Adrian Boult

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Sir Adrian Cedric Boult (April 8, 1889 - February 22,1983) was an English conductor.

Boult was born in Chester to a comfortably middle-class household and educated at Westminster School (which has named its music centre after him) and Christ Church, Oxford. As a schoolboy he was introduced to the world of music by a family friend, Frank Schuster, who was a friend of Elgar and introduced the young Boult to the composer. He completed his musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory where he learnt to conduct by watching the eminent Hungarian conductor Arthur Nikisch. He sang in choral festivals and at the Leeds Festival of 1913, where he went to watch Nikisch conduct, and made the acquaintance of George Butterworth and other British composers.

During World War I he worked at the War Office, and while still there in 1918 planned a series of concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, which included several important recent British works: Holst's The Planets, of which he gave the first (private) performance, A London Symphony by Ralph Vaughan Williams, of which he gave the first performance of the revised version, and Elgar's Second Symphony which had fallen into neglect. Elgar wrote to him and said he felt sure the future of his music was safe in Boult's hands. In this way Boult laid the foundations for a long career as a champion of 20th-century English music. As one example, Vaughan Williams dedicated Job, A Masque for Dancing to Boult in the mid-1930's, several years after the actual premiere of the work.

In 1920 Boult was appointed to the conductorship of the City of Birmingham Orchestra (later the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) and in 1930 he was made Director of Music at the BBC. When the BBC formed a symphony orchestra, Boult also became its chief conductor, combining both jobs in typically tireless fashion.

During the 1930s he became famous for the high standard of playing in the orchestra, and for his capable performances of new and unfamiliar music, often rehearsed in a very short time. Among these successes were the British premieres of Schoenberg's Variations, Op.31, Berg's opera Wozzeck and Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 4 in F minor. In 1933, Boult married Ann Wilson, the ex-wife of Steuart Wilson, tenor singer and administrator. The marriage lasted until Boult's death. Boult was knighted in 1937.

During World War II the BBC Symphony Orchestra was evacuated to Bristol, where it suffered from bombing, and to Bedford, where Boult strove to maintain standards and morale as many key players left. In these years he made memorable recordings of Elgar's Second Symphony, Holst's The Planets and Vaughan Williams' Job, A Masque for Dancing. After the war the start of the BBC Third Programme saw Boult involved in several pioneering ventures for Britain, including the British premiere of Mahler's Third symphony and an early performance of the Fifth.

In 1948, Steuart Wilson was appointed Director of Music at the BBC. Suggestions that the standard of playing had fallen beyond Boult's ability to rectify were taken as a reason to insist on his retirement at the age of 60 in 1949, an incident which remains controversial to this day. After it became clear that Boult would not be able to retain his position with the BBC Symphony, Thomas Russell, the Managing Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), offered Boult the position of Principal Conductor of the LPO in succession to Eduard van Beinum. In the 1930s under Beecham, the LPO had been the other crack London orchestra, but since Beecham's departure, was in need of rebuilding. Boult accepted this position and threw himself into this task. The results can be heard to this day in a long series of recordings beginning in 1950 and including in their early years a complete set of the Vaughan Williams symphonies and much Elgar. He obtained for the orchestra a recording contract with American companies and recorded Brahms symphonies, Berlioz and Sibelius, among other composers.

There was controversy and ambiguity over Boult's role in the dismissal of Thomas Russell from his position as the LPO Managing Director, in 1952, during the Cold War years, as Russell was an avowed member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Boult served as the LPO's principal conductor until 1957. After the sudden resignation of Andrzej Panufnik from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), Boult returned as Principal Conductor of the CBSO for the 1959-1960 season. Boult never held a permanent conducting post after that, and guest-conducted for the remainder of his career.

After what Michael Kennedy described as a "fallow" period for Boult, from 1961-1965, Boult acquired status as a highly revered figure in British music, and despite advancing years continued to conduct new works, being valued for his impartiality and reliability. In 1966 he resumed conducting for EMI and until his death enjoyed an "Indian Summer", recording or re-recording his repertory in interpretations which continue to be prized as exemplary. For example, having recorded much British music he was encouraged to record the orchestral music of Brahms (whose Third Symphony filled an extra recording session in August 1970 and sparked this exploration of the standard repertory), Wagner, and Schubert. This surprised many listeners, who did not know that his acquaintance with these works dated back to the pre-1914 era when he had heard Nikisch and Karl Muck conduct them in Germany. His repertory in general was much wider than his late discography might indicate; not only did he conduct several Mahler symphonies well before the Mahler revival of the 1960s, but he also frequently programmed Ravel's complete ballet Daphnis et Chloé and even Busoni's rarely-staged opera Doktor Faust in the late 1940s. His final record was, however, a disc of premiere recordings of music by Hubert Parry.

Boult was the author of two books on conducting, Thoughts on Conducting (ISBN 046007623X) and A handbook on the technique of conducting (ASIN B0000CODO0). A selection of his essays was published in the year of his death, as Boult on Music: Words from a Lifetime's Communication (ISBN 0907689035). He was also a frequent broadcaster, notable for his courteous, understated Edwardian style of speaking. His autobiography, My Own Trumpet was published in 1973 (ISBN 0241024455).

During his final years he was reverently known as 'The Old Man' and his conducting style became almost imperceptible, his long baton the only thing that moved.

His final performance was conducting Elgar's ballet The Sanguine Fan for English National Opera at the Coliseum, in London. He formally retired from conducting in 1981.

Michael Kennedy has written a biography of Boult (ISBN 0333487524).

[edit] Adrian Boult Hall

The Conservatoire in Birmingham, England (a department of the University of Central England) includes in its home building the Adrian Boult Hall a venue for its students' performances, and other concerts, notably jazz and world music.

[edit] External links

A short biography, includes pictures of Sir Adrian Cedric Boult.

Preceded by: Appleby Matthews	Principal Conductor and Music Director, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 1924–1930	Succeeded by: Leslie Heward
Preceded by: none	Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra 1930–1950	Succeeded by: Malcolm Sargent
Preceded by: Eduard van Beinum	Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra 1950–1957	Succeeded by: William Steinberg
Preceded by: Andrzej Panufnik	Principal Conductor, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 1959–1960	Succeeded by: Hugo Rignold