Antony Hopkins
Antony Hopkins CBE (born March 21, 1921 in London , † May 6, 2014 in Ashridge , Hertfordshire ) was a British composer and music writer.
Life
Hopkins was born as Ernest William Antony Reynolds. After his father's death in 1925, he was adopted and grew up in Hertfordshire . In 1947 he married Alison Purves, who died in 1991.
Hopkins attended Berkhamsted School , studied from 1939 to 1942 with Cyril Smith and Gordon Jacob at the Royal College of Music and then worked as a music teacher with Michael Tippett at Morley College in London. In 1943 he made an appearance at the Proms .
He began his career as a radio, stage and film musician in 1946 with the composition of the incidental music for Michel Saint-Denis ' production of King Oedipus at the Old Vic . At the BBC he was commissioned to write the music for Louis MacNeice's radio plays The Golden Ass and Cupid and Psyche . He has written the music for a large number of radio programs. In 1952 and 1957, two programs won the Prix Italia with his participation . In 1950 he wrote the incidental music for the production of The Skin of Our Teeth . In the following years Hopkins composed, among other things, stage music for fifteen Shakespeare productions in Stratford and in the West End , for example in 1956 for Peter Ustinov's Romeo and Juliet .
He has also composed three operas : Lady Rohesia (1947), The Man from Tuscany (1953) and Three's Company (1953). His Ballet Café des Sports was performed in 1954 by Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet , choreographed by Alfred Rodrigues . Hopkins wrote 1948-1962 seventeen film scores, including to the movies Here Come the Huggetts (1948), The Pickwick Papers (1952) Cast a Dark Shadow ( demon of Women , 1955), The Angel Who pawned Her Harp (1956) and Billy Budd by Peter Ustinov (1962). His smaller compositions include the Variations on a Well-Known Theme for piano.
Hopkins gained greater fame from 1954 through his BBC radio show Talking About Music , in which he paved the listeners' access to classical music; the show ran for 38 years. Although he wrote a large number of popular and popular scientific writings on composers and musical styles, he did not succeed in attracting a broad audience interested in music to his own compositions.
From 1963 to 1967 he was Gresham Professor of Music at Gresham College . Ciarin Scott made a 20-minute film with him in 1976: John and the Magic Music Man . Hopkins was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1976.
Compositions (selection)
- Doctor Musicus, an opera designed especially for the young . (1971)
- Johnny the priest (1960) libretto by Peter Powell. ("A musical drama based on The telescope by RC Sherriff.")
- Café des Sports (1954), ballet
- Three's Company: an improbable opera (1953), opera. Libretto Michael Flanders
- The Man from Tuscany: opera in two acts (1951), opera. Libretto by Christopher Hassall
- Lady Rohesia (1947), opera
Fonts (selection)
- The seven concertos of Beethoven . Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1996
- The concertgoer's companion to orchestral music . London: Dent, 1984
- The concertgoer's companion . London: JM Dent, 1984
- Beating time . London: M. Joseph, 1982
- Sounds of music: a study of orchestral texture . London: Dent, 1982
- The nine symphonies of Beethoven . London: Heinemann, 1981
- with David Blum and Paul Tortelier : Casals and the Art of Interpretation . Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1980
- Understanding Music . Dent, London 1979
- John and the Magic Music Man. A child's guide to the orchestra . Vinyl record. London: Unicorn, 1978
- Downbeat music guide . London; New York: Oxford University Press, 1977
- Talking about sonatas: a book of analytical studies, based on a personal view . London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1971
- Music all around me: a personal choice from the literature of music . London, Frewin, 1967
literature
- Lemma Antony Hopkins , at Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
- A portrait. Chamber music and songs by Antony Hopkins and works written for his 90th birthday by Gordon Crosse , David Dubery, David Ellis, Anthony Gilbert , David Matthews , Elis Pehkonen, Joseph Phibbs and Andrew Plant. CD. Divine Art, 2012.
Web links
- Literature by and about Antony Hopkins in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature by and about Antony Hopkins in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Antony Hopkins in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Antony Hopkins , on British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content
- Obituary for Antony Hopkins in: The Independent
Individual evidence
- ^ Antony Hopkins - obituary
- ^ Antony Hopkins - obituary in: Scotsman
- ↑ a b Who’s Who 1978 , p. 1184
- ^ Antony Hopkins , at British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content, blog
- ↑ Antony Hopkins ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , at BBC Proms Archives
- ^ Antony Hopkins: Café des Sports Ballet , at British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content, blog
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Hopkins, Antony |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British composer and music writer |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 21, 1921 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
DATE OF DEATH | May 6, 2014 |
Place of death | Ashridge , Hertfordshire , England |