Death of a doyen British composer

Fellow-composers are reporting the death yesterday of Anthony Gilbert, a quiet, prolific and widely admired maker of music. He was a few days short of 89.

Gilbert wrote two operas – The Scene-Machine (1970) and The Chakravaka-Bird (1977, for BBC Radio) – as well as a symphony, a violin concerto and five string quartets. He worked for many years at his publisher, Schott.

His students include Martin Butler, Simon Holt, Sally Beamish and Tim Benjamin.

He once wrote: ‘Composition for me is a compulsion. Since my youth, I’ve heard so much really bad music forced upon the helpless listener that by my early twenties the need to at least provide an alternative became overwhelming. I’m not aiming to compete with the mighty composers of our time – it’s composition, not competition, that drives my imagination. Nor, despite accusations I’ve heard levelled against composers of my approach, should I be regarded as ‘elitist’. There is nothing wrong with trying to set high standards, or to challenge, in any of the arts. A further accusation, of course, is of ‘amateurism’, because like many other composers in my field I compose whether commissioned to do so or not. I flatly refute this accusation; my approach to composition is completely professional at every level. Further, unlike some colleagues, I do not respond to unpaid ‘commissions’.’