Elgar Howarth obit

Death of Elgar Howarth

The death has been announced of one of the most influential musicians ever to be associated with the brass band movement. 

He was not on the list.

The death has been announced of Elgar Howarth, one of the most significant figures to be associated with the 20th century brass band movement. He was aged 89.

 

Born in 1935, he became a hugely influential figure in British classical music — both as a player and conductor. He held various prestigious positions and tenures, with his work in contemporary opera in particular, earning critical acclaim.

 

Pivotal

A member of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble he later went on to enjoy a celebrated association with Grimethorpe Colliery Band. His influence on the wider brass band movement was profound, his pivotal compositions for the contest and concert stage reaching out in exciting new directions.

A passionate educator his ability to inspire players of any age and level stood out and helped shape the musical landscape of the UK and beyond.

In recent years he had not enjoyed good health. News of his death was announced on Monday 13th January.

Howarth was born at Cannock, Staffordshire, on 4 November 1935. He was educated in the 1950s at University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music (the predecessor of the Royal Northern College of Music), where his fellow classmates included the composers Harrison Birtwistle, David Ellis, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies and the pianist John Ogdon. Together they formed New Music Manchester, a group dedicated to the performance of new music.

He worked with all leading British orchestras, as well as many orchestras worldwide. He played the opening bars of Tippett's King Priam at its Coventry premiere in 1962, conducting the whole work years later for English National Opera. He conducted many operas, and premiered György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1978 and four operas by Harrison Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus at English National Opera (1986), Yan Tan Tethera for Opera Factory (1986), Gawain at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London (1991) and The Second Mrs Kong at Glyndebourne (1994). He was Principal Guest Conductor of Opera North from 1985 to 1988, and Music Advisor to the company from 2002 to 2004. He even conducted the soundtrack for Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer's film 200 Motels.

As a composer and former trumpet player, he wrote mainly for brass instruments. Swedish trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger premiered several of his works on cornet, including his Cornet Concerto, Canto, and Capriccio. He wrote arrangements such as The Carnival of Venice Variations for brass ensemble and Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition arranged for Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (Howarth himself participated in this group as a player and conductor). Composer Roy Newsome remarked that "Howarth's masterly rendition of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1979) dwarfed all previous transcriptions."

He was brought up in a brass band family and maintained his interest in the art form. Howarth made a huge contribution to the modern repertoire of brass band music. Many of his works are recorded, most notably by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and the Eikanger-Bjørsvik band. He also was one of the trumpeters who performed with The Beatles on the song "Magical Mystery Tour".

A number of personal copies of works he conducted (some including annotations) are catalogued at the University of East Anglia's School of Music.

In December 2003, he was revealed to have rejected a CBE.