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Philip Radcliffe

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Philip Radcliffe (27 April 1905 – 2 September 1986) was an English academic, musicologist and composer, born in Godalming, Surrey.

Early life

He was educated at Charterhouse and read Classics at King's College, Cambridge, gaining a scholarship and a First in Part I of the degree, but then only a Third in Part II, causing him to switch his attention to music,[1] studying under Edward Dent and Henry Moule[2]. He was a gifted pianist.

Career

Philip Radcliffe had his first sight of Cambridge in December 1923 when he sat for a scholarship examination. "I attended evensong in the Chapel of my future College and can still recall the impact made upon me by the quiet, other-world sound of the choir singing Remember, O thou man."[3] His dissertation continued the work of Richard Terry and Edmund Fellowes on sixteenth and seventeenth century music.[4] Radcliffe became a music fellow at King's College, Cambridge in 1931, and a lecturer between 1947 and 1972. His pupils included Philip Brett, Winton Dean, Jeremy Dibble,[5] Peter Dickinson, Sebastian Forbes and Richard Lloyd. He lived in King's for the rest of his life, never leaving it for more than a few weeks.[6]

His academic writings included the books Mendelssohn (1954), Beethoven's String Quartet (1965), Schubert Piano Sonatas (BBC Music Guide, 1967), a biography of John Ireland (1954), and sections of Grove's Dictionary, Denis Stevens's symposium The History of Song, and the New Oxford History of Music. In 1933, at the request of T S Eliot, Radcliffe took over the Music Chronicle section of The Criterion from J B Trend.[7]

His compositions include short choral pieces (such as the eight part setting of God be In My Head,[8] Mary walked through a wood of thorn,[9] and The Oxen)[10] liturgical music (The Preces and Responses[11] and Versicles and Responses),[12] songs, and a small number of instrumental works (including the String Quartet in D major, 1939).[13] His incidental music for classical Greek plays included Clouds[14] (Aristophanes, 1962) Oedipus Tyrannus[15] (1965), Medea[16] (Euripides, 1974), and Electra[17] (Sophocles, 1977). Radcliffe was an active member of the Ten Club playreading society whose other members included EM Forster, Donald Beves and Noel Annan.

He died in a car accident while travelling with his sister in France at the age of 81, while still an active Fellow of the College.[6]

References

  1. ^ Sadie, Stanley: “Philip Radcliffe.” The Musical Times, vol. 127, no. 1726, 1986, pp. 635–635.
  2. ^ Encore Publications
  3. ^ Hyperion Records, The English Anthem, Vol 5
  4. ^ National Archives
  5. ^ The Conversation: Jeremy Dibble
  6. ^ a b Obituary, The Times, 5 September, 1986
  7. ^ The Letters of TS Eliot
  8. ^ Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge, Signum Classics
  9. ^ Guildford Cathedral Choir, cond. Barry Rose
  10. ^ Hyperion Records
  11. ^ Hyperion CDA67770
  12. ^ Choral Evensong, Live from King's College, Cambridge, EMI Encore 2081162
  13. ^ Fitzwilliam Quartet
  14. ^ The Cambridge Greek Play: Clouds
  15. ^ The Cambridge Greek Play: Oedipus Tyrannus
  16. ^ The Cambridge Greek Play: Medea
  17. ^ The Cambridge Greek Play, Electra
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