Leslie Heward

Leslie Heward (born December 8, 1897 , in Liversedge , Yorkshire , † May 3, 1943 ) was an English composer and conductor .

He began his musical training as a choirboy at Manchester Cathedral, studied at the Royal College of Music in London and worked in Manchester as an assistant organist. His path as a conductor led him from the British National Opera Company (BNOC) to Cape Town in South Africa to the orchestra there and finally in 1930 to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra . Cancer eventually led to his premature death in 1943.

His musical spectrum was broad and ranged from film music to opera to classical music. His manuscripts are now kept in the library of the Royal College of Music . He destroyed part of his compositions during his lifetime. The symphonic work The Quodlibet (premiered in 1932 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra), some film music (for example for The Loves of Robert Burns ), a nocturne and the South African Patrol have been preserved . He left behind two unfinished operas ( Peer Gynt and Hamlet ), various choral works, songs, works for piano and organ and a string quartet.