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Line 9: | birth_name = Peter Alexander Goehr | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1932|08|10}} | birth_place = [[Berlin]], [[Weimar Germany]] | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2024|08|25|1932|08|10}} | death_place = [[Cambridgeshire]], England Line 28: == Life and career == === Youth and studies === Peter Alexander Goehr{{sfn|British Music Society|2024}} was born in Berlin,{{sfn|Williams|2017}}{{sfn|Peter|2024}} on 10 August 1932.{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}}{{sfn|Clements|2024}} He came from a musical Jewish family; his mother Laelia (née Rivlin), from Kyiv, was a classically trained pianist who had appeared with [[Vladimir Horowitz]] at age 12,{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}} and his father [[Walter Goehr]] was a [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] pupil{{sfn|Schott|2024}} and pioneering conductor{{sfn|Peter|2024}} of Schoenberg, [[Messiaen]] and [[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi]]. The family moved to Britain when the boy was only a few months old.{{sfn|Peter|2024}}{{sfn|Cambridge|2024}} His father became an influential conductor in London, leading the world premiere of Tippett's ''[[A Child of Our Time]]''.{{sfn|Clements|2024}} The boy attended [[Berkhamsted School]] in Hertfordshire, where he was known as "an anti-establishment political activist, flirting with the [[Communist Party of Great Britain|Communist Party]]".{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}} He grew up in a household populated by composers, including [[Mátyás Seiber]] and [[Michael Tippett]]. He received lessons from a composer colleague of his father, [[Allan Gray (composer)|Allan Gray]].{{sfn|Amersham Museum|2024}} Although these premises pointed to Goehr's future in music, his efforts as a composer were not encouraged by his father.{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}}{{sfn|Clements|2024}}<!--, and he initially intended to study classics at [[Oxford University]], -- source?--> Goehr worked for the music publisher [[Schott Music|Schott]] after leaving school. A girl he met on the train to work recruited him for a left-wing Zionist party, and he spent two years in a training [[kibbutz]] in Essex. He was then sent to [[Manchester]] for political work, where he wrote his first piece, described as "a sort of Zionist pageant with songs".{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}} Line 75: After an almost ten-year hiatus from the operatic medium, Goehr returned to the form with ''Promised End'' (2008–09), first performed by [[English Touring Opera]] in 2010 and based on Shakespeare's [[King Lear]].{{sfn|Hoffman|2010}} In the same year came ''When Adam Fell'', a [[BBC]] commission for orchestra based on the chromatic bass from the Bach [[chorale setting]] "[[BWV 637|Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt]]", first introduced to Goehr by Messiaen. ''To These Dark Steps/The Fathers are Watching'' (2011–12), written for tenor, children's choir and ensemble,{{sfn|Peter|2024}} sets texts by Israeli poet [[Gabriel Levin]] concerning the bombing of Gaza during the Iraq war and was premiered in a concert of the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Knussen marking Goehr's 80th birthday.{{sfn|Birmingham Contemporary Music Group|2024}} ''Largo Siciliano'' (2012) was a trio praised for its mastery of aural balance between the unusual combination of violin, horn and piano.<!-- "from opening crepuscular melancholy to an ending which just seems to vanish into oblivion". <ref>Christopher Morley, review of the premiere of ''Largo Siciliano'' on 5 July 2012 as part of Cheltenham Music Festival; published in Birmingham Post, 13 July 2012</ref>--> The chamber symphony ''...between the lines...'' (2013), written on a commission from the [[Birmingham Contemporary Music Group]], was a monothematic work of four movements played without a break, in acknowledgement of Schoenberg's [[Chamber Symphony No. 1 (Schoenberg)|Chamber Symphony]] op. 9. ''Two Sarabandes'' was composed for the [[Bamberg Symphony]] and premiered by them Goehr died at his home in [[Cambridgeshire]] on 25 August 2024, at the age of 92.{{sfn|British Music Society|2024}}{{sfn|Peter|2024}}{{sfn|Telegraph|2024}}{{sfn|Clements|2024}} Line 122: == Honours == Goehr was an honorary member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] and Churchill Fellow.{{sfn|Peter|2024}} In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from the [[University of Plymouth]].{{sfn|University of Plymouth|2024}} He became an honorary member of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]]. His manuscripts are held by the [[Academy of Arts, Berlin|Akademie der Künste]] in == References == Line 350: [[Category:English male opera composers]] [[Category:Jewish classical composers]] [[Category:Honorary [[Category:Academics of the University of Leeds]] [[Category:Alumni of the Royal Manchester College of Music]] | |||