Easdale, Brian

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Easdale, Brian

Easdale, Brian, English composer; b. Manchester, Aug. 10, 1909; d. Oct. 30, 1995. He studied at the Royal Coll. of Music in London (1925- 33). He became interested in theatrical music; wrote 3 operas, Rapunzel (1927), The Corn King (1935), and The Sleeping Children (1951); incidental music to Shakespeare’s plays; also several film scores, of which the most successful was The Red Shoes (1948). Other works include a Piano Concerto (1938) and several orch. pieces of a descriptive nature (Dead March; The Phoenix; Bengal River; etc.), Cavatina for Brass Ensemble (1961), Missa coventrensis (1962) for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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