Adrian Cruft

Adrian Francis Cruft (10 February 1921 – 20 February 1987) was a British composer.

Cruft, who was the son of the double-bass player Eugene Cruft, was educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School, Westminster School, and finally as a Boult conducting scholar at the Royal College of Music from 1938, completing his studies there briefly in 1946-1947, after service in World War II. He was a composition student of Gordon Jacob and Edmund Rubbra, but also studied double bass with his father. Cruft became chairman of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain 1966. [Roderick Swanston, "The music of Adrian Cruft", "The Musical Times", 1991, p. 119-123]

Cruft, called a "performers' composer" by Roderick Swanston in an article in "The Musical Times" a couple of years after his death, was, as a young chorister at Westminster Abbey, influenced by the revival of Tudor music, and later by the counterpoint of Bach. [Roderick Swanston, "The music of Adrian Cruft", "The Musical Times", 1991, p. 119] Grove's music dictionary calls his music "diatonic, firmly based in tradition and generally straightforward in idiom". He composed church music, but also orchestral works and chamber music. [Hugh Cole & John Cruft, "Cruft, Adrian (Francis)", " [http://www.grovemusic.com Grove Music Online] ", ed. L. Macy (Accessed 3 May 2006).]

Notes

References

*Cole, Hugh & Cruft, John, "Cruft, Adrian (Francis)", " [http://www.grovemusic.com Grove Music Online] ", ed. L. Macy (Accessed 3 May 2006).
*Rubbra, Edmund, "The music of Adrian Cruft", "The Musical Times", 1969, p. 822-825.
*Swanston, Roderick, "The music of Adrian Cruft", "The Musical Times", 1991, p. 119-123.

External links

*Adrian Cruft's papers are held in the archives of the Royal College of Music: [http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5671&inst_id=25 Adrian Cruft's papers] in the AIM25 database (Archives in London and the M25 area).