Anthony Payne

Anthony Payne (born August 2, 1936) is an English composer, most famous for the work published as "".

Born in London, Payne was interested in composing music from an early age. After studying at Durham University, he spent a period as a freelance musicologist. Since the mid 1960s when he composed his "Phoenix Mass", he received commissions for new works from several important ensembles including the English Chamber Orchestra and the Nash Ensemble; his orchestral work "Time's Arrow" was premiered at The Proms in London in 1990. He has also composed a "Concerto for Orchestra" (1974) and other orchestral pieces, as well as chamber, instrumental and choral works.

When Elgar died, he left more than 130 pages of sketches for a third symphony. Although initially reluctant to allow anyone to use these sketches (Elgar himself had expressed a wish that no-one should "tinker" with them), the Elgar family realised that in 2005 they would come out of copyright. They therefore approved Payne's elaboration of the sketches, on which he had been working and lecturing intermittently since 1993, and he subsequently completed the piece. Payne's version of the symphony was first performed in 1998 to immediate acclaim, and has received many subsequent performances and several recordings.

Payne has subsequently also composed a version of "Pomp and Circumstance March" No. 6 from Elgar's incomplete sketches for the work, which received its first performance under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis at a Prom concert on August 2, 2006 - Payne's 70th birthday. In a radio interview on the BBC's "Today" programme on April 28, 2006 when he was asked about the March, Payne said that he had composed about 43% of the music and carried out all of the orchestration, amounting to well over half the piece. In the same interview he said that to carry out his completions he felt that he had to try to "become" Elgar, in rather the same way that an actor would assume a stage role.

Payne is married to the distinguished soprano Jane Manning.

External links

* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/payne/ Anthony Payne: Biography and comprehensive list of compositions] (up to 2001)
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/elgar/56393.stm Anthony Payne on Elgar's Symphony no. 3]
* [http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&ComposerId_2905=1195 Anthony Payne at Chester Novello music publishers]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0208.shtml#prom26 Programme for Prom concert, 2 August 2006 (first performance of "Pomp and Circumstance" No. 6)]