Harrison Birtwistle Timeline

Born 15 July in Accrington, England. Only child of Lancashire farmers. Grows up on small holding on edge of the town.

His mother buys him a clarinet and he has lessons with leader of the Accrington military band, which he eventually joins.


 

Begins composing. Few early works survive, with exception of Oockooing Bird for piano (c.1950).

Wins scholarship as clarinettist to Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern College of Music), where he studies with Frederick Thurston (clarinet) and Richard Hall (composition). Fellow students include the composers Alexander Goehr and Peter Maxwell Davies, the trumpeter Elgar Howarth and the pianist John Ogdon.

With fellow Manchester students founds the New Music Manchester group as a vehicle for exploring important twentieth-century works as well as for playing their own music.

Hears Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie in London, conducted by Walter Goehr – "an absolute magical moment".

Undertakes national service (1955–57) as a clarinettist with band of the Royal Artillery.

Only London concert by New Music Manchester group (9 January), organised by William Glock at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, including works by Goehr, Maxwell Davies, Lutyens and Hall, but not Birtwistle, who appears only as clarinettist.

Attends a London concert (6 May) where he first hears Boluez’s Le marteau sans maître alongside Webern’s Concerto op.24 and Stockhausen’s Zeitmasse – a formative experience. Undertakes postgraduate clarinet studies (1957–58) with Reginald Kell at Royal Academy of Music, London, followed by a short period playing with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Completes his ‘Opus 1’, Refrains and Choruses, on New Year’s Eve.

Signed up to be published by Universal Edition, with whom he remains until 1994. Marries Sheila Duff. Undertakes variety of non-musical jobs.

Refrains and Choruses selected by Society for the Promotion of New Music and premiered at the Cheltenham Festival by the Portia Wind Ensemble. Birth of first son, Adam.

Three Sonatas for Nine Instruments chosen by SPNM for performance at Aldeburgh Festival, but withdrawn after first rehearsal. Score unpublished, but now housed at Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basel, Switzerland. John Ogdon premieres Précis for solo piano at Dartington Summer School. During this period teaches at three Dorset preparatory schools: Claysmore School and Knighton House (Blandford), and Port Regis (Shaftesbury).

Monody for Corpus Christi selected to represent Britain at ISCM Festival.

Appointed Director of Music at Cranborne Chase Girls School, Wardour Castle, Dorset (1962–65).

Pupils of Knighton House and Port Regis Schools give premiere of Music for Sleep, commissioned by Musical Times and Music in Education. His second son, Silas, is born.

Co-founds (with Goehr and Maxwell Davies) the Wardour Castle Summer School, with Michael Tippett as President. Entr’actes and Sappho Fragments premiered at Cheltenham Festival.

Tragoedia premiered at second (and last) Wardour Castle Summer School to great critical acclaim. His third son, Toby, is born.

Wins a Harkness Fellowship for two years’ study in the USA. Becomes Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, where he completes the composition of Punch and Judy.

Completes his American studies at University of Colorado at Boulder. Co-founds Pierrot Players with Maxwell Davies and Stephen Pruslin. Their first concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, includes premiere of Monodrama (later withdrawn) to a libretto by Pruslin and dedicated to Maxwell Davies.

Punch and Judy, to a libretto by Pruslin, premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in the presence of Benjamin Britten. Nomos commissioned by the BBC Proms and premiered by Colin Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Down by the Greenwood Side, to a text by Michael Nyman, premiered at the Brighton Festival. Peter Zinovieff collaborates for first time, on tape parts for Linoi, Four Interludes for a Tragedy and Medusa.

What was to become The Mask of Orpheus, to a text by Peter Zinovieff, is commissioned by the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. The commission later passes to both London Weekend Television and Glyndebourne before it lapses, only to be renewed by English National Opera in early 1980s. The Pierrot Players disband (and become the Fires of London).

An Imaginary Landscape, a BBC commission, is premiered by Pierre Boulez and BBC Symphony Orchestra at ISCM Festival in London.

The Triumph of Time premiered in London by Lawrence Foster and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Appointed Cornell Visiting Professor of Music at Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. Begins composition of The Mask of Orpheus, Acts 1 & 2 (1973-76). Chronometer, his only piece exclusively for tape, prepared with Zinovieff, is premiered in London. Writes his only film score to Sydney Lumet’s The Offence.

At invitation of Morton Feldman appointed Visiting Slee Professor at State University of New York at Buffalo (1974-75).

Appointed Music Director, National Theatre, London. Scores include Hamlet (1975), Tamburlaine (1976) and Volpone (1977). Also works on other productions in collaboration with composer Dominic Muldowney, including Julius Caesar (1977), The Cherry Orchard (1978) and As You Like It (1979).

Bow Down, to a text by Yorkshire poet Tony Harrison, is premiered at National Theatre.

Writes highly acclaimed music for Peter Hall’s production of Aeschylus’s Oresteia trilogy at National Theatre in a new translation by Tony Harrison. Featured composer at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Resumes composition of The Mask of Orpheus, Acts 2 & 3 (1981-84).

Becomes Associate Director, National Theatre, and moves to Lunegarde in the Lot region of France. Begins work at IRCAM, Paris, with composer Barry Anderson on the electronic music components for The Mask of Orpheus.

London Sinfonietta premieres Secret Theatre at his fiftieth birthday concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Invited to Japan for a major retrospective of his music in Tokyo. First full-length study of his music published by Michael Hall (Harrison Birtwistle, Robson Books, London).

Directs Summerscope Festival at London’s South Bank Centre under the title ‘Harrison Birtwistle: His Fancies, His Toys, His Dreams’.

Premiere of The Mask of Orpheus by English National Opera at London Coliseum. Wins prestigious Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville. Yan Tan Tethera premiered by Opera Factory/London Sinfonitta at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Earth Dances, another BBC commission, is premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Peter Eötvös – ‘a desolate, disturbing rite of spring for this decade’ (Nicholas Kenyon). Made Chevalier des arts et des lettres by French government and Honorary Fellow of Royal Academy of Music.

The Mask of Orpheus wins the Evening Standard Award for Opera. Endless Parade is premiered by trumpeter Håken Hardenberger and the Collegium Musicum of Zürich. The work was commissioned and conducted by Paul Sacher and this association led in 1989 to the Paul Sacher Stiftung’s acquisition of all the manuscript material in Birtwistle’s possession and an ongoing archival relationship.

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Major BBC ‘Endless Parade’ Birtwistle Festival at the Barbican Centre, London including UK premiere of his trumpet concerto Endless Parade.

Discovers poetry of Paul Celan in translation and begins 9 Settings of Celan (1989–96).

Gawain premiered at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Wins Evening Standard Award for Opera a second time. Featured composer at Wien Modern festival.

Antiphonies premiered in Paris by Philharmonia Orchestra and Joanna MacGregor (piano), conducted by Boulez. Appointed to Board of the South Bank Centre, London (1992-2002).

Appointed Composer-in-Residence to London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Appointed first Henry Purcell Professor of Composition at King’s College, London (1994–2002). Gawain revived at the Royal Opera House in revised version, followed by a recording (Collins Classics 1996). The Second Mrs Kong premiered by Glyndebourne Touring Opera and subsequently revived at Glyndebourne Festival (1995), with further new productions (in German) in Heidelberg and Vienna. Tour of Earth Dances by Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi includes USA, Salzburg Festival and the BBC Proms, followed by a recording (Decca 1996).

Awarded the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Prize. Tribute concert of Secret Theatre and Endless Parade given in Munich. Moves to Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers. Panic premiered at the Last Night of the Proms to controversial critical acclaim.

Moves from France to new permanent home in Mere, Wiltshire. Pulse Shadows premiered in Witten, Germany. South Bank Centre’s ‘Secret Theatres’ Festival includes UK premiere of Pulse Shadows and a new semi-staged production of The Mask of Orpheus, followed by a recording (NMC 1997). Mitsuko Uchida is soloist in US premiere of Antiphonies with Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boulez.

Appointed Director of Composition at Royal Academy of Music, London.

Exody premiered in Chicago by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, followed by its European premiere at the BBC Proms. Simon Rattle conducts The Triumph of Time with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in UK and at Konzerthaus in Vienna. Made Fellow of King’s College, London.

Rattle conducts Earth Dances with CBSO in UK and Vienna

The Last Supper premiered at the Staatsoper, Berlin, conducted by Barenboim. The production travels to Glyndebourne Touring Opera (conducted by Elgar Howarth) in the autumn and Glyndebourne Festival the following summer.

Boulez tours Earth Dances with Ensemble Modern Orchestra, opening three major festivals: musica viva in Munich, Wien Modern, and European Music Month in Basel. Made Companion of Honour by Queen Elizabeth II. Chairholder in Composition at University of Alabama, USA (2001/02).

Returns to the Royal National Theatre to provide music for Sir Peter Hall’s production of Euripides’ Bacchai. The Shadow of Night, a Cleveland Orchestra commission, is premiered under Dohnányi in Cleveland, with a subsequent performance at Carnegie Hall, New York. Teldec recording of Pulse Shadows wins Gramophone Award for Contemporary Music.

Theseus Game premiered by Ensemble Modern at RUHRtriennale and by London Sinfonietta at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

70th birthday events include performances of The Io Passion at Aldeburgh Festival, Almeida Opera and Bregenz Festival, and features at Lucerne Festival and South Bank Centre in London. The Shadow of Night wins RPS Award, and a companion work Night's Black Bird is premiered by Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst in Lucerne. Future commissions include new works for Royal Opera House Covent Garden.