Draft:Anthony Campbell Allen

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Anthony Campbell Allen, also A.C. Allen (May 6, 1925 – March 26, 1995) was a British-Swiss composer. He wrote cantatas, songs, piano works, ballet music, chamber music, organ works, an opera, concert pieces, choral works and also works for alphorn. Of his compositions, the most notable are: Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 52, Alphorn Concerto No. 1, Op. 36, Hallwil Cantata, No. 5, Op. 6 and The Silent Voices (Love & Death, No. 4) Op. 4.

Life:

Anthony Allen was born in Weybridge, England, on May 6, 1925, and grew up in England. He studied literature, music and drama, first at the Bedales School in Petersfield, then at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He completed private studies with Bertie Scott. From 1955 he worked as a teacher of voice and singing at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from 1959 he was a teacher at Bristol University.

He married Margaret Rowlands (1921–2004) on June 1, 1950 in Islington. They had two daughters and a son. After separating from his family in England, he moved to Switzerland and lived in Zurich from 1969; in 1970 they divorced.

In Switzerland, he earned his living as an English teacher. He only started composing relatively late in his life. Allen, whose musical role models included Richard Wagner, took part in the Bayreuth Youth Festival (1962/63 as leader/conductor) and was a long-standing member of the 'Schweizerische Richard Wagner-Gesellschaft'. His compositional oeuvre covers a wide spectrum: an opera, ballet music, solo concertos, orchestral works, piano works, chamber music, songs and choral works. He also wrote some poems.

His mostly elegiac and late-romantic compositions found their echo – in his time – in a small but enthusiastic circle, which came together in Zurich to form the "Schweizerische Campbell Allen-Gesellschaft". One of the highlights of his life as a composer was the premiere of his Alphorn Concerto No. 1 for Alphorn and String Orchestra, Op. 36, in the 1980s in the Tonhalle Zurich in front of a large audience, which gave them prolonged applause. The performance of his Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 52, with the Zurich Symphonic Orchestra (probably also performed in the 1980s), was also very well received.

Allen was overweight, at least from about the mid-1970s. He had to undergo heart surgery around mid-March 1995. He broke off the follow-up treatment and died on March 26, 1995 in Zurich. He is buried in an urn wall in the Sihlfeld Cemetery in Zurich.

Works (selection):

• Love & Death, Op. 4 (song cycle; five songs, for baritone and piano)

• Queen Margaret, Op. 5 (opera)

• Hallwil Cantata, Op. 6 (cantata; for four-part choir, piano and flute)

• The Death of Oenone, Op. 10 (ballet)

• A Little Night Piece for a Small Orchestra (Night Piece), Op. 20

• Piano Trio, Op. 21 (for violin, violoncello and piano)

• Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 28

• Three Little Waltzes, Op. 29 (for piano)

• Concert (Piano Concerto), Op. 30 (for piano and orchestra)

• March, Op. 31 (for wind band)

• Mondseele, Op. 33 (song cycle, for tenor, piano and string quartet)

• Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra, Op. 35 (Violoncello Concerto)

• Alphorn Concerto No. 1, Op. 36 (for alphorn and string orchestra)

• Thirteen Pieces for Organ, Op. 39

• Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, Op. 52

• Violin Sonata No. 2, The Abegg, Op. 53 (for violin and piano)

• Sonata for Irish Flute and Irish Harp, Op. 56 (Sonata, for flute and harp)

• Mass, Op. 61 (for mixed choir, a cappella)

• Elegia, Op. 63 (for mixed choir, a cappella)

• Sonata for Alphorn and Piano, Op. 67

• Sonata for Solo Violin, Op. 77

• Sonata for Organ, Op. 107

Discography:

• Hallwil-Kantate, Love And Death. (Album, Vinyl), Liverpool Record, Switzerland 1976.

References

• Anthony Campbell Allen. In: International Who's Who of Intellectuals. 8th edition. International Biographical Centre, Cambridge 1989, ISBN 0-948875-30-5, p. 13 (Text Archive - Internet Archive - reading sample).

• Schweizerische Richard Wagner-Gesellschaft (ed.): Tribschener Blätter. No. 55/56, September 1998, p. 64 1.

• Brigitte Schubnell: Anthony Campbell Allen estate index. Zurich Central Library, Music Department, 2002.