Humphrey Searle .sx BY .sx DAVID C. F. WRIGHT .sx Many composers suffer neglect and some are , or become , completely forgotten .sx Few composers , however , have been as badly treated as Humphrey Searle .sx He was born in Oxford on 26th August , 1915 , one of three sons born to Humphrey Frederic , a civil servant , and Charlotte Mathilde May who , although born in England , had no English blood .sx Her father was Sir William Schlich , who came from Darmstadt in Germany , and Lady Schlich was of French , Belgian and Italian descent .sx Humphrey's paternal grandfather trained as an organist and was part of a musical family that lived in Devon .sx At school , Humphrey had piano lessons but was never proficient as a pianist , although , in later life , he could be persuaded to play a Bach Prelude and Fugue at parties .sx What he did become , however , among many other things , was a competent conductor with an impeccable ear for meticulous sound that earned him respect as a record reviewer , writer and commentator .sx In all his critical writings he was always constructive ; he was never harsh or scathing - which is some indication of the fundamental goodness of his character .sx In fact , some have said that this was one cause of the neglect of his music , particularly from the 1970s onwards .sx He championed many musicians and young composers to the extreme of his unfailing generosity , and his own career suffered .sx He was reticent and self-effacing - often to the point of being embarrassing .sx If the present writer commented on one of the many touches of genius in his work he would invariably reply by demonstrating some passage in Bach , Beethoven or Liszt that he thought to be marvellous .sx Searle's real awakening to music came in 1928 when he went to Winchester School , where he met Robert Irving and James Robertson .sx Irving was to become musical director of the Sadler's Wells Opera at the same time that Humphrey Searle was on its advisory panel in the 1950s .sx The availability of a gramophone at school enabled the three students to familiarize themselves with the classical repertoire and with such modern works as were recorded .sx Searle began to take harmony lessons with George Dyson , who was " profoundly impressed " by him .sx Having won a Classical scholarship to Oxford University , Searle went up in 1933 and , while he was absorbing the appropriate material for his degree , he pursued musical studies with Sydney Watson , the organist of New College .sx If interest in music germinated in 1928 , then it blossomed six years later when Searle heard the first English performance of Berg's Wozzeck under Sir Adrian Boult , broadcast in March , 1934 .sx " It knocked me sideways " admitted Searle , who , consequently , put his energies into finding out about the serial style of composition as advocated by Arnold Sch o nberg , the leader of the Second Viennese School , which included Webern and Berg , two of Sch o nberg's distinguished pupils .sx Today , there is no doubt about the eminence of Berg's incredible score but it says a very great deal for Searle that he recognized its greatness at once .sx Fifty years or so later , musical opinion has realized that twelve-note music is an original means of composition without the restrictions of traditionalism .sx In the hands of brilliant composers such as Sch o nberg , Webern and Berg and , indeed Searle , this musical language has proved itself to be wide-ranging and varied in expression and emotion - yet embodying the strictest discipline , as is demonstrated , for example , in the language of Bach .sx The history of music has produced many enigmas .sx One such is vacillating fashion .sx A composer's work can be subjected to savage hostility and , later , with a change in musical trends , it is reassessed as acceptable and sometimes admired .sx Yet the composer , if he is still living , cannot claim recompense for the injustice he has suffered .sx There is some truth in Arthur Honegger's remark that the only qualification for the possibility of being a great composer is being dead .sx Searle was helped in his research by Theodor Adorno , who had studied with both Sch o nberg and Webern and had come to Oxford as a refugee from Nazi Germany .sx We may not be able fully to grasp what it meant in those days to espouse the cause of serial music .sx It was , to say the least , unfashionable .sx After the war , Searle was to make an equally courageous stand for the music of Liszt , serving as secretary of the Liszt Society for twenty-two years from 1950 .sx At that time , Liszt was absurdly claimed to " compose music of empty grand gesture " , which , it was alleged , stemmed from " the reckless extroversion of his oscillating character " .sx Humphrey Searle's heroic position has , subsequently , been vindicated but , at the time , he stood alone in this country and its moribund musical establishment , whose members thought him to be mad and , furthermore , to be shunned at all costs .sx It cannot be emphasized enough that he took the brunt of acrimonious criticism of serial composition in this country .sx Later , with the partial rebirth of the musical establishment , younger composers gained some success with their twelve-note works and it is to Humphrey Searle that they owe a considerable debt of gratitude .sx Their respective attainments , however , brought no recognition for Searle .sx He was still ignored and , while he did not complain , inwardly he was hurt .sx He used to say that the music business was a savage jungle and some music lovers are fickle , subscribing to the immature notion that what cannot be whistled or immediately understood is rubbish .sx This denotes a parochial dependence on the security of predictability and obviousness to the ennui that may accompany it .sx Professor of Music at Oxford , while Searle was there , was Sir Hugh Allen , who saw the enormous potential in him and , consequently , promised a travelling scholarship when he had taken his Classics degree .sx It was not only Allen and Dyson who recognized the gifts latent in this young man .sx William Walton saw some of Searle's compositions and urged him to pursue his musical studies without delay , recommending lessons with John Ireland at the Royal College of Music .sx On his entering the College Searle's parents withdrew their financial support since they were opposed to a musical career , wanting their son to sit the Civil Service examination .sx Searle was undeterred and made the first of many stands showing the admirable courage and tenacity that never deserted him .sx Searle studied with Ireland only for a short while and liked him very much .sx As for Ireland , he always said of Humphrey Searle :sx " He is the cleverest musician I have ever met " .sx That is some accolade , particularly when it is remembered that Ireland met and knew many world-famous musicians - for example , he used to recall encounters with Ravel .sx His allowance from his parents having ceased , Searle had to earn his living , which partly came from teaching logic to a clergyman in Mornington Crescent .sx He took his B.A. degree in 1937 and , with the promised scholarship , went to Vienna that autumn to study with Webern , the lessons having been arranged by Adorno .sx With Webern , Searle developed his dependable ear , but his individuality meant that he did not fall into the trap of emulating so illustrious a teacher .sx " Imitation , I suppose , is a sincere form of flattery " he told me , adding :sx I want to write what I want to write .sx Anyone can copy someone else and dress it up in the mendacious disguise of originality .sx Lesser composers have done this and some have made a name for themselves in this mercenary way but it says absolutely nothing for their integrity or the advancement of music .sx .sx That originality is an essential ingredient in music will be , it is hoped , readily admitted .sx This problem greatly troubeld Walton in the late 1940s .sx He was undergoing a crisis of his own musical identity and deploring the suggestion that he was the successor to Elgar .sx Walton enjoyed " a few moments of Elgar " whereas , at the other end of the spectrum , he considered Shostakovich to be " the greatest composer of the twentieth century " .sx Sir Adrian Boult used to say how very disappointing Elgar's music was and that the better it was played the less he liked it - by which he meant that if Elgar's music were badly played you could blame the orchestra but if it were played well the only person who could take the blame was Elgar himself .sx Walton , being a discerning musician , went to Humphrey Searle for advice and lessons , which is the highest compliment a composer with many successes like Fa c-cedille ade , Belshazzar's Feast and a truly memorable viola Concerto behind him could pay to another .sx Yet that is the compliment Walton paid to Searle and , as a consequence , Walton's later works have a greater originality and an admirable texture , as is seen in the Johannesburg Festival Overture , the masterly cello Concerto and the Symphony no .sx 2 , which continues to gain in appeal .sx In Vienna during the years 1937-38 Searle attended the Conservatoire and , among other things , took extensive tuition in conducting .sx He visited the opera almost every night and these months were among the happiest in his life .sx Such contentment was further enhanced by the fact that Webern was a brilliant teacher .sx Searle once told the present writer :sx It is still wrongly assumed in some quarters that Webern was only interested in contemporary music .sx Nothing could be further from the truth .sx It may surprise some to know that he did not give me one lesson in serialism although he did suggest that I analyse his Variations for piano in my private studies .sx His lessons with me were on the properties of the triad , traditional harmony and counterpoint .sx Webern was an outstanding conductor of the classics .sx The myth that modern composers are narrow-minded should be dispelled once and for all .sx It simply is not so .sx Yet it is very sad that musicians today who strongly object to the slightest hint of criticism of Bach , Beethoven or Mozart can , and do , censure music of the twentieth-century .sx .sx Searle returned to London just before Hitler's troops took Vienna in March , 1938 .sx Back at the Royal College of Music , he continued lessons in orchestration , conducting and counterpoint ; among his teachers were R. O. Morris and Gordon Jacob .sx His money having run out , he had to find work and became chorus librarian with the B.B.C. " It was nothing more than being a pack-horse carting music around London " he would say .sx That was one of his typically over-modest remarks .sx In 1939 he conducted the London String Orchestra in one of his now discarded pieces as well as in Liszt's Malediction , his own arrangement of three pieces by Thomas Roseingrave and the first British performance of Webern's Five Pieces , op .sx 5 - a very brave choice indeed .sx The concert also included Searle's arrangement of the Adagio cantando from Bernard van Dieren's string Quartet no .sx 5 .sx Searle had wanted to study with van Dieren but the Dutch-born composer was far too ill and had , in fact , died in 1936 .sx When war broke out Humphrey Searle , who had by now written a set of piano variations and a string quartet , moved with the B.B.C. to Bristol and spent time in the stimulating company of such people as William Glock , Lennox Berkeley , Arnold Cooke , the poets Dylan Thomas and William Empson and the critic Henry Boys .sx In March , 1940 Searle joined the Army and was with the Gloucestershire Regiment for a short while .sx He was then transferred to the Intelligence Corps and to a remote part of Scotland , which inspired his highly engaging Highland Reel .sx It was in Scotland that he composed the first work of his to bear an opus number - the Suite no .sx 1 for string orchestra , which he acknowledged to be the first work of his maturity .sx It was first perfomed in London in 1943 and conducted by Walter Goehr .sx The composer admitted that the work owes something to Bart o k. This was followed by Night Music , op .sx 2 , for chamber orchestra , written in honour of Webern's 60th birthday , a work of great character and lucidity .sx The Vigil for piano , op .sx 3 , deliberately recalls Satie's Gymnop e dies , for it was dedicated to the French Fighting Forces .sx