Bax, Arnold

Autor: Bax, Arnold
Rok: 1883-1953

Biogr./Hist. údaje: Anglický skladatel, od roku 1942 dvorní skladatel. Psal orchestrální a komorní hudbu, často uplatnil prvky irského folklóru.
Zdroj: Autoritní databáze Národní knihovny ČR

Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer and writer. Born to a prosperous family, he was encouraged to pursue a musical career. His private income enabled him to pursue the musical path he preferred, without regard for fashion or orthodoxy, and he came to be regarded in musical circles as an important but isolated figure.While still a student at the Royal Academy of Music Bax became fascinated with Ireland and Celtic culture, which became a strong influence on his early development. In the years before the First World War he lived in Ireland and became a member of Dublin literary circles, writing fiction and verse under the pseudonym Dermot O'Byrne.Bax wrote a large amount of music between 1910 and 1920, including the symphonic poem Tintagel, his best-known work. During this period he formed a life-long association with the pianist Harriet Cohen – at first an affair, and then a friendship, and always a close professional relationship. In the 1920s he began the series of seven symphonies which form the heart of his orchestral output. He was a prolific composer, writing numerous songs, much choral music and many chamber pieces and solo piano works.In 1942 Bax was appointed Master of the King's Music, but composed little in that capacity. In his last years he found his music regarded as old-fashioned, and after his death it was generally neglected. From the 1960s onwards, mainly through a growing number of commercial recordings, his music was gradually rediscovered, although little of it is regularly heard in the concert hall.