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Sir Colin Rex DavisCH CBE (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with theLondon Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated wereMozart,Berlioz,Elgar,Sibelius,Stravinsky andTippett.
Davis studied as aclarinetist, but was intent on becoming a conductor. After struggling as a freelance conductor from 1949 to 1957, he gained a series of appointments with orchestras including theBBC Scottish Orchestra, theBBC Symphony Orchestra and theBavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He also held the musical directorships ofSadler's Wells Opera and theRoyal Opera House, where he was principal conductor for over fifteen years. His guest conductorships included theBoston Symphony Orchestra, theNew York Philharmonic and theStaatskapelle Dresden, among many others.
As a teacher, Davis held posts at theRoyal Academy of Music, London, and theLandesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" (preparatory school for music) in Dresden. He made his first gramophone recordings in 1958, and his discography over the next five decades was extensive, with many studio recordings forPhilips Records and a substantial catalogue of live recordings for the London Symphony Orchestra's own label.
Davis was born inWeybridge, Surrey, the fifth of seven children, to Reginald George Davis (a bank clerk) and Lillian Constance (Colbran) Davis.[1][2] The family was musical, and he was exposed to music from an early age. He recalled:
"I can still seeSargent conducting the first concert I ever attended. I can still hearMelchior in the final scene ofSiegfried – an old78 playing on my father's gramophone. … I can also remember the moment I decided to make music my life. I was 13 or 14 at the time and the performance was ofBeethoven's Eighth. Doors were suddenly opened. I became totally involved, even obsessed by music, although I was frightfully enclosed by my likes and dislikes. Today I'm game for anything."[3]
With financial assistance from his great-uncle, Davis was educated atChrist's Hospital in Sussex[4] and then won a scholarship to theRoyal College of Music in London, where he studied theclarinet withFrederick Thurston.[5] His fellow-students includedGervase de Peyer, but Davis developed a greater interest in conducting. He was, however, not eligible for the conducting class at the college, because he could not play the piano.[6]
Following compulsorymilitary service and completing his studies at college, Davis served as a clarinettist in the band of theLife Guards. Stationed atWindsor, he had continual opportunities to attend concerts in London under conductors includingSir Thomas Beecham andBruno Walter. In 1949, he began his career as a freelance musician (the "freelance wilderness", in his own phrase) where he remained until 1957.[2] His first conducting work was with the Kalmar Orchestra, which he co-founded with other former students of the Royal College. He was subsequently invited to conduct the recently foundedChelsea Opera Group inDon Giovanni. In the early years of his career, he also took some engagements as an orchestral clarinettist.[7] What seemed at first to be a full-time conducting appointment, for theOriginal Ballet Russe in 1952, ended abruptly after three months, when the company collapsed. In between sparse conducting engagements, Davis worked as a coach and lecturer, including spells at theCambridge University Musical Society and theBryanston Summer School, where a performance ofL'enfance du Christ awakened his love ofBerlioz's music.[8]
His first breakthrough came in 1957 when, at his third attempt, he secured the post of assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra (now theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra).[9] The chief conductor of the orchestra generally chose to conduct the standard repertoire pieces himself, and left Davis with modern works and non-standard repertoire works, including those of Berlioz.[10] By 1959, Davis had developed to the extent that, after a concert ofStravinsky andMozart with theLondon Mozart Players, the chief music critic ofThe Observer,Peter Heyworth, wrote:
Davis first found wide acclaim when he stood in for an illOtto Klemperer in a performance ofDon Giovanni, at theRoyal Festival Hall in 1959. A year later, Beecham invited him to collaborate with him in preparingThe Magic Flute atGlyndebourne. Beecham was taken ill, and Davis conducted the opera. After theDon Giovanni,The Times wrote, "A superb conductor of Mozart declared himself last night at the Festival Hall…. Mr Davis emerged as a conductor ripe for greatness."[12]Neville Cardus inThe Guardian was less enthusiastic but nevertheless considered that he "had his triumphs" in the performance.[13] AfterThe Magic Flute,The Times called Davis "master of Mozart's idiom, style and significance",[14] although Heyworth inThe Observer was disappointed by his tempi, judging them to be too slow.[15]
In 1960, Davis made his début atthe Proms in a programme ofBritten,Schumann, Mozart and Berlioz.[16] In the same year, he was appointed chief conductor ofSadler's Wells Opera, and in 1961 he was made musical director of the company, with whom he built up a large repertoire of operas, conducting in London and on tour.[17]Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians wrote of this period, "He excelled inIdomeneo,The Rake's Progress andOedipus rex, andFidelio; hisWagner, Verdi andPuccini were less successful. He introducedWeill'sMahagonny, andPizzetti'sAssassinio nella cattedrale to the British public and conducted the première ofBennett'sThe Mines of Sulphur (1965)."[18] Together with the stage directorGlen Byam Shaw, he worked to present operas in a way that gave due weight to the drama as well as the music.[19] In his early years, Davis was known as something of a firebrand with a short fuse in rehearsals,[20] and his departure from Sadler's Wells in 1965 was not without acrimony.[21]
After he left Sadler's Wells, and being passed over as principal conductor of theLondon Symphony Orchestra,[22] Davis was named chief conductor of theBBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO), effective September 1967.[23] At first, in the general view of the public, his tenure was overshadowed, at least duringthe Proms, by the memory ofSir Malcolm Sargent. Compared to the "suave father figure" image of Sargent[24] to the promenaders, it took some time for the much younger Davis to be accepted.[23] The BBC's official historian of the Proms later wrote, "Davis never really identified himself with the Proms in the way that Sargent had done.[24] Davis was uncomfortable with the traditional hullabaloo of the Last Night of the Proms and attempted, unsuccessfully, to modernise it.[25] The BBC's Controller of Music,William Glock, was a long-standing admirer of Davis, and encouraged him to put on adventurous programmes, with a new emphasis on modern music, both at the Proms and throughout the rest of the orchestra's annual schedule.[26] Following his tenure as BBC SO chief conductor, Davis served as chief guest conductor of the BBC SO from 1971 to 1976.[27]
In 1970,Sir David Webster, who ran theRoyal Opera and theRoyal Ballet companies atCovent Garden, invited Davis to succeedSir Georg Solti as principal conductor of the opera.[28] At about the same time, theBoston Symphony Orchestra invited him to become its musical director, but Davis felt that if Covent Garden needed him, it was his duty to take on the post.[19] Webster's vision was that Davis and the stage directorSir Peter Hall, formerly of theRoyal Shakespeare Company, would work in equal partnership as musical director and director of productions. After early successes together, including the première ofMichael Tippett'sThe Knot Garden in December 1970, Hall left to succeedLaurence Olivier as director of theNational Theatre. Webster had retired by that time, leaving Davis, together with Webster's successor as General Administrator,Sir John Tooley, to run the Royal Opera.[28]
Davis' early months in charge at Covent Garden were marked by dissatisfaction among some of the audience, and booing was heard at a "disastrous"Nabucco in 1972. His conducting of Wagner'sRing cycle was at first compared unfavourably with that of his predecessor.[29] Among his successes were Berlioz's massiveLes Troyens (withJon Vickers andAnja Silja) andBenvenuto Cellini, Verdi'sFalstaff, the major Mozart operas, and, as one critic put it, he "confirmed his preeminence as a Britten and Stravinsky interpreter" with productions ofPeter Grimes andThe Rake's Progress.[29] Davis conducted more than 30 operas during his fifteen-year tenure,[18] but "since people likeMaazel,Abbado andMuti would only come for new productions", Davis yielded the baton to these foreign conductors, giving up the chance to conduct several major operas, includingDer Rosenkavalier,Rigoletto andAida.[29]
In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, Davis conducted a number of modern and unfamiliar operas, including Tippett'sThe Knot Garden andThe Ice Break (of which he is the dedicatee),[18] andAlexander Zemlinsky'sThe Dwarf andEine florentinische Tragödie.[30] With later stage directors at Covent Garden, Davis preferred to work with those who respected thelibretto: "I have a hankering for producers who don't feel jealous of composers for being better than they are, and want to impose their, often admittedly clever, ideas on the work in hand."[31] Davis hoped thatGötz Friedrich, with whom he worked on Wagner'sRing cycle, would take on the role of principal producer vacated by Hall, "but it seemed that nobody wanted to commit themselves."[29]
During his Covent Garden tenure, Davis returned to the BBC Symphony Orchestra as principal guest conductor from 1971 to 1975, and held the same post with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1972 to 1984.[2] In 1977, he became the first English conductor to appear atBayreuth, where he conducted the opening opera of the festival,Tannhäuser. Despite the Bayreuth habitués' suspicion of newcomers,[32] hisTannhäuser was "highly successful".[33] He debuted at theMetropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1967 withPeter Grimes, theVienna State Opera in 1986 and theBavarian State Opera in 1994.[2]
From 1983 to 1993, Davis was chief conductor of theBavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom he developed his concert hall repertoire, including symphonies byBruckner andMahler.[21] He was offered but declined the music directorships of theCleveland Orchestra in succession to Maazel and theNew York Philharmonic in succession toZubin Mehta.[34] As a principal guest conductor he was associated with theDresden Staatskapelle, which appointed him honorary conductor (Ehrendirigent) in 1990, the first in the orchestra's 460-year-history,[35] and whose musicians referred to Davis with the nickname "Der Sir".[36] From 1998 to 2003, he was principal guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic.[2]
In 1995, Davis was appointed principal conductor of theLondon Symphony Orchestra, the culmination of a long association with the orchestra. He had first conducted the LSO in 1959, and in 1964 he headed the orchestra's first world tour. He became principal guest conductor in 1975 and was at the helm in the LSO's first major series at its new home, theBarbican Centre, in a Berlioz/Tippett festival in 1983.[35] In 1997 he conducted the LSO's first residency atLincoln Center in New York City.[35] Davis was the longest-serving principal conductor in the history of the LSO, holding the post from 1995 until 2006, after which the orchestra appointed him its President, an honour previously held only byArthur Bliss,William Walton,Karl Böhm andLeonard Bernstein.[37] On 21 June 2009, 50 years to the day after his first LSO performance, a special concert was given at the Barbican, at which present-day players were joined by many past members of the orchestra.[35] His programme for the concert was Mozart'sSymphony No 40 in G minor, and Brahms'sPiano Concerto No 2, withNelson Freire as soloist.[38]
During his time with the LSO, both as principal conductor and later as president, Davis conducted series and cycles of the music of Sibelius, Berlioz, Bruckner, Mozart, Elgar, Beethoven, and Brahms,[35] and in 2009 began presenting a cycle of the symphonies ofCarl Nielsen.[39]Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians wrote:
Davis was president of theLandesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden,[40] and held the International Chair of Orchestral Studies at theRoyal Academy of Music, London.[41]Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, principal of the academy, wrote of Davis:
Davis's discography is extensive, numbering over 300 recordings. He made his first record in 1958 conducting theSinfonia of London in performances ofMozart's Symphonies 29 and 39 forWorld Record Club (TZ 130).[42] This was followed on 8 May 1959 by a recording made inKingsway Hall, London, forDecca with the New Symphony Orchestra of London and pianistPeter Katin performingRachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18. He made several records for the small independent labelL'Oiseau Lyre, including a 1960L'enfance du Christ and a 1962Béatrice et Bénédict which, at April 2013, were both still available on CD. ForEMI he made both operatic and orchestral recordings, the former with Sadler's Wells forces, including excerpts fromCarmen and a completeOedipus rex, and the latter includingHarold in Italy withYehudi Menuhin, and what remains one of his best-known recordings, a 1961 BeethovenSeventh Symphony.[43][44]
In the 1960s, Davis signed as an exclusive artist forPhilips Records, with whom he made an extensive range of recordings in the symphonic repertoire and many operatic recordings, including the major Mozart operas; operas by Tippett, Britten, Verdi and Puccini; and a comprehensive survey of the operas of Berlioz, culminating in an award-winning first recording of the completeLes Troyens issued in May 1970.[21][45]
Davis's 1966 Philips recording of Handel'sMessiah was regarded as revelatory at the time of its issue for its departure from the large-scale Victorian-style performances that had previously been customary.[46] Other Philips recordings included a 1982 set ofHaydn's twelveLondon symphonies with theRoyal Concertgebouw Orchestra "distinguished by performances of tremendous style and authority, and a sense of rhythmic impetus that is most exhilarating";[47] and a 1995 Beethoven symphony cycle with the Dresden Staatskapelle, of whichGramophone wrote, "There has not been a Beethoven cycle like this sinceKlemperer's heyday."[48]
Davis made a number of records with theBoston Symphony Orchestra for Philips, including the first of his three Sibelius cycles, which remains in the CD catalogues. They also recorded works byDebussy,Grieg,Schubert,Schumann, andTchaikovsky.
ForRCA Victor Red Seal, Davis recorded complete symphony cycles of Sibelius (with the LSO), Brahms (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1989–98), and Schubert (Dresden Staatskapelle, 1996).
Davis's term as principal conductor of the LSO coincided with the orchestra's decision to launch its own record label, LSO Live. Davis' recordings on the LSO Live label includeBeethoven's operaFidelio (2006), a wide range ofBerlioz works, including a second recording ofLes Troyens (2000),La damnation de Faust (2000),Roméo et Juliette (2000),Béatrice et Bénédict (2000),Harold en Italie (2003), and theSymphonie fantastique (2000);Britten'sPeter Grimes (2004);Dvořák's Symphonies Nos. 6–9 (1999–2004); fiveElgar sets: theEnigma Variations (2007) and theIntroduction and Allegro for Strings (2005), the three symphonies (2001), andThe Dream of Gerontius (2005); Handel'sMessiah (2006); Haydn'sDie Schöpfung (2007);Holst'sThe Planets (2002);James MacMillan'sSt John Passion, (2008)The World's Ransoming andThe Confession of Isobel Gowdie (2007);Mozart's Requiem (2007);Nielsen's Symphonies Nos. 4–5 (2011); a thirdSibelius symphony cycle (2002–2008);Smetana'sMá vlast (2005);Tippett'sA Child of Our Time (2007),Verdi'sFalstaff (2004),Requiem (2009), andOtello (2010); andWalton'sFirst Symphony (2005).
Davis was appointedCBE in 1965,[49]knighted in 1980[50] and appointedMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2001.[51] He was awarded theRoyal Philharmonic Society's gold medal in 1995,[2]the Queen's Medal for Music, 2009,[52] and has numerous international awards, includingCommendatore of the Republic of Italy, 1976;Shakespeare Prize (Germany), 1984; Commander's Cross,Order of Merit (Germany), 1987; Commandeur, l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 1990; Commander,Order of the Lion (Finland), 1992;Order of Merit (Bavaria), 1993; Officier,Légion d'honneur (France), 1999 (Chevalier, 1982); Order of Maximilian (Bavaria), 2000.[2]
Other awards includePipe Smoker of the Year in 1996,[53]Male Artist of the Year in theClassic Brit Awards 2008,[53] theGrammy Award in 2006 for Best Opera for his LSO Live recording of Verdi'sFalstaff,[35] and theElgar Medal in 2012.[54]
He won a total of 10Grammy Awards and 34 nominations during his career.[55]
In 1949, Davis married the sopranoApril Cantelo. They had two children. Their marriage ended in 1964, and in that same year, Davis married Ashraf Naini, known as Shamsi.[4] To satisfy both the Iranian and British authorities, the couple were married three times, once in Iran and twice in the UK, in the Iranian Embassy in London as well as in a UK civil ceremony; they had five children.[56] One of their children is the conductorJoseph Wolfe, who chose a different surname, because he wanted to "create some space to grow and develop my own identity as a musician".[57]
Shamsi died in June 2010 at the time Davis was conducting Mozart'sThe Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera House. Davis continued the run of performances just days later and when asked, the following year, how he had the strength to perform, he replied:
After his wife's death, Davis's health declined rapidly. He fell from the podium at Covent Garden in February 2011, and cancelled many engagements in the subsequent months. His last concert in France was on 7 June 2012 at theThéâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris with theOrchestre National de France andEmanuel Ax.[59] His last concert with the LSO was a performance ofBerlioz'sGrande Messe des morts on 26 June 2012 atSaint Paul's Cathedral in London.[4][60] His last known performance was with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra, an amateur London orchestra, and soloist Thomas Gould, a month before his death.[61] On 14 April 2013, Davis died in London at the age of 85.[62][63]
Antonio Pappano, music director at theRoyal Opera House, said Davis's death came as a "huge blow".[64] Labour MPHarriet Harmantweeted that Davis had "made a historic contribution to music – in this country & worldwide", whileBorjan Canev, former assistant conductor to Davis, said "thank you for being my inspiration".[65]
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| Preceded by | Music Director, Sadler's Wells 1961–1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Music Director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1971–1987 | Succeeded by |
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