William Baines - British impressionist composer
Rob Barnett
‘GOODNIGHT TO FLAMBORO’
The Life and Music of WILLIAM BAINES
by Roger CARPENTER
Born on March 26th 1899, the Yorkshire composer and pianist, William
Baines, first sprang to national prominence following the publication
in 1919 of his Seven Preludes and Paradise Gardens, quickly
establishing himself as one of the most promising and individual
musical talents to emerge in that volatile period at the start of the
1920s, despite a losing battle against incipient tuberculosis, the
legacy of fifteen weeks in military hospital at the height of the
influenza epidemic of 1918. He died in 1922 at the age of
twenty-three, having produced in little more than five years a
considerable and significant body of work, including a massive
symphony, several exquisite songs and some of the finest British
piano music of the century.
This study of the composer was rlrst published by Triad Press in 1977
and is now reissued to mark the Baines centenary in a revised and
updated edition under the imprint of the British Music Society.
Making extensive use of Baines’s own highly entertaining and often
poignant diaries Part One traces the tragic course of his brief life,
while Part Two is devoted to a comprehensive critical survey of his
compositions with the aid of copious music examples and five pages of
facsimile. The book incorporates a complete and revised catalogue of
works, together with a combined bibliography and discography and
three appendices. There are eight pages of plates, and the line
illlustrations were specially drawn by Richard A. Bell.
GOODNIGHT TO FLAMBORO’ The Life and Music of William Baines by Roger
Carpenter with decorations by Richard A. Bell 210x148mm, 120pp plus
8pp of photographs. 5 facsims, 34 music exx. British Music Society
Monograph No.4 ISBN 1 870536 18 5 Price: Ł10.99 add Ł1 for overseas
postage or Ł2 for airmail outside Europe)
Cheques in sterling payable to ‘British Music Society’
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Just published: GOODNIGHT TO FLAMBORO’:
The Life and Music of WILLIAM BAINES
The fourth in our Monograph series of studies of British composers,
this unique volume by Roger Carpenter was first published in 1977,
and has been long out-of-print. The Society’s new edition, published
in the composer’s centenary year, has been revised and updated by the
author, with additional text and photographs. The appearance of this
study complements two exhibitions about Baines being mounted
independently this year by the British Library (March-April) and the
Barbican Library (16 August-21 September). Retail price: Ł10.99 inc.
postage, less BMS member discount. Ł10.99 in UK $19US incl air mail
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Rob Barnett
Editor, Classical Music on the Web - CD Reviews, Coventry University
http://www.musicweb.force9.co.uk/music/music.htm
Editor, British Music Society, BMS Newsletter
British Music Society promoting neglected British Music. Enquiries welcomed.
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