Arthur Butterworth

Biography

Arthur Eckersley Butterworth, (4 August 1923 – 20 November 2014) was an English composer, conductor, trumpeter and teacher.

Early life and education

Butterworth was born in New Moston, near Manchester. His father ran the church choir, in which his mother played the piano and Butterworth himself sang. For the entrance fee of sixpence, Butterworth attended Hallé concerts. He also volunteered for the village brass band who allocated him the trombone. As a teenager he played with the Besses o' th' Barn Band and started taking conducting lessons. While playing with the band, he caught his trombone in tram tracks and, discouraged by the accident, changed to the trumpet.
His music teacher at North Manchester Grammar School, Percy Penrose, gave him much encouragement but his parents and headmaster tried to dissuade him from a full-time career. Five years in the wartime Army gave him little scope for music-making but Butterworth more than made up for it afterwards. In 1939, however, he won the Alexander Owen Scholarship for young brass players and had his first work played in public by the Wingates Band conducted by Granville Bantock. At the time, Butterworth was unaware of Bantock's fame, or that he was a friend of Jean Sibelius, whom Butterworth revered, but Bantock was nevertheless encouraging. At the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern College of Music), Butterworth studied composition with Richard Hall and also learned the trumpet and conducting. He studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams after writing to the composer in 1950, requesting lessons. He served as a trumpeter in the Scottish National Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) from 1949–55 and in the Hallé from 1955–62; he also played as a freelance until 1963. In that year he began to teach at the Huddersfield School of Music, an activity which he combined with composing and conducting (he was for many years principal conductor of the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra). He was made an MBE in 1995. He was unrelated to the composer George Butterworth (1885–1916).

Personal life

He was married to Diana Butterworth, until her death in February 2013. He died on 20 November 2014 at Embsay, Craven, North Yorkshire and is survived by his daughters Nicola and Carolin.
Butterworth was appointed MBE in 1995.

Wind Band

Mancunian Way for wind band, Op. 66 (1985)
Winter Music for wind band, Op. 71 (1978)
Tundra, Boreal Suite for large wind band, Op. 75 (1979)

Carillon

Kendal Clock (Tinnitis Aurium Kendaliensis 1189–1989) for carillon, Op. 84 (1989)

Organ

Partita on a German Chorale, Op. 2 (1947)
Organ Sonata, Op. 106 (1998)

Piano

Lakeland Summer Nights, Op. 10 (1949)
Five Caprices, Op. 23 (1960)
Schubert Variations, Op. 114

Vocal

Now on Land and Sea descending for contralto and orchestra, Op. 1 (1947)
Three German Folk Songs for tenor and piano, Op. 3 (1947)
Four Nocturnal Songs for soprano and piano, Op. 4 (1948)
The Night Wind for soprano, clarinet and piano (or orchestra), Op. 38 (1969)
Ancient Sorceries for countertenor, recorder and harpsichord, Op. 49 (1975)
The Great Frost for narrator and orchestra, Op. 94 (1993)

Choral

A Moorland Symphony for bass solo, chorus and orchestra, Op. 32 (1967)
Trains in the Distance for speaker, tape, chorus and orchestra, Op. 41 (1971)
Five Part Songs for male chorus and piano, Op. 55 (1978)
Hunter's Moon, 3 Songs for male voices and piano, Op. 60 (1979)
The Owl and the Pussy Cat for chorus, brass band and jazz group, Op. 61 (1979)
Haworth Moor, 3 Songs for chorus and piano, Op. 110 (2000)