The son of a Scottish father and Welsh mother, Stevenson was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1928. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now incorporated in the Royal Northern College of Music), studying composition with Richard Hall and piano with Iso Elinson, graduating with distinction in 1948. He married Marjorie Spedding in 1952.[1] He moved to Scotland in the mid-1950s. As a socialist pacifistconscientious objector, he applied for exemption from National Service, but was refused recognition by the North Western Tribunal. He, in turn, refused to attend a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call-up, which led to prosecution and sentence to 12 months imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs.[2] The sentence qualified him to go to the Appellate Tribunal, which finally allowed exemption from military service conditional upon work on the land.
Among his many compositions, the largest (in terms of duration) and most famous is his Passacaglia on DSCH for solo piano, written between 1960 and 1962, based on a 13-note ground bass derived from the musical motif D-E♭-C-B: the German transliteration of Dmitri Shostakovich's initials ("D. Sch."). Stevenson's work takes more than an hour and a quarter to perform and is one of the longest unbroken single movements composed for piano.[3]
Stevenson's other works include two piano concertos, the second of which was first performed at the Proms in 1972, a violin concerto commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin, and a cello concerto in memoriam Jacqueline du Pré. He also wrote several chamber works including a String Quartet and Piano Quartet, numerous songs (among these, many settings of Hugh MacDiarmid, William Soutar and James Joyce) and works for solo piano. In 2007 he completed a choral symphony, Ben Dorain, on Hugh MacDiarmid's translation of the poem of that name by Duncan Ban MacIntyre. This work, for full chorus and chamber choir with chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra, was begun in the 1960s and laid aside for many years. The world premiere was given in City Halls, Glasgow, on 19 January 2008 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with the composer present.[1]
Stevenson was very active as a transcriber of music other than his own, chiefly for the piano, in the tradition of Ferrucio Busoni, Percy Grainger and Leopold Godowsky. His transcriptions covered composers as diverse as Henry Purcell, Frederick Delius and Bernard van Dieren. Notable examples include piano solo versions of Grainger's Hill Song No.1 (originally for wind orchestra), the first movement of Gustav Mahler's Tenth Symphony, and of the six unaccompanied violin sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe as piano sonatas. Stevenson worked on van Dieren's String Quartet No 5 over a period of 40 years (from 1948 to 1987), transcribing it "as a piano sonata (which B.v.D. never composed)".[4] There is also a collection of piano solos based on songs from the 19th and 20th centuries entitled L'art nouveau de chant appliqué au piano, a title that recalls deliberately the collection of song-transcriptions by Sigismond Thalberg. Stevenson made many arrangements of folk music from countries as far apart as Scotland and China, while many of his own works exist in several different instrumentations.
Stevenson was also noted as a teacher. He was senior lecturer in composition at the University of Cape Town in the mid-1960s, delivered seminars at the Juilliard School in New York, and was responsible for a course entitled The Political Piano at the University of York in the early 1980s.
Stevenson died on 28 March 2015, aged 87 at his home in West Linton, Scotland. His widow and three children survive him.[1] His daughter Savourna Stevenson (born 1961) has recorded many works on the Scottish harp. His daughter Gerda Stevenson is a film and theatre actress, and a poet.[5] His granddaughter Anna Wendy Stevenson is a Scots folk fiddler.
List of works (selection only)Edit
(Full list to 2005 in Symposium ed. Scott-Sutherland listed in References)
OrchestraEdit
Berceuse Symphonique (1951)
Jamboree for Grainger (1960–61)
Scots Dance Toccata (1965)
Young Scotland Suite (1976)
Strathclyde's Salute to Mandela for brass band (1990–91)
Solo instrument and orchestraEdit
Piano Concerto No.1, A Faust Triptych (1959–60; reworking of Prelude, Fugue and Fantasy for solo piano)
Simple Variations of Purcell's 'New Scotch Tune' for clarinet and strings (1967 reworking of 1964 piano variations)
Piano Concerto No. 2, The Continents (1970–72)
Violin Concerto, The Gypsy (1977–79)
Corroborree for Grainger for piano and wind band (1989 recomposition of Jamboree for Grainger)
Cello Concerto, The Solitary Singer (1968–94)
Solo voice and orchestraEdit
Variations Vocalises sur deux themes de 'Les Troyens' de Berlioz for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (1969)
St Mary's May Songs for soprano and string orchestra (1988–89)
Choral musicEdit
The Weyvers o' Blegburn for chamber choir, texts in Lancashire dialect (1962)
A Medieval Scottish Triptych for a cappella chorus, medieval Scottish texts (1967)
Anns an Àirde, as an Doimhne for a cappella chorus, poems by Sorley MacLean (1968)
4 Peace Motets, Biblical texts (1976)
Domino Roberto Carwor: 12-part Motet in memoriam Robert Carver, text by James Reid-Baxter (1987)
In praise of Ben Dorain: Symphony for full chorus, chamber chorus, symphony orchestra and chamber orchestra, Gaelic text by Duncan Ban MacIntyre and translation by Hugh MacDiarmid (1962–2007)
Chamber and instrumentalEdit
Sonata for violin and piano (1947)
Variations on a Theme of Pizzetti for unaccompanied violin (1961; NB unrelated to piano variations, though same theme)
4 Meditations for string quartet (1964 arrangements of movements from A 20th-Century Music Diary for piano)
Variations and Theme ('The Bonnie Earl o' Moray') for cello and piano (1974)
Recitative and Air: In Memoriam Shostakovich for violin and piano (1976 arrangement of piano original; also for cello & piano, bassoon & piano, viola & piano, string quartet and string orchestra)
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza: Duo for 2 guitars (1982–83)
Scots Suite for unaccompanied violin (1984)
Fantasy Quartet, Alma Alba for piano, violin, viola and cello (1985)
Bergstimmung for horn and piano (1986)
The Harlot's House – Dance Poem after Oscar Wilde for free-bass accordion, timpani and percussion (1988)
String Quartet, Voces Vagabundae (1990)
Pan-Celtic Wind Quintet (2000)
Celtic Triptych for solo recorder (2010), dedicated to John Turner[6]
Keyboard musicEdit
Piano and harpEdit
Duo Sonata (1970–71)
Chiaroscuro: Homage to Rembrandt and his Biographer Van Loon (1987)
HarpsichordEdit
Sonata (1968)
OrganEdit
Prelude and Fugue on the 12-note theme from Liszt's Faust Symphony (1961–62)
Solo pianoEdit
Sonatina No.1 (1945)
18 Variations on a Bach Chorale (1946)
Sonatina No.2 (1947)
Vox Stellarum (1947)
Sonatina No.3 (1948)
Chorale Prelude for Jean Sibelius (1948)
Fugue on a Fragment of Chopin (1948; also version for 2 pianos)
3 Nativity Pieces (1949)
Andante Sereno (1950)
Variations on a Theme of Pizzetti (1955; NB unrelated to violin variations, though same theme)
A 20th-Century Music Diary (1953–59)
6 Pensées sur des Préludes de Chopin (1959)
Prelude, Fugue and Fantasy on Busoni's Faust (1949–59)
Simple Variations on Purcell's 'New Scotch Tune' (1964; rev and enlarged 1975 as Little Jazz Variations on Purcell's 'New Scotch Tune')
Scottish Folk Music Settings (c. 1959–65)
A Scottish Triptych (1959–67) (originally A Modern Scottish Triptych: consists of Keening Sang for a Makar (in memoriam Francis George Scott, Heroic Song for Hugh MacDiarmid and Chorale-Pibroch for Sorley MacLean)
South Uist Folksong Suite (1969)
Peter Grimes Fantasy on themes from the opera by Benjamin Britten (1971)
3 Scottish Ballads (1973)
Recitative and Air (1974) (published 1976 as Recitative and Air: In Memoriam Shostakovich)
Sonatina Serenissima (In Memoriam Benjamin Britten) (Sonatina No.4) (1973–77)
Norse Elegy for Ella Nygard (1976–79)
Barra Flyting Toccata (1980)
A Rosary of Variations on Seán Ó’Riada’s Irish Folk Mass (1980)
Symphonic Elegy for Liszt (1986)
A Threepenny Sonatina: Homage to Kurt Weill (Sonatina No.5) (1987–88)
Motus Perpetuus (?) Temporibus Fatalibus (1987–88)
Beltane Bonfire (1989)
A Carlyle Suite (1995)
Le Festin d’Alkan: Concerto for solo piano without orchestra (1988–97)
Fugue, Variations and Epilogue on a Theme of Bax (1982–83; 2003)
Song cyclesEdit
19 Songs of Innocence for four solo voices and piano with a cappella chorale, texts by William Blake (1947–8, rev. 1965)
Four Vietnamese Miniatures for high voice and harp (or piano), texts by Ho Chi Minh (1965)
Border Boyhood for tenor and piano, text by Hugh MacDiarmid (1970)
The Infernal City for tenor and piano, texts by Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean (1970–71)
9 Haiku for high voice and harp or piano, texts from Japanese poets (School of Bashō) translated by Keith Bosley plus one poem by Keith Bosley (1971)
Songs of Quest for baritone and piano, texts by John Davidson (1974)
Hills of Home for baritone and piano, texts by R. L. Stevenson (1974)
Songs from Factories and Fields for bass-baritone and piano, texts by Hugh MacDiarmid (1977)
Lieder ohne Buchstaben (Unspelt Songs) for tenor and piano, texts by A. D. Hope (1982)
A Child's Garden of Verses for soprano or tenor and piano with optional treble or young soprano, texts by R. L. Stevenson (1985)
'The Queen's Dolour (A Farewell) by Henry Purcell / Realised by Ronald Stevenson (1958)
^Igor Levit. 'On DSCH', Sony 19439809212 (2021), reviewed at MusicWeb International
^Guild, Christopher. Notes to Ronald Stevenson, Piano Music Volume Five, Toccata Classics TOCC0606 (2021)
^. Peebleshire News. 31 July 2009. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
^'Ronald Stevenson and Friends', Prima Facie PFCD202 (2023), reviewed at MusicWeb International
SourcesEdit
Raymond Clarke, recording notes for Stevenson: Passacaglia on DSCH. Raymond Clarke (piano). Marco Polo 8.223545.
Ronald Stevenson: A Musical Biography, by Malcolm MacDonald (Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland, 1989)
Ronald Stevenson: The Man and his Music, A Symposium, edited by Colin Scott-Sutherland with a foreword by Yehudi Menuhin (London, 2005) ISBN0-907689-40-X
External linksEdit
Ates Orga Ronald Stevenson Composer-Pianist: A Memoir (June 1999)
Digitised scores of Stevenson's compositions can be viewed through the collection hosted by
Gasser, M., "Ronald Stevenson, Composer-Pianist : An Exegetical Critique from a Pianistic Perspective" (Edith Cowan University Press, Western Australia, 2013)
Chris Walton, "Composer in Interview: Ronald Stevenson – a Scot in 'emergent Africa'"
August 29, 2023
ronald, stevenson, scotland, international, rugby, union, player, rugby, union, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, fin. For the Scotland international rugby union player see Ronald Stevenson rugby union This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Ronald Stevenson news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Ronald James Stevenson 6 March 1928 28 March 2015 was a Scottish composer pianist and writer about music Contents 1 Biography 2 List of works selection only 2 1 Orchestra 2 2 Solo instrument and orchestra 2 3 Solo voice and orchestra 2 4 Choral music 2 5 Chamber and instrumental 2 6 Keyboard music 2 6 1 Piano and harp 2 6 2 Harpsichord 2 6 3 Organ 2 6 4 Solo piano 2 7 Song cycles 3 References 4 Sources 5 External linksBiography EditThe son of a Scottish father and Welsh mother Stevenson was born in Blackburn Lancashire in 1928 He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music now incorporated in the Royal Northern College of Music studying composition with Richard Hall and piano with Iso Elinson graduating with distinction in 1948 He married Marjorie Spedding in 1952 1 He moved to Scotland in the mid 1950s As a socialist pacifist conscientious objector he applied for exemption from National Service but was refused recognition by the North Western Tribunal He in turn refused to attend a medical examination as an essential preliminary to call up which led to prosecution and sentence to 12 months imprisonment in Wormwood Scrubs 2 The sentence qualified him to go to the Appellate Tribunal which finally allowed exemption from military service conditional upon work on the land Among his many compositions the largest in terms of duration and most famous is his Passacaglia on DSCH for solo piano written between 1960 and 1962 based on a 13 note ground bass derived from the musical motif D E C B the German transliteration of Dmitri Shostakovich s initials D Sch Stevenson s work takes more than an hour and a quarter to perform and is one of the longest unbroken single movements composed for piano 3 Stevenson s other works include two piano concertos the second of which was first performed at the Proms in 1972 a violin concerto commissioned by Yehudi Menuhin and a cello concerto in memoriam Jacqueline du Pre He also wrote several chamber works including a String Quartet and Piano Quartet numerous songs among these many settings of Hugh MacDiarmid William Soutar and James Joyce and works for solo piano In 2007 he completed a choral symphony Ben Dorain on Hugh MacDiarmid s translation of the poem of that name by Duncan Ban MacIntyre This work for full chorus and chamber choir with chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra was begun in the 1960s and laid aside for many years The world premiere was given in City Halls Glasgow on 19 January 2008 by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the composer present 1 Stevenson was very active as a transcriber of music other than his own chiefly for the piano in the tradition of Ferrucio Busoni Percy Grainger and Leopold Godowsky His transcriptions covered composers as diverse as Henry Purcell Frederick Delius and Bernard van Dieren Notable examples include piano solo versions of Grainger s Hill Song No 1 originally for wind orchestra the first movement of Gustav Mahler s Tenth Symphony and of the six unaccompanied violin sonatas of Eugene Ysaye as piano sonatas Stevenson worked on van Dieren s String Quartet No 5 over a period of 40 years from 1948 to 1987 transcribing it as a piano sonata which B v D never composed 4 There is also a collection of piano solos based on songs from the 19th and 20th centuries entitled L art nouveau de chant applique au piano a title that recalls deliberately the collection of song transcriptions by Sigismond Thalberg Stevenson made many arrangements of folk music from countries as far apart as Scotland and China while many of his own works exist in several different instrumentations Stevenson was also noted as a teacher He was senior lecturer in composition at the University of Cape Town in the mid 1960s delivered seminars at the Juilliard School in New York and was responsible for a course entitled The Political Piano at the University of York in the early 1980s Stevenson died on 28 March 2015 aged 87 at his home in West Linton Scotland His widow and three children survive him 1 His daughter Savourna Stevenson born 1961 has recorded many works on the Scottish harp His daughter Gerda Stevenson is a film and theatre actress and a poet 5 His granddaughter Anna Wendy Stevenson is a Scots folk fiddler List of works selection only Edit Full list to 2005 in Symposium ed Scott Sutherland listed in References Orchestra Edit Berceuse Symphonique 1951 Jamboree for Grainger 1960 61 Scots Dance Toccata 1965 Young Scotland Suite 1976 Strathclyde s Salute to Mandela for brass band 1990 91 Solo instrument and orchestra Edit Piano Concerto No 1 A Faust Triptych 1959 60 reworking of Prelude Fugue and Fantasy for solo piano Simple Variations of Purcell s New Scotch Tune for clarinet and strings 1967 reworking of 1964 piano variations Piano Concerto No 2 The Continents 1970 72 Violin Concerto The Gypsy 1977 79 Corroborree for Grainger for piano and wind band 1989 recomposition of Jamboree for Grainger Cello Concerto The Solitary Singer 1968 94 Solo voice and orchestra Edit Variations Vocalises sur deux themes de Les Troyens de Berlioz for mezzo soprano and orchestra 1969 St Mary s May Songs for soprano and string orchestra 1988 89 Choral music Edit The Weyvers o Blegburn for chamber choir texts in Lancashire dialect 1962 A Medieval Scottish Triptych for a cappella chorus medieval Scottish texts 1967 Anns an Airde as an Doimhne for a cappella chorus poems by Sorley MacLean 1968 4 Peace Motets Biblical texts 1976 Domino Roberto Carwor 12 part Motet in memoriam Robert Carver text by James Reid Baxter 1987 In praise of Ben Dorain Symphony for full chorus chamber chorus symphony orchestra and chamber orchestra Gaelic text by Duncan Ban MacIntyre and translation by Hugh MacDiarmid 1962 2007 Chamber and instrumental Edit Sonata for violin and piano 1947 Variations on a Theme of Pizzetti for unaccompanied violin 1961 NB unrelated to piano variations though same theme 4 Meditations for string quartet 1964 arrangements of movements from A 20th Century Music Diary for piano Variations and Theme The Bonnie Earl o Moray for cello and piano 1974 Recitative and Air In Memoriam Shostakovich for violin and piano 1976 arrangement of piano original also for cello amp piano bassoon amp piano viola amp piano string quartet and string orchestra Don Quixote and Sancho Panza Duo for 2 guitars 1982 83 Scots Suite for unaccompanied violin 1984 Fantasy Quartet Alma Alba for piano violin viola and cello 1985 Bergstimmung for horn and piano 1986 The Harlot s House Dance Poem after Oscar Wilde for free bass accordion timpani and percussion 1988 String Quartet Voces Vagabundae 1990 Pan Celtic Wind Quintet 2000 Celtic Triptych for solo recorder 2010 dedicated to John Turner 6 Keyboard music Edit Piano and harp Edit Duo Sonata 1970 71 Chiaroscuro Homage to Rembrandt and his Biographer Van Loon 1987 Harpsichord Edit Sonata 1968 Organ Edit Prelude and Fugue on the 12 note theme from Liszt s Faust Symphony 1961 62 Solo piano Edit Sonatina No 1 1945 18 Variations on a Bach Chorale 1946 Sonatina No 2 1947 Vox Stellarum 1947 Sonatina No 3 1948 Chorale Prelude for Jean Sibelius 1948 Fugue on a Fragment of Chopin 1948 also version for 2 pianos 3 Nativity Pieces 1949 Andante Sereno 1950 Variations on a Theme of Pizzetti 1955 NB unrelated to violin variations though same theme A 20th Century Music Diary 1953 59 6 Pensees sur des Preludes de Chopin 1959 Prelude Fugue and Fantasy on Busoni s Faust 1949 59 Passacaglia on DSCH 1960 62 Simple Variations on Purcell s New Scotch Tune 1964 rev and enlarged 1975 as Little Jazz Variations on Purcell s New Scotch Tune Scottish Folk Music Settings c 1959 65 A Scottish Triptych 1959 67 originally A Modern Scottish Triptych consists of Keening Sang for a Makar in memoriam Francis George Scott Heroic Song for Hugh MacDiarmid and Chorale Pibroch for Sorley MacLean South Uist Folksong Suite 1969 Peter Grimes Fantasy on themes from the opera by Benjamin Britten 1971 3 Scottish Ballads 1973 Recitative and Air 1974 published 1976 as Recitative and Air In Memoriam Shostakovich Sonatina Serenissima In Memoriam Benjamin Britten Sonatina No 4 1973 77 Norse Elegy for Ella Nygard 1976 79 Barra Flyting Toccata 1980 A Rosary of Variations on Sean o Riada s Irish Folk Mass 1980 Symphonic Elegy for Liszt 1986 A Threepenny Sonatina Homage to Kurt Weill Sonatina No 5 1987 88 Motus Perpetuus Temporibus Fatalibus 1987 88 Beltane Bonfire 1989 A Carlyle Suite 1995 Le Festin d Alkan Concerto for solo piano without orchestra 1988 97 Fugue Variations and Epilogue on a Theme of Bax 1982 83 2003 Song cycles Edit 19 Songs of Innocence for four solo voices and piano with a cappella chorale texts by William Blake 1947 8 rev 1965 Four Vietnamese Miniatures for high voice and harp or piano texts by Ho Chi Minh 1965 Border Boyhood for tenor and piano text by Hugh MacDiarmid 1970 The Infernal City for tenor and piano texts by Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean 1970 71 9 Haiku for high voice and harp or piano texts from Japanese poets School of Bashō translated by Keith Bosley plus one poem by Keith Bosley 1971 Songs of Quest for baritone and piano texts by John Davidson 1974 Hills of Home for baritone and piano texts by R L Stevenson 1974 Songs from Factories and Fields for bass baritone and piano texts by Hugh MacDiarmid 1977 Lieder ohne Buchstaben Unspelt Songs for tenor and piano texts by A D Hope 1982 A Child s Garden of Verses for soprano or tenor and piano with optional treble or young soprano texts by R L Stevenson 1985 The Queen s Dolour A Farewell by Henry Purcell Realised by Ronald Stevenson 1958 source source Performed live by Mark Gasser Problems playing this file See media help References Edit a b c Alasdair Steven 31 March 2015 Obituary Ronald Stevenson composer and pianist The Scotsman Retrieved 4 April 2015 Obituary Daily Telegraph 19 April 2015 Igor Levit On DSCH Sony 19439809212 2021 reviewed at MusicWeb International Guild Christopher Notes to Ronald Stevenson Piano Music Volume Five Toccata Classics TOCC0606 2021 Braveheart actress composes song for local school Peebleshire News 31 July 2009 Archived from the original on 22 August 2009 Retrieved 12 June 2010 Ronald Stevenson and Friends Prima Facie PFCD202 2023 reviewed at MusicWeb InternationalSources EditRaymond Clarke recording notes for Stevenson Passacaglia on DSCH Raymond Clarke piano Marco Polo 8 223545 Ronald Stevenson A Musical Biography by Malcolm MacDonald Edinburgh National Library of Scotland 1989 Ronald Stevenson The Man and his Music A Symposium edited by Colin Scott Sutherland with a foreword by Yehudi Menuhin London 2005 ISBN 0 907689 40 XExternal links EditThe Ronald Stevenson Society Ronald Stevenson at the Scottish Music Centre Ates Orga Ronald Stevenson Composer Pianist A Memoir June 1999 Digitised scores of Stevenson s compositions can be viewed through the Five Centuries of Scottish Music collection hosted by AHDS Performing Arts Gasser M Ronald Stevenson Composer Pianist An Exegetical Critique from a Pianistic Perspective Edith Cowan University Press Western Australia 2013 Chris Walton Composer in Interview Ronald Stevenson a Scot in emergent Africa Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ronald Stevenson amp oldid 1169602480, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
