Hugh Wood (27 June 1932 – 14 August 2021) was a British composer.
Biography
Wood was born in
Parbold,
Lancashire and grew up in a musical family; while still a teenager, he was encouraged by the composer
Alan Bush. He was educated at
Oundle School. He says that his "earliest enthusiasm was Bach... and that's been at the center of everything ever since."
[In conversation with Robert Worby on BBC Radio 3's Hear and Now program (broadcast 16 June 2012)] After military service in Egypt, he studied History at New College, Oxford, where he dedicated much of his time to music and writing compositions for the theatre. In 1954, he moved to London to study composition privately with William Lloyd Webber, Anthony Milner, Iain Hamilton, and Mátyás Seiber.
He also started a parallel career as a music teacher by finding work in schools, including
Morley College, and as a lecturer at the Royal Academy of Music.
In 1958, Wood composed his first published work: a set of variations for viola and piano showing the influence of Schoenberg and thematic references to Beethoven, which was premiered by Cecil Aronowitz.[ His first orchestral work, Scenes from Comus (with soloists and chorus), was commissioned by the BBC and composed between 1962 and 1965.][
]
Wood's works are always cogently constructed, knitting together densely wrought counterpoint with rigorous motivic working, sometimes using a personalized Serialism language.[
]
In his later years, Wood contributed several articles on music to The Times Literary Supplement. In 2007, his collected writings on music, Staking Out the Territory was published by Plumbago Books and the following year Ashgate Books published The Music of Hugh Wood by Edward Venn. Wood died on 14 August 2021 at age 89. His former wife Susan and two of their children, Rebecca and Christopher, survive him. His third child, Jenny, died in 1988.
Career highlights
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1965 – highly acclaimed Proms premiere of BBC commission Scenes from Comus.
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1969 – Proms premiere of Cello Concerto, commissioned by the BBC.
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1978 – Premiere of String Quartet No 3 at the Bath Festival.
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1982 – Proms premiere of Symphony by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
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1998 – UK premiere of Variations for Orchestra at Last Night of the Proms.
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1999 – Serenade and Elegy premiered at Cheltenham Festival.
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2001 – The Lindsay Quartet premiere String Quartet No 5 in Sheffield.
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2015 – Proms premiere of BBC commission Epithalamion with BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis
Key works
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Variations for viola and piano, Op 1 (1958)
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Trio for flute, viola and piano, Op 3 (1961)
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Scenes from Comus, Op 6 (1965)
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Cello Concerto, Op 12 (1965–1969)
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Chamber Concerto for large ensemble, Op 15 (1971)
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Violin Concerto No.1, Op 17 (1970–1972)
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Song Cycle to Poems of Pablo Neruda for high voice and chamber orchestra, Op 19 (1973–1974)
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String Quartet No 3, Op 20 (1978)
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Symphony, Op 21 (1982)
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Piano Trio, Op 24 (1982–1984)
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Horn Trio, Op 29 (1989)
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Cantata for chorus and orchestra, Op 30 (1989)
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Piano Concerto, Op 32 (1991)
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Variations for Orchestra, Op 39 (1994–1997)
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Wild Cyclamen, Op 49 (2005–2006)
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Violin Concerto No.2, Op 50 (2003–2004)
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Michael Berkeley Tribute for viola solo (2004)
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Divertimento for Strings, Op 51 (2007)
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Clarinet Quintet, Op 53 (2007)
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Beginnings: Three Early Songs for soprano and strings, Op 54 (2010)
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Ithaka, for violin, viola and cello, Op 61 (2016)
Recordings
External links
