Elizabeth Maconchy

Dame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy Le Fanu DBE (born March 19, 1907 in Broxbourne , † November 11, 1994 in Norwich ) was an English composer of Irish descent.

Life

Maconchy, who composed at the age of six, studied from 1923 to 1929 at the Royal College of Music in London with Charles Wood and Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others . After graduating, she won several prizes and awards. A scholarship enabled her to stay in Prague , where she studied with Karel Boleslav Jirák and one of her works - the Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra - was performed for the first time on March 19, 1930 . She then returned to her homeland. In 1930 she married William Le Fanu and had two daughters. In the same year her orchestral suite The Land was successfully performed at the Proms under Henry Wood . Her compositions became more and more popular, her works were performed in England and other European countries.

In 1932, Maconchy fell ill with tuberculosis and therefore moved from London to Seal . During the war her family was evacuated to Shropshire , after which she was able to further establish herself as a composer. In 1959 she was the first woman to preside over the Composers' Guild of Great Britain . She was also a member and from 1976 President of the Society for the Promotion of New Music .

Works

Maconchy wrote many commissioned compositions for professional and amateur ensembles, as well as for schools, viewing the limitations of composing for laypeople as an inspiration rather than an obstacle. The influence of her most important teacher, Vaughan Williams, can be clearly felt in her early works; later she abandoned it and, inspired by her preoccupation with the music of Béla Bartók , found her own tonal language, which is characterized by strong concentration and density. She wrote works of almost all genres, her compositions from the field of chamber music , especially her string quartets , are of great importance . The music critic Martin Anderson called it "the most important cycle of string quartets by a British composer besides that of Robert Simpson ."

String quartets

String Quartet No. 1 (1932/33)
String Quartet No. 2 (1936)
String Quartet No. 3 (1938)
String Quartet No. 4 (1942/43)
String Quartet No. 5 (1948)
String Quartet No. 6 (1950)
String Quartet No. 7 (1955)
String Quartet No. 8 (1967)
String Quartet No. 9 (1968)
String Quartet No. 10 (1972)
String Quartet No. 11 (1976)
String Quartet No. 12 (1979)
String Quartet No. 13 "Quartetto Corto" (1984)

family

Maconchy was the mother of composer Nicola LeFanu and the cousin and early patron of composer Giles Swayne .

Awards

Her String Quartet No. 5 was awarded the Edwin Evans Prize in 1948; for the overture Proud Thames she won the London County Council Prize for Coronation Year in 1953 . In 1960 she received the Cobbett Medal for Chamber Music. In 1977 Maconchy was given the title of Commander and in 1987 the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

literature

Elizabeth Maconchy. Music as Impassioned Argument. Edited by Christa Brüstle u. Danielle Sofer, Universal Edition, Vienna - London - New York, NY 2018 ( Studies on Valuation Research 59), ISBN 978-3-7024-7562-8
Anna Beer : Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music . Oneworld, London 2016, ISBN 9781780748566 .
Hugo Cole, Jennifer Doctor: Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

Web links

Elizabeth Maconchy at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Christa Brüstle: Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 11 (Lesage - Menuhin). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1121-7 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
↑ Beer, London 2016, p. 302.
↑ Martin Anderson: Our finest lost composer . In: The Independent . April 13, 2001.
↑ Hugo Cole, Jennifer Doctor: Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
↑ Jennifer Uglow: The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography . Northeastern University Press, Boston 1999, ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9 , pp. 347 f .
↑ Supplement No. 47102 . In: London Gazette . December 30, 1976, p. 9 ( thegazette.co.uk ).
↑ Supplement No. 50948 . In: London Gazette . June 12, 1987, p. B6 ( thegazette.co.uk ).

personal data
SURNAME	Maconchy, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Maconchy Le Fanu, Elizabeth Violet (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English composer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 19, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	Broxbourne
DATE OF DEATH	November 11, 1994
Place of death	Norwich

[mgg-1] Christa Brüstle: Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 11 (Lesage - Menuhin). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1121-7 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

[2] Beer, London 2016, p. 302.

[3] Martin Anderson: Our finest lost composer . In: The Independent . April 13, 2001.

[grove-4] Hugo Cole, Jennifer Doctor: Maconchy, Dame Elizabeth. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).

[5] Jennifer Uglow: The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography . Northeastern University Press, Boston 1999, ISBN 978-1-55553-421-9 , pp. 347 f .

[gazette77-6] Supplement No. 47102 . In: London Gazette . December 30, 1976, p. 9 ( thegazette.co.uk ).

[gazette87-7] Supplement No. 50948 . In: London Gazette . June 12, 1987, p. B6 ( thegazette.co.uk ).