Life and career Charles Groves

1 life , career

1.1 years
1.2 conducting posts
1.3 repertoire
1.4 honours , personal life

life , career
early years

groves born in london, child of frederick groves , annie (née whitehead). pupil @ st paul s cathedral school (where house named after him), singing in cathedral choir and, age of 13, studying piano , organ. music important him solace, orphaned @ age of ten – father having died in 1921 injuries received in world war , mother having died 4 years later. 1930 until 1932 pupil @ sutton valence school, in kent, groves hall named in honour of him. after leaving sutton valence school attended royal college of music. there, main studies in lieder , accompanying, became involved in student opera productions répétiteur. naturally gifted great fluency , ability sight read music, confessed, years later, having been lazy piano studies, , abandoned ambitions become concert pianist. played in percussion section vaughan williams s hugh drover , delius s village romeo , juliet when sir thomas beecham performed guest conductor @ college. groves went conducting class, did not progress beyond third orchestra. in 1937, while still student, accompanied choral rehearsals of brahms s german requiem, verdi s requiem , beethoven s missa solemnis under arturo toscanini.

groves began professional career freelance accompanist, including work bbc. in 1938, appointed chorus master of bbc music productions unit under direction of stanford robinson, worked on broadcast opera productions. @ outbreak of second world war, groves sent evesham, , later bedford, england, resident chorus master bbc while evacuated london. in 1943, invited take charge of bbc revue orchestra, playing light music. during time groves conducted weill s lady in dark gertrude lawrence in lead role.

conducting posts

groves conductor bbc northern orchestra in manchester 1944 1951, conducting several studio concerts every week, , thereby acquiring exceptionally large repertoire. while in manchester met bbc colleague, hilary barchard, whom married in 1948. feeling need move studio-based work, groves accepted conductorship of bournemouth symphony orchestra 1951 1961, conducted 150 times each year. when financial difficulties led proposal merge bournemouth , birmingham orchestras, groves supported alternative proposition bournemouth orchestra took on additional role of resident orchestra new welsh national opera, of became musical director 1961 1963. groves did establish company s choral , orchestral traditions , conducted many performances of works seldom staged, such verdi s lombardi , sicilian vespers, won critical acclaim , brought london.

groves best known long tenure 1963 1977 music director , principal conductor of royal liverpool philharmonic orchestra, conducting, said, st john passion messiaen , stockhausen . spent 9 months of every year rlpo, improved standards of playing. in other 3 months guest conducted concerts , operas in london , overseas. took rlpo on highly acclaimed tours of germany , switzerland in 1966 , 1968, , poland in 1970. during time in liverpool, groves instituted series of seminars young conductors, , made appearances there included andrew davis, mark elder, john eliot gardiner, james judd , barry wordsworth. @ 1 seminar groves noted presence in orchestra, percussion player, of teenager named simon rattle.

from 1967 until death, groves associate conductor of royal philharmonic orchestra, led on tour of in 1970s 1 of regular conductors of last night of proms (others being norman del mar , james loughran).

groves music director of english national opera in 1978–1979, in spite of well-received , rare revival of weber s euryanthe appointment did not prove success, , relinquished post following year. found combining administration conducting stressful him. groves served president of national youth orchestra (1977–1992) and, during last decade of career, guest conductor numerous orchestras around world. in 1984, joined english sinfonia president , artistic adviser, later becoming principal conductor of guildford philharmonic (1987) , music director of leeds philharmonic society (1988).

repertoire

groves particularly noted assured conducting of large-scale works , first conductor direct complete cycle of gustav mahler s symphonies in britain. famous encouraging modern composers, , included works in programmes. groves conducted wide repertory, refusing concentrate on particular subgenre. remarked, feel myself gp [general practitioner] rather consultant. nevertheless, became particularly known champion of british composers , invariably offered british works in programmes when touring abroad. large british repertoire included works of malcolm arnold, arthur bliss, havergal brian, frank bridge, benjamin britten, george butterworth, eric coates, frederick delius, edward elgar, alexander goehr, alun hoddinott, gustav holst, george lloyd, william mathias, michael tippett, thea musgrave, peter maxwell davies, arthur sullivan, ralph vaughan williams , william walton.

groves noted adding adventurous new works repertory of orchestras. composer oliver knussen said, managed respect of players , affection of performers. had exemplary attitude , track record regard contemporary music. policy of presenting second performances first selfless , idealistic. groves s premières included works lennox berkeley, david blake, arnold cooke, gordon crosse, jonathan harvey, robin holloway, daniel jones, john mccabe, priaulx rainier, edwin roxburgh, edmund rubbra, giles swayne , hugh wood. in 1965 conducted second uk performance of delius s requiem (the first in 1922, , fourth performance in work s history).

honours , personal life

groves received many honours musical work, including being appointed officer of order of british empire (obe) in 1958, commander of order (cbe) in 1968, , receiving knighthood in 1973. received doctorates 4 universities, made freeman of city of london in 1976 , elected honorary member of royal philharmonic society in 1990. appointed companion of royal northern college of music (whose council chaired 1973 1990, , building named in honour) , fellow of royal college of music, guildhall school of music , drama, trinity college of music, , london college of music, , honorary member of royal academy of music. making music sir charles groves prize national award, named in honour, given individual or organisation making outstanding contribution british music. peter maxwell davies wrote sir charles: pavane tribute groves s memory.

away concert hall, groves connoisseur of english literature , keen sports fan. when young played rugby in wasps f team , self-deprecatingly put it, , cricketer wily slow bowler . charles , hilary groves had 3 children, sally, mary , jonathan, first , last of whom entered musical profession. charles groves suffered heart attack in 1992 , died in london, 4 months later, @ age of 77. memorial stone memory placed in st paul s cathedral.