Arnold Bax, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Arnold Bax

English composer and poet

Date of Birth: 08-Nov-1883

Place of Birth: Streatham, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 03-Oct-1953

Profession: writer, composer, poet, conductor, pianist

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About 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.
  • In addition to a series of symphonic poems he wrote seven symphonies and was for a time widely regarded as the leading British symphonist. Bax was born in the London suburb of Streatham to a prosperous family.
  • He was encouraged by his parents to pursue a career in music, and his private income enabled him to follow his own path as a composer without regard for fashion or orthodoxy.
  • Consequently, he came to be regarded in musical circles as an important but isolated figure.
  • While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music Bax became fascinated with Ireland and Celtic culture, which became a strong influence on his early development.
  • In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction and verse under the pseudonym Dermot O'Byrne.
  • Later, he developed an affinity with Nordic culture, which for a time superseded his Celtic influences in the years after the First World War. Between 1910 and 1920 Bax wrote a large amount of music, including the symphonic poem Tintagel, his best-known work.
  • During this period he formed a lifelong association with the pianist Harriet Cohen – at first an affair, then a friendship, and always a close professional relationship.
  • In the 1920s he began the series of seven symphonies which form the heart of his orchestral output.
  • In 1942 Bax was appointed Master of the King's Music, but composed little in that capacity.
  • In his last years he found his music regarded as old-fashioned, and after his death it was generally neglected.
  • From the 1960s onwards, mainly through a growing number of commercial recordings, his music was gradually rediscovered, although little of it is heard with any frequency in the concert hall.
  • In more recent years, Bax's music has been (re-)discovered enthusiastically by a new generation via online distribution services such as YouTube.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also