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Louis Boyd Neel (July 19, 1905 - September 30, 1981) was an English (and later Canadian) conductor and academic. Events 711 - Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by their king Roderic. Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland He is perhaps best known for revitalizing the genre of the chamber orchestra. An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well

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Early years

Neel was born in Blackheath, London and wanted to be a pianist as a child. Blackheath is an area in southeast London centred around a section of open public grassland ('the Heath' and straddling the boundary of the London Borough of Lewisham and the [1] His mother, Ruby Le Couteur, was a professional accompanist, and his father was an engineer. Destined for the Royal Navy, Neel went to Osborne naval college and then to Dartmouth. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Soon after he was commissioned, the armed forces underwent a drastic reduction (the so called ‘Geddes axe’), and Neel left the navy to study medicine at Caius College Cambridge. Gonville and Caius College Cambridge is a constituent College of Cambridge University, one of the world's most academically respected institutions The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the He qualified in 1930, and became House Surgeon and Physician at Saint George's Hospital, London, and Resident Doctor at King Edward VII’s Hospital, London. St George's Hospital, founded in 1733, is a teaching hospital in London, England. [2] In 1930, while practising medicine, Neel studied music theory and orchestration at the Guildhall School of Music. Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. [3]

The Boyd Neel Orchestra

For Neel, at this stage, music was still a hobby. He conducted amateur groups and was persuaded to form an orchestra of young professionals, whom he recruited in 1932 from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a well known conservatoire and one of the leading music institutions in the world The Royal College of Music is a well known conservatoire located in the South Kensington district of London, England, and one The Boyd Neel London String Orchestra (later The Boyd Neel Orchestra) made its début at the Aeolian Hall, London, on 22 June 1933. Aeolian Hall may refer to Aeolian Hall (New York Aeolian Hall (London England Aeolian Hall (London Ontario After the concert, Neel returned to his surgery and delivered a baby. By December 1933, the orchestra was invited to broadcast by the BBC. When Decca offered Neel and the orchestra a contract, he left medicine to devote his full time to music. Decca Records is a British Record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. [4]

Among the Boyd Neel Orchestra’s early releases were the first recordings of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and Britten’s Simple Symphony. Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, also known as the Tallis Fantasia, is a piece of orchestral music by the British Composer Edward Benjamin Britten Baron Britten, OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976 was an English Composer, conductor, The Simple Symphony is a work for String orchestra by Benjamin Britten. Neel conducted the first music heard in the new Glyndebourne opera house in 1934, in private performances, at John Christie’s invitation. This article is about the country house and its Opera house. See Glyndebourne Festival Opera for the summer opera festival John Christie, CH, MC ( 14 December 1882 - 4 July 1962) was an English Landowner and producer [5] In 1937, Neel and his orchestra were invited to the Salzburg Festival, for which Neel commissioned Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. The Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele is a prominent festival of Music and Drama. [6] The orchestra toured Great Britain and Europe until 1939. [7]

WW2 to 1952

During World War II, Neel returned to medical work and the Navy[8], while continuing to conduct when time permitted. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Britten wrote his Prelude and Fugue for 18 string instruments as a 10th birthday present to the Boyd Neel Orchestra in 1943. After the war, Neel resumed his musical career, conducting for Sadler's Wells Opera (’50 Rigolettos’ he recalled) from 1944 to 1946 and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for its 1947 and 1948 London seasons at Sadler's Wells, performing the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. English National Opera (ENO is the national opera company of England, and one of two opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera at Covent Rigoletto is an Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian Libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based D'Oyly Carte Opera Company staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivan 's Savoy Operas in the UK Europe North America South Africa Australia and elsewhere from the Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W [9]

Beginning in 1947, with the Boyd Neel Orchestra, he embarked on a series of world tours, playing in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America, and appearing in festivals such as Edinburgh and Aix-en-Provence. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for several simultaneous arts and cultural Festivals which take place during August each year in Edinburgh, The festival international d'art lyrique is an annual international music festival which takes place each summer in Aix-en-Provence [10] Neel published a book about these experiences called The Story of an Orchestra in 1950[11]

Toronto and later years

In 1952 Neel accepted the post of Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at Toronto, Ontario, in which post he served for 18 years, reorganising and rebuilding the Faculty of Music at the University. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario Ontario (ɒnˈtɛrioʊ is a province located in the central part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest after Quebec Soon after his appointment he formed the Hart House Orchestra in Toronto and toured with it extensively, at, among other events, the Brussels World's Fair in 1958, the Aldeburgh Festival in 1966 and Expo ’67. Brussels (Bruxelles pronounced; Brussel pronounced) officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is Expo (short for "exposition" and also known as World Fair and World's Fair) is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the The Aldeburgh Festival is an English Arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known was the World's Fair held in Montreal, Canada from April 27 to October After this, he became Artistic Director of the Sarnia Festival Opera House on Lake Huron. Sarnia is a City in Southwestern Ontario, Canada (city population 71419 census area population Lake Huron, bounded on the west by the US state of Michigan, and on the east by the province of Ontario, Canada, is one of the five Great [12]

After Neel’s departure to Canada, the Boyd Neel Orchestra was renamed the Philomusica of London and continues under that name today. Neel was awarded the C.B.E. in 1953 and was an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British Order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a well known conservatoire and one of the leading music institutions in the world He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1961. [13]

As a radio commentator, Neel was heard on such CBC programs as 'Sunday Concert,' 'Tuesday Night,' 'Concerts from Two Worlds,' and his own 'Opera with Boyd Neel' (1954). He also wrote a series of essays, under the headline 'This Week's Music,' for the CBC Times in 1959, and his writings have appeared in Opera Canada, the Journal of Music Education, and the University of Toronto Bulletin. He was the subject of a CBC-FM series - 'The Boyd Neel Memoirs' - in 1979. Neel became an instructor for the Student Conductors' Workshop (run by the OAC and University of Toronto) at its inception in 1969 and continued to conduct with it until the late 1970s. This article is about the University of Toronto's St George Campus In 1972, he became the first conductor of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, continuing after 1978 as conductor emeritus. [14]

After his retirement, Neel worked on his memoirs, which were edited and published posthumously by his close friend, J. David Finch. The book also includes an extensive discography of recordings of the Boyd Neel Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neel for Decca Records between 1934 and 1979. Neel died in Toronto at the age of 76. [15]

Notes

  1. ^ See Time Magazine profile
  2. ^ The Gramophone, p 178
  3. ^ See, e. g. , Neel's entry in The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
  4. ^ The Gramophone, p 178
  5. ^ The Gramophone, p 178
  6. ^ The Gramophone, p 178
  7. ^ See Neel's entry at the Who Was Who website
  8. ^ Who Was Who
  9. ^ The Gramophone, p 178
  10. ^ The Gramophone, p 183
  11. ^ Published by Vox Mundi, London, with an introduction by Benjamin Britten)[1]
  12. ^ The Gramophone, p 183
  13. ^ Who Was Who
  14. ^ Answers.com
  15. ^ Who Was Who

References

External links

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