Priaulx Rainier
Encyclopedia
Ivy Priaulx Rainier was a South Africa
n-British
composer. Although she lived most of her life in England
and died in France
, her compositional style was strongly influenced by the African music
remembered from her childhood. She never adopted 12-tone or serial
techniques, but her music shows a profound understanding of that musical language. She can be credited with the first truly athematic works composed in England. Her Cello Concerto was premiered by Jacqueline du Pré
in 1964, and her Violin Concerto Due Canti e Finale was premiered by Yehudi Menuhin
in 1977.
, Natal, South Africa
to a father of Huguenot
descent and an English mother. One of her sisters was a cellist. She studied the violin at the South African College of Music
in Cape Town
after her family moved there when she was aged 10, but moved permanently to London
at the age of 17, in 1920, when she took up a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
(RAM). She studied there with Rowsby Woof and Sir John Blackwood McEwen
. She taught at Badminton School
, Bristol
and also played violin in a string quartet
. She had encouragement as a composer from Arnold Bax
, and studied with Nadia Boulanger
during 1937 in Paris
but considered herself essentially self-taught.
Priaulx Rainer started composing in 1924 but little came from her pen until 1937, after a long period of recuperation following a serious car accident in 1935. Her first acknowledged work was Three Greek Epigrams for voice and piano. Her first mature work was the String Quartet No. 1 in C minor (1939). It was given a private performance in 1940 but not performed publicly until 1944, at the Wigmore Hall
. It was recorded in 1951 by the Amadeus Quartet
. The music was used for a ballet, Night Spell, performed by the José Limón
company in the USA in 1951 and at Sadler's Wells Ballet
in 1957. She often used ostinato-like repetition and alternation in her works, often of a percussive character. These characteristics are apparent in the Viola Sonata and the Barbaric Dance Suite for piano (1949; premiered in November 1950 by Margaret Kitchin
). There is also a Suite for clarinet and piano (1943), a Sinfonia da camera for strings (1947; commissioned by a close friend, Michael Tippett
; premiered by Walter Goehr
), and a Ballet Suite (1950). Her first large-scale work for voices was Orpheus Sonnets for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra.
In 1939 she was appointed a Professor of Composition at the RAM, where she remained until 1961. She was elected a Fellow in 1952. Her students included Nigel Butterley
, Jeremy Dale Roberts
, Rachel Cavalho and Christopher Small. She and Michael Tippett co-founded the St Ives September Festival, first presented in June 1953.
The first of Priaulx Rainier’s large orchestral works was Phalaphala (the word refers to an African chief's ceremonial horn), first heard in 1961, celebrating Sir Adrian Boult
's tenth anniversary with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
(1960).
Peter Pears
and the Purcell Singers gave the first performance of Priaulx Rainier's Requiem (1956; tenor and unaccompanied chorus) at the Aldeburgh Festival
that year. It was set to the poem Requiem, written for her in 1938-1940 in Paris by David Gascoyne
and dedicated to the future victims of war. Pears also commissioned Rainier's Cycle for Declamation (1953) and The Bee Oracles (1970), a setting of Edith Sitwell
's poem The Bee-Keeper scored for tenor, flute, oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord. Pears first sang it publicly at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1970.
The oboe quartet Quanta was commissioned by William Glock
, Head of Music at the BBC
, and written for Janet Craxton
and the London Oboe Quartet. The title comes from the Quantum Theory
.
The Cello Concerto was written for a Prom Concert
held on 3 September 1964 where it was introduced to the world by Jacqueline du Pré
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
under Norman Del Mar
(at the same concert, du Pré played Edward Elgar
's Cello Concerto
with the same orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent
, the year before she made her famous recording of it under Sir John Barbirolli
.) It has been claimed that du Pré "loathed every second" of the Rainier concerto, "not only because of its idiom, but also because it was technically beyond her".
Priaulx Rainier's largest work of that period was the orchestral suite Aequora Lunae, a continuous piece in seven sections, each one descriptive of one of the Moon
's seas. It was dedicated to Barbara Hepworth
, whose acquaintance she made in the summer of 1949 when she stayed in St Ives
, Cornwall
, using a fisherman’s loft as a studio. She remained a close friend of Hepworth and Ben Nicholson
. She claimed that only sculptors and architects fully understood her music. Another work premiered at a Prom Concert was Ploërmel (1973), an evocation of one her favourite places, Ploërmel
in the North West of France
, near the mouth of the River Loire
. It uses an orchestra of winds and percussion, including timpani, tubular bells, hand-bells, antique cymbals, high and low gongs, xylophone and marimba.
Her violin concerto, Due Canti e Finale, was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin
, who performed it at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Charles Groves
. Menuhin described Rainier as "having a musical imagination of a colour and variety scarcely to be believed". On the other hand, after hearing her music, William Walton
commented that she "must have barbed-wire underwear". Concertante for Two Winds and Orchestra was written for and dedicated to Janet Craxton and Thea King
and was premiered at the Proms in 1981.
There have been infrequent performances of Priaulx Rainier's music as they are difficult for both performer and listener. Premieres of her music were not always adequate, reducing the chances of there being further performances. Her complete chamber music was recorded and broadcast by the BBC in 1976.
She was awarded a Doctorate in Music (Honoris Causa) by the University of Cape Town
in June 1982.
She was also a passionate gardener and ecologist who helped design, and planted the exotic plants in, Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture Garden in St Ives. Her last work, Wildlife Celebration, was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin and performed in aid of Gerald Durrell
's Wildlife Conservation Trust
.
Priaulx Rainier died on 10 October 1986 at Besse-en-Chandesse
in France, aged 83. The date was the 70th birthday of David Gascoyne
, the poet to whose words she had written her Requiem of 1956.
Most of her music manuscripts are now housed at the J. W. Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town.
On 28 March 1987 a concert in celebration of her life and work was held at Wigmore Hall. A pictorial biography, Come and Listen to the Stars Singing, written by June Opie, was published in 1988.
Her centenary on 3 February 2003 was marked by a special program on Australia
's ABC Classic FM
.
Her "lost" early String Quartet (1922) was given its world premiere on 8 September 2004 at the Tate St.Ives Visual Music Week.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n-British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
composer. Although she lived most of her life in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and died in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, her compositional style was strongly influenced by the African music
Music of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
remembered from her childhood. She never adopted 12-tone or serial
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
techniques, but her music shows a profound understanding of that musical language. She can be credited with the first truly athematic works composed in England. Her Cello Concerto was premiered by Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE was a British cellist. She is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor; her interpretation has been described as "definitive" and "legendary." Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, which forced her to stop performing at 28 and led to her...
in 1964, and her Violin Concerto Due Canti e Finale was premiered by Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
in 1977.
Biography
Priaulx Rainier was born in 1903 in HowickHowick, KwaZulu-Natal
Howick is a town located in the uMgungundlovu District of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The town is 1050 m above sea level, and about 88 kilometres from the port city of Durban. It enjoys warm summers and cool dry winters. A snappy chill descends upon Howick when snow falls on the nearby...
, Natal, South Africa
Natal, South Africa
Natal is a region in South Africa. It stretches between the Indian Ocean in the south and east, the Drakensberg in the west, and the Lebombo Mountains in the north. The main cities are Pietermaritzburg and Durban...
to a father of Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
descent and an English mother. One of her sisters was a cellist. She studied the violin at the South African College of Music
South African College of Music
The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town.-Study opportunities:...
in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
after her family moved there when she was aged 10, but moved permanently to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the age of 17, in 1920, when she took up a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
(RAM). She studied there with Rowsby Woof and Sir John Blackwood McEwen
John Blackwood McEwen
Sir John Blackwood McEwen was a Scottish classical composer and educator.- Biography :John Blackwood McEwen was born in Hawick in 1868. After initial training in Glasgow, he studied with Ebenezer Prout, Corder and Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
. She taught at Badminton School
Badminton School
Miriam Badock established a school for girls in 1858 at Badminton House in Clifton. By 1898 it had become known as Miss Bartlett's School for Young Ladies....
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and also played violin in a string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
. She had encouragement as a composer from Arnold Bax
Arnold Bax
Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
, and studied with Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
during 1937 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
but considered herself essentially self-taught.
Priaulx Rainer started composing in 1924 but little came from her pen until 1937, after a long period of recuperation following a serious car accident in 1935. Her first acknowledged work was Three Greek Epigrams for voice and piano. Her first mature work was the String Quartet No. 1 in C minor (1939). It was given a private performance in 1940 but not performed publicly until 1944, at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
. It was recorded in 1951 by the Amadeus Quartet
Amadeus Quartet
The Amadeus Quartet was a world famous string quartet founded in 1947.Because of their Jewish origin, violinists Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel and Peter Schidlof were driven out of Vienna after Hitler's Anschluss of 1938...
. The music was used for a ballet, Night Spell, performed by the José Limón
José Limón
José Arcadio Limón was a pioneer in the field of modern dance and choreography. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company...
company in the USA in 1951 and at Sadler's Wells Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet....
in 1957. She often used ostinato-like repetition and alternation in her works, often of a percussive character. These characteristics are apparent in the Viola Sonata and the Barbaric Dance Suite for piano (1949; premiered in November 1950 by Margaret Kitchin
Margaret Kitchin
Margaret Kitchin was a classical pianist, born in Switzerland but long resident in the United Kingdom. She was strongly associated with contemporary music and gave many premieres of works by composers such as Michael Tippett, Thea Musgrave, Priaulx Rainier and Peter Racine Fricker.-External...
). There is also a Suite for clarinet and piano (1943), a Sinfonia da camera for strings (1947; commissioned by a close friend, Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
; premiered by Walter Goehr
Walter Goehr
Walter Goehr was a German composer and conductor.Goehr was born in Berlin where studied with Arnold Schoenberg and embarked on a conducting career, before being forced as a Jew to seek employment outside Germany, while working for Berlin Radio in 1932. He was invited to become music director for...
), and a Ballet Suite (1950). Her first large-scale work for voices was Orpheus Sonnets for soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra.
In 1939 she was appointed a Professor of Composition at the RAM, where she remained until 1961. She was elected a Fellow in 1952. Her students included Nigel Butterley
Nigel Butterley
Nigel Henry Cockburn Butterley AM is an Australian composer and pianist.-Life and career:Butterley learnt to play the piano at the age of five. He attended Sydney Grammar School, but as music wasn't taught at the school at that time, he also sought training from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music....
, Jeremy Dale Roberts
Jeremy Dale Roberts
Jeremy Dale Roberts is an English composer.His compositions have been performed worldwide at the Edinburgh and Aldeburgh Festivals, the Venice Biennale, the Diorama de Geneve, and the festivals of Avignon and Paris...
, Rachel Cavalho and Christopher Small. She and Michael Tippett co-founded the St Ives September Festival, first presented in June 1953.
The first of Priaulx Rainier’s large orchestral works was Phalaphala (the word refers to an African chief's ceremonial horn), first heard in 1961, celebrating Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
's tenth anniversary with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
(1960).
Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
and the Purcell Singers gave the first performance of Priaulx Rainier's Requiem (1956; tenor and unaccompanied chorus) at the Aldeburgh Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on the main concert hall at Snape Maltings...
that year. It was set to the poem Requiem, written for her in 1938-1940 in Paris by David Gascoyne
David Gascoyne
David Gascoyne was an English poet associated with the Surrealist movement.-Early life and Surrealism:...
and dedicated to the future victims of war. Pears also commissioned Rainier's Cycle for Declamation (1953) and The Bee Oracles (1970), a setting of Edith Sitwell
Edith Sitwell
Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell DBE was a British poet and critic.-Background:Edith Sitwell was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the oldest child and only daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 4th Baronet, of Renishaw Hall; he was an expert on genealogy and landscaping...
's poem The Bee-Keeper scored for tenor, flute, oboe, violin, cello and harpsichord. Pears first sang it publicly at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1970.
The oboe quartet Quanta was commissioned by William Glock
William Glock
Sir William Frederick Glock was a British music critic and musical administrator.-Biography:Glock was born in London. He read history at the University of Cambridge and was an organ scholar at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge...
, Head of Music at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and written for Janet Craxton
Janet Craxton
Janet Helen Rosemary Craxton was an English oboe player and teacher. She was the youngest of the six children and the only daughter of the pianist and teacher Harold Craxton. Her older brothers included the artist John Craxton...
and the London Oboe Quartet. The title comes from the Quantum Theory
Quantum field theory
Quantum field theory provides a theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of systems classically parametrized by an infinite number of dynamical degrees of freedom, that is, fields and many-body systems. It is the natural and quantitative language of particle physics and...
.
The Cello Concerto was written for a Prom Concert
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
held on 3 September 1964 where it was introduced to the world by Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline Mary du Pré OBE was a British cellist. She is particularly associated with Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor; her interpretation has been described as "definitive" and "legendary." Her career was cut short by multiple sclerosis, which forced her to stop performing at 28 and led to her...
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
under Norman Del Mar
Norman Del Mar
Norman Del Mar CBE was a British conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialized in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams,...
(at the same concert, du Pré played Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
with the same orchestra under Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
, the year before she made her famous recording of it under Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
.) It has been claimed that du Pré "loathed every second" of the Rainier concerto, "not only because of its idiom, but also because it was technically beyond her".
Priaulx Rainier's largest work of that period was the orchestral suite Aequora Lunae, a continuous piece in seven sections, each one descriptive of one of the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
's seas. It was dedicated to Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
, whose acquaintance she made in the summer of 1949 when she stayed in St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, using a fisherman’s loft as a studio. She remained a close friend of Hepworth and Ben Nicholson
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...
. She claimed that only sculptors and architects fully understood her music. Another work premiered at a Prom Concert was Ploërmel (1973), an evocation of one her favourite places, Ploërmel
Ploërmel
Ploërmel is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-Character of the town:It is a growing and developing community with a thriving economy and a lively atmosphere. The town is modern rather than romantically mediaeval, but it is clean and attractive and offers a...
in the North West of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, near the mouth of the River Loire
Loire (river)
The Loire is the longest river in France. With a length of , it drains an area of , which represents more than a fifth of France's land area. It is the 170th longest river in the world...
. It uses an orchestra of winds and percussion, including timpani, tubular bells, hand-bells, antique cymbals, high and low gongs, xylophone and marimba.
Her violin concerto, Due Canti e Finale, was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, who performed it at the 1977 Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
conducted by Sir Charles Groves
Charles Groves
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors....
. Menuhin described Rainier as "having a musical imagination of a colour and variety scarcely to be believed". On the other hand, after hearing her music, William Walton
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
commented that she "must have barbed-wire underwear". Concertante for Two Winds and Orchestra was written for and dedicated to Janet Craxton and Thea King
Thea King
Dame Thea King DBE FRCM FGSM was a British clarinettist.Thea King was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Henry Walter Mayer King, the manager of a family engineering business, George. W. King Ltd., based in Hitchin then Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and his wife, Dorothea...
and was premiered at the Proms in 1981.
There have been infrequent performances of Priaulx Rainier's music as they are difficult for both performer and listener. Premieres of her music were not always adequate, reducing the chances of there being further performances. Her complete chamber music was recorded and broadcast by the BBC in 1976.
She was awarded a Doctorate in Music (Honoris Causa) by the University of Cape Town
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...
in June 1982.
She was also a passionate gardener and ecologist who helped design, and planted the exotic plants in, Barbara Hepworth’s Sculpture Garden in St Ives. Her last work, Wildlife Celebration, was commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin and performed in aid of Gerald Durrell
Gerald Durrell
Gerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
's Wildlife Conservation Trust
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organisation with a mission to save species from extinction.Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the Dodo as its symbol...
.
Priaulx Rainier died on 10 October 1986 at Besse-en-Chandesse
Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise
Besse-et-Saint-Anastaise, also known as Besse-en-Chandesse , or Besse , is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France....
in France, aged 83. The date was the 70th birthday of David Gascoyne
David Gascoyne
David Gascoyne was an English poet associated with the Surrealist movement.-Early life and Surrealism:...
, the poet to whose words she had written her Requiem of 1956.
Most of her music manuscripts are now housed at the J. W. Jagger Library at the University of Cape Town.
On 28 March 1987 a concert in celebration of her life and work was held at Wigmore Hall. A pictorial biography, Come and Listen to the Stars Singing, written by June Opie, was published in 1988.
Her centenary on 3 February 2003 was marked by a special program on Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
.
Her "lost" early String Quartet (1922) was given its world premiere on 8 September 2004 at the Tate St.Ives Visual Music Week.
Source
- Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954, Eric BlomEric BlomEric Walter Blom CBE was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, musicologist, music critic, music biographer and translator. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians .-Biography:Blom was born in Berne, Switzerland...
, ed.