Who are some forgotten British composers worthy of rediscovery?

QUESTION: Who are some forgotten British composers worthy of rediscovery?

In its programmes on forgotten composers, Radio 3 has highlighted ones who have been neglected.

Of the British examples, the standout for me is Northampton-born Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986), a composer, pianist and teacher known for his richly expressive symphonies and chamber music.

Rubbra developed deeply spiritual and lyrical compositions, many of which were influenced by his conversion to Catholicism and his interest in mysticism.

He was best known in his time for his cycle of 11 symphonies, but for me it was his choral works that were a revelation. 

His Missa Cantuariensis (Canterbury Mass), composed for a double choir, perfectly captures Canterbury Cathedral’s serene yet majestic quality.

Another is Samuel Coleridge- Taylor (1875-1912), who was born in London. 

His father was from Sierra Leone and studied medicine in London before returning to Africa, unaware of his son’s birth. 

His mother named him after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Coleridge-Taylor was praised by Edward Elgar for Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast (1898), part of a larger trilogy of cantatas inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Song Of Hiawatha. 

The piece blended European classical music styles with themes from African and Native American sources.

 His stunning piano work Deep River has appeared in the Classic FM Hall of Fame.

Coleridge-Taylor toured the U.S. and was warmly welcomed. Sadly, he sold the rights to his most famous music and made very little money from it. He died of pneumonia aged 37.

There was also Ruth Gipps (1921-1999), from Bexhill-on-Sea, a conductor, pianist and oboist. 

She wrote five symphonies, with her Symphony No 2 (1945) and Symphony No 4 (1972) among her most acclaimed orchestral works.

Charles Sawyer, Norwich, Norfolk

QUESTION: Has a hailstorm ever led to a serious loss of life?

Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into very cold areas of the atmosphere where they freeze.

Tomorrow's questions 

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Richard Leadley, Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Q: What inspired Roald Dahl’s Gobblefunk, the language used by the BFG?

Denise Smith, Westhill, Aberdeenshire

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Mark W. Collins, Poole, Dorset

The heaviest authenticated hailstone ever measured was one of 2lb 4oz that fell in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986. The storm left 92 dead.

The deadliest known storm took place near Moradabad, India, on April 30, 1888. This event is said to have killed as many as 246 people, with hailstones as large as ‘goose eggs and oranges’.

Simon B. Lewis, Kettering, Northants

QUESTION: Who is the most prolific poet to ever live?

John Randal Bradburne (1921-1979) was a British-born poet and mystic who became known for his work as a lay missionary – he was warden of the Mutemwa leper colony near Mutoko, in what is now Zimbabwe. Measured in terms of lines of poetry alone, Bradburne is considered the most prolific poet.

He wrote 6,000 poems and a total of 169,925 individual lines, almost double the amount of William Shakespeare, whose Oxford Complete Works features 87,668 lines of poetry.

Bradburne’s poetry expressed themes including his Catholic spirituality, his love of nature, his love of Africa and his concern for the sick. 

For example, The Mother Of The Children expresses Bradburne’s profound devotion to Mary: The Mother of the Children, Who stood at the foot of the Cross, With pain and suffering, And love so vast, unbounded.

The Birds Of The Air illustrates Bradburne’s love for nature and the divine beauty he saw in it. He often used nature as a metaphor for spiritual life.

The birds of the air, They fly without a care, And I in my blindness, Still seek to find my way.

A Prayer For Africa expresses his deep love for the land and the people there, along with his heartfelt prayer for peace and healing.

Lord, bless this land, Where blood was shed, May Your peace be as water, On which the children tread.

The Leper touches on themes of isolation, suffering and divine love.

He is the least of these, Yet Christ Himself was found, In the broken, the forsaken, With His love to surround.

As war waged between Rhodesia’s white minority rulers and guerrillas from the black majority, friends urged Bradburne to leave, but he insisted he should stay with the lepers. 

On September 2, 1979, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army abducted him and accused him of being an informer. He was shot dead on September 5, aged 58.

Sarah Curtis, Falmouth, Cornwall