Havergal Brian

Working as a clerk to support himself, the self-taught Brian joined amateur ensembles and contributed criticism to Manchester Musical World. Already a prolific composer, he first attracted notice through the partsong Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?, which later became a festival staple and prompted additional commissions for similar works. In the early 1900s he turned to large-scale choral and orchestral composition; the success of First English Suite brought him an anonymous patron who encouraged him to resign his steady job and financed the publication of his orchestral scores. When performances dwindled, the patron reduced assistance to a monthly stipend of six pounds. Brian relocated to London, where he found neither employment nor recognition and briefly considered suicide. He spent most of the war years copying music and completing several of his ambitious projects. After the armistice he entered his most productive period, turning out twenty-seven symphonies and four operas. His scores, dense with instruments and contrapuntal layers, remain seldom programmed; when they do appear, amateur societies usually undertake them, often struggling with their technical demands. Strongly influenced by Strauss, Brian composed in a grandiose, tonal idiom rich in free polyphony. Long neglect had taught him to write solely for his own satisfaction rather than any imagined audience.