BIS Secondary, Composer of the Month

BIS Secondary, Composer of the Month:

Phyllis Tate

(1911 - 1987)

Phyllis Tate was one of the most prominent British composers of the 20th century.  Her music was widely performed during her lifetime and received great critical acclaim.  She is known for using unusual instrumental textures and combinations in her output.

BIOGRAPHY

Phyllis Tate was born in Buckinghamshire, the daughter of an architect.  She was excluded from primary school at the age of 10 for singing a rude song at the end of the year.  She taught herself how to play the ukulele and was discovered in 1928 by composer Harry Farjeon, who prompted her to receive formal music training.  She then studied composition, timpani, and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music.

Tate’s musical output was extensive and varied.  Her fascination with musical textures led her to explore the potential of unusual instruments and combinations, including the celeste, bass clarinet, accordion, lute and harmonica. These were often used alongside her other lifelong musical passion, the human voice, in settings of poems from which she gained much inspiration. 

Phyllis Tate was highly respected by contemporary musical peers for her unique sensitivity to musical colour and fastidious craftsmanship.  Many critics commented on her originality and refusal to go along with fashionable trends of music of the time.

Tate was very self-critical, and destroyed all of her compositions from before the mid 1940s.

SELECTED WORKS

Concerto, for saxophone and strings (1944);
Songs of Sundry Natures (1945);
Nocturne, for four voices (1945);

The Lady of Shalott, for solo tenor and instruments (1956);
London Fields, orchestral suite (1958);
The Lodger, an opera (1960);
A Secular Requiem: The Phoenix and the Turtle (1967);
St. Martha and the Dragon (1976);
All The World’s A Stage, for chorus and orchestra (1977);
Prelude-Aria-Interlude-Finale, for clarinet and piano (1981).