Humphrey Searle

Humphrey Searle (August 26, 1915 - May 12, 1982) was a British composer.

He was born in Oxford where he was a classics scholar before studying — somewhat hesitantly — with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music in London, after which he went to Vienna on a six-month scholarship to become a private pupil of Anton Webern, which became decisive in his composition career.

Searle was one of the foremost pioneers of serial music in the United Kingdom, and used his role as a producer at the BBC to promote it. Works of note include a "Poem for 22 Strings" (1950), premiered at Darmstadt, a Gogol opera, "The Diary of a Madman" (1958), and five symphonies (the first of which was commercially recorded by Sir Adrian Boult).

He is also known for developing the most authoritative catalogue of Franz Liszt's works, and the numbering system he developed is frequently used to identify Liszt's works.

Searle also composed scores for television and film, including incidental music for a 1965 "Doctor Who" serial. He died in London.

ee also

*List of compositions by Franz Liszt, sorted by Searle number

External links

* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/searle/index.htm Humphrey Searle: British Composer (1915 - 1982)]
*imdb name|id=0780699|name=Humphrey Searle

References

*cite book|last=Howard|first=Leslie|coauthors=Short, Michael; Searle, Humphrey; Winklhofer, Sharon|title= Ferenc Liszt (1811-1886) : list of works : comprehensively expanded from the catalogue of Humphrey Searle as revised by Sharon Winklhofer = elenco delle opere : ampliamento del catalogo di Humphrey Searle nella revisione di Sharon Winklkofer|publisher=Milano : Rugginenti Editore|date=2004|id=ISBN 887665433X