Author Sir Harrison Birtwistle bites the dust matured 87
Acclaimed author Sir Harrison Birtwistle has died aged 87, his distributor has claimed.
He is perhaps most popular for the 1971 symphonic work The Triumph of Time, as well as the shows The Mask Of Orpheus, Gawain and The Minotaur.
Distributors Boosey and Hawkes and office Rayfield Allied said with “profound sorrow” that he died at his home in Mere, Wiltshire, on April 18.
The Royal Philharmonic Society called him “a true melodic giant”.
His music has been featured in major celebrations and series of shows in Europe, the United States and Japan, attracting world guides such as Daniel Barenboim and Sir Simon Rattle.
The Triumph of Time was first commissioned and performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1972, and is dependent on a canvas by 16th-century Flemish artisan Pieter Bruegel, which depicts time in a truck surrounded by skeletons.
The Royal Philharmonic added that he had won five of his honors and said: “His music shook the earth. There was power and intensity in every note he composed. We will listen with wonder to his works long into the future.
The London Symphony Orchestra said: ‘Bad news to hear today that one of Britain’s finest writers, Harrison Birtwistle, has kicked the bucket.
Artist Samuel West also offered his recognition.
Sir Harrison, born in Accrington, Lancashire in 1934, concentrated on organizing and the clarinet at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where he met counterparts such as Peter Maxwell Davies, Alexander Goehr, John Ogdon and Elgar Howard.
After selling his clarinets in 1960, he won a scholarship to Princeton University in the United States, where he concentrated on structure and composed the show Punch And Judy.
This work, alongside Verses For Ensembles and The Triumph Of Time, presented Sir Harrison as a leading light in British music.
Sir Harrison wins an arranger scholarship
In 1975 he was Melody Director of the Royal National Theater in London, where he remained until 1983.
In 1988 he was knighted and made a Companion of Honor in 2001.
Sir Harrison’s better half, Sheila Duff, kicked the bucket in 2012 and he is owed by his three children and six grandchildren.
