John Tavener - WikiHQ

thumb|Tavener in 2005

Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer of choral religious works. Among his works are The Lamb (1982), The Protecting Veil (1988), and Song for Athene (1993).

Tavener first came to prominence with his cantata The Whale, premiered in 1968. Then aged 24, he was described by The Guardian as "the musical discovery of the year", while The Times said he was "among the very best creative talents of his generation". During his career he became one of the best known and popular composers of his generation, most particularly for The Protecting Veil, which as recorded by cellist Steven Isserlis became a best-selling album, and Song for Athene which was sung at the funeral of Princess Diana. Tavener wrote the composition A New Beginning to commemorate the Millennium celebrations on New Year's Eve, 1999, during the opening of the Millennium Dome in London. Tavener was knighted in 2000 for his services to music and won an Ivor Novello Award, and was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by Sarum College in 2001.

Early life and education

Tavener was born on 28 January 1944 in Wembley, London. His parents ran a family building firm At the age of 12, Tavener was taken to Glyndebourne to hear Mozart's The Magic Flute, a work he loved for the rest of his life.

Tavener became a music scholar at Highgate School (where a fellow pupil was John Rutter). a post he held for 14 years. Tavener's younger brother, Roger, was then doing some building work on Ringo Starr's home and, gaining the musician's interest, persuaded the Beatles to have The Whale recorded by Apple Records and released in 1970. Orthodox theology and liturgical traditions became a major influence on his work. He was particularly drawn to its mysticism, studying and setting to music the writings of Church Fathers and completing a setting of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, the principal eucharistic liturgy of the Orthodox Church: this was Tavener's first directly Orthodox-inspired music.

Later career

thumb|200px| John Tavener's choral arrangement of [[William Blake's "The Lamb" from his collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a continually popular work. This image represents copy C, object 8 of that original poem, currently held by the Library of Congress.]]

Tavener's subsequent explorations of Russian and Greek culture resulted in Akhmatova Requiem: this failed to enjoy success either at its Edinburgh Festival premiere in 1981, or at its Proms' performance the following week where many of the audience left before it finished. This simple homophonic piece is usually performed as a Christmas carol. Later prominent works include The Akathist of Thanksgiving of 1987, written in celebration of the millennium of the Russian Orthodox Church; The Protecting Veil, first performed by cellist Steven Isserlis and the London Symphony Orchestra at the 1989 Proms; and Song for Athene (1993). The two choral works were settings of texts by Mother Thekla, a Russian Orthodox abbess who was Tavener's long-time spiritual adviser until her death in 2011. In 2007 Tavener composed The Beautiful Names, a setting of the 99 names of God in the Muslim tradition, sung in Arabic. In an interview with The New York Times, conducted by British music journalist Michael White, Tavener said: "I reached a point where everything I wrote was terribly austere and hidebound by the tonal system of the Orthodox Church, and I felt the need, in my music at least, to become more universalist: to take in other colors, other languages." The interviewer also reported at the time that he "hasn't abandoned Orthodoxy. He remains devotedly Christian." Speaking on the BBC Four television programme Sacred Music in 2010, Tavener described himself as "essentially Orthodox". He reiterated both his desire to explore the musical traditions of other religions, and his adherence to the Orthodox Christian faith, on Start the Week, recorded only days before his death and broadcast on 11 November 2013.

In 2020 Sir David Pountney, former artistic director of the Welsh National Opera, announced that Tavener's final opera, Krishna (which was completed in 2005 but had remained in manuscript form) would be staged by Grange Park Opera. Pountney himself will be directing the production. It will premiere in 2026.

Personal life

In 1974 he married the Greek dancer Victoria Maragopoulou. They were married for eight months. He had considerable health problems throughout his life. He had a stroke in his thirties, heart surgery and the removal of a tumour in his forties, and had two successive heart attacks which left him frail. He was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome in 1990. Lady Tavener broadcast a charity appeal on BBC Radio 4 in October 2008 on behalf of the Marfan Trust.

Tavener had an interest in classic cars, owning an Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, a Jaguar XJ6 and a white Bentley Mulsanne Turbo. He was also noted for wearing a white suit.

Death and legacy

Tavener died, aged 69, on 12 November 2013 at his home in Child Okeford, Dorset. Among those in the music world who paid tribute were composers John Rutter

Rutter describes Tavener as having the "very rare gift" of being able to "bring an audience to a deep silence."

Career highlights

1968 – The Whale premiered by the London Sinfonietta and subsequently recorded on the Beatles' Apple label.
1971 – A Celtic Requiem recorded by Apple.
1973 – Thérèse, the story of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, commissioned by the Royal Opera, London.
4 September 1989 – premiere of The Protecting Veil at the Proms in London.
2000 – premiere of Fall and Resurrection in St Paul's Cathedral, London (4 January 2000).
2000 – knighthood in the Millennium Honours List.
2001 – soundtrack of Werner Herzog's short documentary Pilgrimage composed.
2003 – premiere of the all-night vigil The Veil of the Temple by the Holst Singers and the Choir of the Temple Church at the Temple Church, London.
2005 – premiere of Laila (Amu), Tavener's first dance collaboration, with Random Dance company and Wayne McGregor's choreography.
2006 – contributed Fragments of a Prayer to the Alfonso Cuarón film Children of Men.
2007 – premiere of The Beautiful Names by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra at Westminster Cathedral. The work, sung in Arabic, is a setting of the 99 names of Allah found in the Qur'an. Awarded honorary degree by the University of Winchester.
2008 – premiere of the anthem sung in St Paul's Cathedral in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh.
March 2009 – premiere of Tu ne sais pas for mezzo-soprano, timpani and strings. The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Katherine Pracht singing texts drawn from poems by French poet Jean Biès (one of the work's dedicatees) and from Islamic and Hindu sources.
2011 – excerpts of Funeral Canticle from the album Eternity's Sunrise by the Academy of Ancient Music were used multiple times in Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life.
April 2013 – premieres of Tolstoy's Creed and Three Hymns of George Herbert by The City Choir of Washington at the Washington National Cathedral.
7 July 2013 – premieres of Love Duet from The Play of Krishna, If Ye Love Me and The Death of Ivan Ilyich during an all-Tavener concert given as part of the Manchester International Festival.
2013 – The Lamb included in the critically acclaimed soundtrack to Paolo Sorrentino's film The Great Beauty (Italy's official selection for the 2013 Academy Awards), which subsequently won.

Works

Setting of the Credo (1961)
Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (1986)
The Tyger (1987)
Diodia (1995; orchestra)
Funeral Canticle (1996; orchestra)
Prayer for the healing of the sick (1998)
A New Beginning (1999)
Fall and Resurrection (2000)
Mother and Child (2002)
The Veil of the Temple (2003; soprano, SATB choir, boys' choir, ensemble)
Exhortation and Kohima (2003; two SATB choirs)
Schuon Lieder (2003; song cycle for soprano, ensemble)
Krishna (2005; unproduced opera)
Sollemnitas in Conceptione Immaculata Beatae Mariae Virginis (2006; mass)