Denis ApIvor (14 April 1916 – 27 May 2004) was a British composer, best known for his ballet scoreBlood Wedding. He had a parallel career as a consultant anaesthetist.[1]
ApIvor (pronounced Ap Ivor) was born inCollinstown,County Westmeath, Ireland, to Welsh parents, Denis ApIvor went toHereford Cathedral School and was a chorister atChrist Church, Oxford, and Hereford Cathedral. Because his parents opposed a career in music, he studied medicine in London, but had also pursued the study of music from an early age. He began his medical studies at theUniversity of Aberystwyth in 1933, moving the next year toUniversity College London. Inspired by hearing the first performance in England ofWozzeck (at theQueen's Hall, 14 March 1934 conducted byAdrian Boult) and encouraged byCecil Gray, he also studied composition privately withPatrick Hadley andAlan Rawsthorne.[2][3]
At the outbreak of World War II he was for a time house physician at theHospital of St John and St Elizabeth, Hampstead. In 1942 he was called up, mostly serving as a war doctor in India.[4] After the war ApIvor continued with his medical career, eventually retiring in 1979 from the Mid Kent Group.
But he also returned to his musical activities. He formed a friendship with hisAlbany Street neighbourConstant Lambert, who conducted the premiere of his first major work, a choral-orchestral setting ofT S Eliot'sThe Hollow Men, on 21 February, 1950.[5] His diverse musical influences during this period ranged fromBusoni,Delius,Peter Warlock andBernard van Dieren toBerg andWebern.[6]
The 1950s and 1960s were his most productive years, but despite a decline in performances from the 1970s he continued to compose into the 1990s and beyond.[4] He left London to live in Wales in 1987 and in the 1990s moving toTelscombe, near Brighton.[2] He died inRobertsbridge, Sussex, aged 88.[1]
ApIvor's music falls broadly into three periods: early works from the 1950s influenced by Van Dieren and Peter Warlock, soon leading to a stricter serial style until the late 1980s, and finally renewed simplicity in his later works.[7]
His most successful early works includeThe Hollow Men (1939; rev. 1946),[8] and several ballets.A Mirror for Witches (1951), based on the book byEsther Forbes with choreography byAndrée Howard and set designs byNorman Adams, was premiered on 4 March 1952 with theSadler's Wells Ballet at theRoyal Opera House.[9] It was followed in 1953 byBlood Wedding, choreographed byAlfred Rodrigues, designs byIsabel Lambert. ThisLorca-inspired work achieved international success, with staged productions from Turkey to Chile.[10] It led to the commissioning bySadler's Wells of the operaYerma (1955–59).[11] When this was shelved as being too difficult,William Glock askedEugene Goossens to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra and chorus in a broadcast concert performance in 1961.[12][13] Glock also commissioned the televised balletCorporal Jan in 1968.[14]
While ApIvor introducedserial elements in his Piano Concerto (1948, revised 1954 and performed atthe Proms in 1958 byPatrick Piggott),[15] it was only in 1955 that he began regularly using a more freely atonal and athematic serialism, which he continued to do until the 1980s.[6] He was influenced in this byEdward Clark, a conductor, former BBC music producer, student ofArnold Schoenberg and husband ofElisabeth Lutyens.[2]
He composed five symphonies, various concertos (for cello, guitar, horn, piano and violin), and many chamber and instrumental works, including three string quartets. He made a major contribution to the guitar repertoire: solo works includeVariations (1958),Discanti (1970),Saeta (1972), and ten serial pieces included with his bookSerial Composition for Guitarists (1982). He also wrote a Concertino for guitar (1954),Liaison for guitar and keyboard (1976), andCinquefoil for flute, guitar, and viola (1984).[6][16]
Composer David Hackbridge Johnson has noted "a less aphoristic approach to serialism" in later works, with the expressive and melodic qualities of the Cello Concerto (1977) foreshadowing the modal works of his final years, such as the String Quartet No 3 (1989–90).[4] HisFantasy Concertante (1979–80) for horn was broadcast by soloistFrank Lloyd with theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted byNicholas Kraemer in 1996.[17] His final work was an operatic scenaThe Trixter (2002), setting a poem by Peter Warlock.[1] Archival material relating to ApIvor can be accessed at the National Library of Wales[18] and a full set of his scores are held atThe University of Leeds.[19]
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