, cl, pf, 2012 Three Early Pieces, arr. recorder, piano, 2012

Keyboard

A Cambridge Postlude, organ, 1953 Postlude on Adeste Fideles, organ, 1954 Toccata, organ, 1955 Vitalitas Variations, piano, 1957, orchestrated for ballet, 1959 Variations on a French Folk Tune, harpsichord, 1957 Meditation on Murder in the Cathedral, organ, 1958 Study in Pianissimo, organ, 1959 Five Forgeries for piano duet (1963) Paraphrase 1, organ, 1967 Paraphrase 2, piano, 1967 Satie Transformations, piano, 1970 Suite for the Centenary of Lord Berners, clavichord, 1972 Conc. Rag, piano, 1973, rev. 1984 Piano Blues, 1973 Quartet Rag, piano, 1975 Blue Rose, piano, 1979 Hymn-Tune Rag, piano, 1985 Wild Rose Rag, piano, 1985 Blue Rose Variations, organ, 1985 Patriotic Rag, piano, 1986 Sonatas for piano, piano & tape playback, 1987 A Millennium Fanfare, organ, 1999 Bach in Blue, piano, 2004

Written publications 'Charles Ives 1874–1954', MT, cv (1964), 347–9 'Improvisation', MT, cv (1964), 294–5, 377–8, 538–9, 612–13, 688–9, 766–7 'John Cage', Music and Musicians, xiv/3 (1965–66), 32–4, 54 only, 56 only 'Erik Satie (1866–1925)', MR, xxviii (1967), 139–46 'A New Perspective for Ives', MT, cxv (1974), 836–8 ed.: American Music: Keele 1975 ed.: Twenty British Composers (London, 1975) [incl. ‘Transformations of Erik Satie’, p. 47] 'A Note on Some Recent Works', MT, cxviii (1977), 559 only [on Dickinson's works] 'Recent Research on American Musical Traditions', IMSCR XII: Berkeley 1977, 353–82 ‘The Achievement of Ragtime: an Introductory Study with some Implications for British Research in Popular Music’, PRMA, cv (1978–79), 63–76 ‘Lord Berners, 1883–1950’, MT, cxxiv (1983), 669–72 ‘William Schumann: an American Symphonist at 75’, MT, cxxvi (1985), 457–8 ‘Stein, Satie, Cummings, Thomson, Berners, Cage: Toward a Context for the Music of Virgil Thomson’, MQ, lxxii (1986), 394–409 ‘Directors of a Decade’, MT, cxxviii (1987), 15–17 The Music of Lennox Berkeley (London, 1988; 2nd enlarged edition Woodbridge, 2003)

Footnotes