Role

:

Composer

Country

:

United Kingdom

Birth

:

August 26, 1915 in Oxford, England

Death

:

May 12, 1982 in London, England

Genre

:

Film

 

 

Keyboard

 

 

Symphony

 

Humphrey Searle was a British composer who was born on August 26, 1915, in Oxford, England. He was the son of a music teacher and grew up in a musical family. His father, Harold Searle, was a composer and conductor, and his mother, Ethel Searle, was a pianist. Humphrey Searle showed an early interest in music and began composing at a young age. Searle studied at the Royal College of Music in London, where he was a pupil of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob. He also studied with Anton Webern in Vienna in 1935. Searle's early works were influenced by the music of Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg, and he became known for his use of serialism in his compositions. Searle's first major work was his Symphony No. 1, which he composed in 1947. The symphony was well-received and established Searle as a significant composer. He went on to compose a number of other orchestral works, including his Symphony No. 2, which was premiered in 1956. In addition to his orchestral works, Searle also composed chamber music, choral music, and operas. One of his most famous works is his opera The Diary of a Madman, which is based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol. The opera was premiered in 1968 and has been performed in many countries around the world. Searle was also a prolific writer and musicologist. He wrote several books on music, including The Music of Franz Liszt and Twentieth Century Counterpoint. He also translated the works of Schoenberg and Webern into English. Despite his success as a composer and writer, Searle struggled with depression throughout his life. He suffered from a nervous breakdown in the 1950s and was hospitalized for several months. He continued to compose and write, but his mental health issues affected his work. Searle died on May 12, 1982, in London, England. He left behind a significant body of work that continues to be performed and studied today. His contributions to the development of serialism in music and his innovative use of orchestration have earned him a place in the canon of 20th-century classical music.

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