Berkeley, Lennox  Francis

(1903-1989)

English composer, noted for his diverse output and lyrical style. Berkeley's part-French ancestry and his affinity with French music gave his compositions a distinctive Gallic feeling.

Although he had started composing as a child, he did not receive any formal musical tuition and studied modern languages at Oxford University. It was Ravel who suggested that he study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1927-1932). This, his friendship with leading French composers, the influence of Stravinsky, and Berkeley's conversion to Catholicism in 1928 all contributed to a remarkable musical individualism.

His catalogue contains works in many genres. Four operas—all markedly different yet all demonstrating his fluent lyricism—and three symphonies are the most substantial works in a canon that embraces solo and chamber instrumental pieces, solo songs, and secular and sacred choral music. While never abandoning tonality, Berkeley moved towards a more atonal idiom around 1960 which, with his natural contrapuntal facility, gave his instrumental works a more astringent flavour. This is most noticeable in three works written for the oboist Janet Craxton—a Sonatina (1962), a Quartet (1967), and a Sinfonia Concertante (1973).

Alongside his composing he was a programme planner for the BBC (1942-1945) and a composition professor at the Royal Academy of Music (1946-1968). His honours include being made a Commander of the British Empire in 1957, a papal knighthood (1973), and the Cobbett Medal (1962).