Patrick Jonathan has been most generous with his anecdotes about Richard Arnell.
If it hasn’t registered yet, I’ll be presenting an all-Arnell marathon, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT.
My guest will be Warren Cohen, music director of the MusicaNova Orchestra, who has conducted a good many of Arnell’s works, including all of the symphonies. In fact, MusicaNova will be performing Arnell’s Symphony No. 6, as part of an all-English program, which will be presented in Phoenix, AZ, on October 29. You can find out more at http://musicanovaaz.com/tickets/.
Here is a little background on how Patrick got to know “Tony.”
“One of the things that was remarkable about Tony was his self-awareness and honesty. When I first met him he was 66 years old, still very actively teaching at Trinity College and London International Film School, but really in a compositional slump. His Who’s Who biographical listing had, under current occupation, ‘vegetating’!
“I met Tony in 1982/3 when I was a student at Goldsmiths College, London University. I had taken as one of my electives ‘Music and Theatre’. Everyone was studying Opera or Ballet, but I was determined to do original research and asked whether I could study music and film. At that time there was little academic material devoted to this field. My lecturer, Keith Potter, also lectured part-time at Trinity College, where Tony was a colleague, and knew he was Music Tutor at the London International Film School, so set up an introduction for me so I could go and pick his brain.
“I was a very conscientious student, so – out of respect for this composer I hadn’t really heard of – before meeting him I visited the BMIC and listened to every recording (on reel to reels in those days) they had, and visited Senate House Library and read every article and periodical that mentioned him. I was astonished that a composer of such power and beauty was unknown to me (even in those days I had a wide and deep musical knowledge). Incidentally, the first piece I listened to was the fifth symphony and Roger Wright, later to become top dog at BBC radio three and the Proms was the person who threaded the reels for me, conducting music he knew well as it bled out of my headphones!
“Anyhow, Tony was very flattered and impressed that I turned up so well prepared. As I said earlier, he was in a bit of a slump at the time and feeling particularly neglected. As well as questioning him about topics I was interested in, I also listened as he talked about the mishandling, neglect and downright disrespect he felt many of his publishers had been showing him (pulping warehoused copies, etc.) so I decided that I would thank him for his time and wisdom by researching all of his published compositions.
“I contacted him a few weeks later with a report I’d compiled on availability and a briefcase full of everything I’d actually been able to buy. He was impressed. At the time he was married to wife number seven, Audrey, who was making an effort to put his affairs in order. He got us together and we started cataloguing everything we could. They started a self-publishing scheme (A plus A) for which I played an integral role.
“In the meantime, we’d become very friendly. He liked to drink and tell anecdotes. I liked to sit and listen! Everywhere he went and everything he did he invited me along as his guest. By the time I graduated I was working for Schott and Co. and was a skilled copyist and editor. I hand copied all the parts for his compositions from the mid-80s onwards. Although I’d studied composition at Goldsmiths it was the experience of copying his music that really taught me how to orchestrate.
“I have wonderful memories of when he was composing Six Lawrence Songs for the DH Lawrence Centenary in Nottingham. He was so late meeting this commission that I spent days at his flat in Elstree: he was composing upstairs in the study; Audrey was the go between, up and down the stairs passing the pages to me as they were completed while I was sitting at the counter in the kitchen making the parts!
“I sat in on the rehearsals in a practice room at Trinity with the soprano, and the narrator (who was a very famous tv news reader – Richard Baker); and travelled with them up to Nottingham for the performance. Great memories.
“He was old enough to be my grandfather, but somehow we just hit it off. We were on the same wavelength. He was the sort of friend who, for instance, if you were going out of town for an interview or meeting would ask if you wanted company and would travel with you on the train then wait in a bar, pub or cafe while you had your appointment, have a drink with you afterwards then accompany you back on the train.
“Luckily our friendship was in the pre-internet age and I have about 150 letters that he wrote to me during my time in Malaysia. His was a friendship I really treasure and the fact that he described me as his friend when he named me musical executor in his will was a very great honour. His daughter, Jennifer, has been a fantastic protector of his legacy since he died. I hope your tribute promotes much interest in his work.”
PHOTO: Richard Arnell at 70, looking very much as he did when he and Patrick first met
