Music, Life, and Changing Times: Selected Correspondence Between British Composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams, 1927–1977
- Submitting institution
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Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- Fuller1
- Type
- A - Authored book
- DOI
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- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9780367244712
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- October
- Year of publication
- 2019
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This edition of letters exchanged between the British composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Grace Williams is the result of many years of research into the lives and careers of these two women, as well as the musical, political and social contexts of the fifty-year period covered by their correspondence. This research, carried out by both myself and my co-editor Jenny Doctor, included (but was not limited to) deciding on the significant portions of the lengthy correspondence to present; exploring and identifying relevant archival documents, identifying musicians, colleagues and friends referred to in the letters; detailing performances and broadcasts; setting Maconchy and Williams’s careers and involvement with British institutions such as the BBC in context. The evidence of this rigorous research can be found not only in the selection of letters eventually published but also in the extensive introductory sections both to individual letters and to the five chronological parts into which the two volumes have been divided as well as in the footnotes and index. These two volumes are supported by my single-authored chapter on the correspondence in the Brüstle and Sofer collection of essays on Maconchy, which is also submitted to complete a multi-component output.
My research provides an important and original contribution to understanding and knowledge about two creative musicians of the 20th century, providing evidence that these two marginalised British women are significant composers who worked in ways that are both similar to and different from their better-known contemporaries. There are many issues brought to light such as the significance of the BBC or relationships with and access to performers and ensembles. Revealing Maconchy and Williams’s contributions to British music making enhances our understanding of the ways in which compositional careers could be established and successfully achieved while challenging the canonical history of music in twentieth-century Britain.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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