Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, classical music composer
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Biography
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) (born Leon Dudley Sorabji) was an English composer, music journalist, and pianist.
He occupies a curious place in the repertoire. Several of his works are of extraordinary length and difficulty, making them inaccessible to many pianists. In a letter from Sorabji to his good friend Peter Warlock, he writes, "You claim that I write monstrosities which only the composer can play. What if they were meant only for the composer?" One of his most famous works, Opus Clavicembalisticum—the fame enhanced by once being listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest piano work ever written—has a reputation as a mythic, nearly impossible staple of the super-virtuoso repertoire. However, its difficulties are not insurmountable, and it has been recorded several times. Many of his major piano works have not been recorded at all, and some others have had recordings of selected movements only. Much of his work is very melodic with combinations of lush, piquant and dissonant harmonies. The record label Altarus intends to eventually release a full discography of the composer's work.
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was born Leon Dudley Sorabji in Chingford, Essex (now Greater London). His father was a civil engineer of Parsi parentage from Bombay. His mother, Madeleine, according to the census for the night of 2 April 1911, contrary to other reports was born a "British subject by parentage" in Devonshire and was 37 years old on that day, living at 4 Hill Road, London NW8 9QG, a house of eight rooms in the St. Johns Wood district of London. On the night of the census the head of the household (Sorabji's father) was absent and possibly abroad, since he does not appear in the complete census. Madeleine declares herself a person of private means. A maid, Emily Mildred King, aged 22 is also included in the household. Sorabji is said to be 17 years old and a student.[citation needed] Sorabji never visited India during his youth. He later changed his name to demonstrate his strong identification with his Parsi heritage. He explained why he did this. Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, edited by Paul Rapoport includes his response to the suggestions that his name was not his real one:
"It is also stated that my name, my real name, that is the one I am known by, is not my real name. Now one is given one's name - one's authentic ones - at some such ceremony as baptism, Christening, or the like, on the occasion of one's formal reception into a certain religious Faith. In the ancient Zarathustrian Parsi community to which, on my father's side, I have the honour to belong, this ceremony is normally performed, as in other Faiths, in childhood, or owing to special circumstances as in my case, later in life, when I assumed my name as it now is or, in the words of the legal document in which this is mentioned "... received into the Parsi community and in accordance with the custom and tradition thereof, is now and will be henceforth known as..." and here follows my name as now."
As a critic, he was loosely connected to the "New Age" Magazine group surrounding A. R. Orage. His critical publications were of concentrated bitterness, weight, and sharpness, yet they were wickedly funny and displayed an extreme mistrust of the English public taste. Among his best publications are essays about Busoni, Reger, Szymanowski, and Bernard van Dieren. Studies about Tantric Hinduism led him to his essay Metapsychical motivation in music and to his Tantrik Symphony.
His works were influenced by Alkan, Busoni (to whom his second piano sonata is dedicated), Godowsky, Reger, Szymanowski, Scriabin, and Delius. He was friends with Philip Heseltine, who wrote music under the pseudonym Peter Warlock, and became a music journalist in part because of their friendship. He was also a friend of the composer Alistair Hinton, who is now the founder of the Sorabji Archive.
His work Opus Clavicembalisticum (1930) for solo piano takes between about 3¾ and 4¾ hours to play and consists of three sections, each divided into several movements, and each larger than the last. It was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest piano piece ever written. The accuracy of this claim has been disputed as Sorabji himself wrote works of even greater length. His fifth piano sonata Opus Archimagicum, Sequentia Cyclica Super Dies Irae ex Missa Pro Defunctis, and the complete set of 100 Transcendental Studies—all have substantially longer durations than Opus Clavicembalisticum. One of his longest works Symphonic Variations occupies 484 A3-pages of manuscript in three volumes and could take about eight hours to play. The Second Symphony for organ lasts more than nine hours.
Characteristic is his use, inspired by Busoni, of baroque forms—chorale prelude, passacaglia, and fugue—with harmonies, melodies, and approaches that are not neoclassical as usually understood.
Many details of his life were for a long time hard to come by, as Sorabji was extraordinarily reticent about his life. He was notorious for almost always refusing requests for interviews or information, often with rude messages and warnings not to approach him again. This has led to numerous misunderstandings, for instance, that he lived in a castle, probably because he lived in the Dorset village of Corfe Castle. He was equally notorious for refusing permission for his works to be publicly performed. Since he had independent financial means, he felt no need to be tactful in his dealings with the public, critics, and musicians interested in performing his works. His home, which he named "The Eye", had a sign at the gate: "Visitors Unwelcome."
The group of musicians who have tackled Sorabji's often extremely difficult works includes: Michael Habermann, Soheil Nasseri, Donna Amato, John Ogdon, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Jonathan Powell, Yonty Solomon, Ronald Stevenson, Reinier Van Houdt, Tellef Johnson, Fredrik Ullén, Kevin Bowyer, Carlo Grante, Daan Vandewalle, and Marc-André Hamelin.
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Biography
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) (born Leon Dudley Sorabji) was an English composer, music journalist, and pianist.He occupies a curious place in the repertoire. Several of his works are of extraordinary length and difficulty, making them inaccessible to many pianists. In a letter from Sorabji to his good friend Peter Warlock, he writes, "You claim that I write monstrosities which only the composer can play. What if they were meant only for the composer?" One of his most famous works, Opus Clavicembalisticum—the fame enhanced by once being listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest piano work ever written—has a reputation as a mythic, nearly impossible staple of the super-virtuoso repertoire. However, its difficulties are not insurmountable, and it has been recorded several times. Many of his major piano works have not been recorded at all, and some others have had recordings of selected movements only. Much of his work is very melodic with combinations of lush, piquant and dissonant harmonies. The record label Altarus intends to eventually release a full discography of the composer's work.
Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was born Leon Dudley Sorabji in Chingford, Essex (now Greater London). His father was a civil engineer of Parsi parentage from Bombay. His mother, Madeleine, according to the census for the night of 2 April 1911, contrary to other reports was born a "British subject by parentage" in Devonshire and was 37 years old on that day, living at 4 Hill Road, London NW8 9QG, a house of eight rooms in the St. Johns Wood district of London. On the night of the census the head of the household (Sorabji's father) was absent and possibly abroad, since he does not appear in the complete census. Madeleine declares herself a person of private means. A maid, Emily Mildred King, aged 22 is also included in the household. Sorabji is said to be 17 years old and a student.[citation needed] Sorabji never visited India during his youth. He later changed his name to demonstrate his strong identification with his Parsi heritage. He explained why he did this. Sorabji: A Critical Celebration, edited by Paul Rapoport includes his response to the suggestions that his name was not his real one:
"It is also stated that my name, my real name, that is the one I am known by, is not my real name. Now one is given one's name - one's authentic ones - at some such ceremony as baptism, Christening, or the like, on the occasion of one's formal reception into a certain religious Faith. In the ancient Zarathustrian Parsi community to which, on my father's side, I have the honour to belong, this ceremony is normally performed, as in other Faiths, in childhood, or owing to special circumstances as in my case, later in life, when I assumed my name as it now is or, in the words of the legal document in which this is mentioned "... received into the Parsi community and in accordance with the custom and tradition thereof, is now and will be henceforth known as..." and here follows my name as now."
As a critic, he was loosely connected to the "New Age" Magazine group surrounding A. R. Orage. His critical publications were of concentrated bitterness, weight, and sharpness, yet they were wickedly funny and displayed an extreme mistrust of the English public taste. Among his best publications are essays about Busoni, Reger, Szymanowski, and Bernard van Dieren. Studies about Tantric Hinduism led him to his essay Metapsychical motivation in music and to his Tantrik Symphony.
His works were influenced by Alkan, Busoni (to whom his second piano sonata is dedicated), Godowsky, Reger, Szymanowski, Scriabin, and Delius. He was friends with Philip Heseltine, who wrote music under the pseudonym Peter Warlock, and became a music journalist in part because of their friendship. He was also a friend of the composer Alistair Hinton, who is now the founder of the Sorabji Archive.
His work Opus Clavicembalisticum (1930) for solo piano takes between about 3¾ and 4¾ hours to play and consists of three sections, each divided into several movements, and each larger than the last. It was once listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest piano piece ever written. The accuracy of this claim has been disputed as Sorabji himself wrote works of even greater length. His fifth piano sonata Opus Archimagicum, Sequentia Cyclica Super Dies Irae ex Missa Pro Defunctis, and the complete set of 100 Transcendental Studies—all have substantially longer durations than Opus Clavicembalisticum. One of his longest works Symphonic Variations occupies 484 A3-pages of manuscript in three volumes and could take about eight hours to play. The Second Symphony for organ lasts more than nine hours.
Characteristic is his use, inspired by Busoni, of baroque forms—chorale prelude, passacaglia, and fugue—with harmonies, melodies, and approaches that are not neoclassical as usually understood.
Many details of his life were for a long time hard to come by, as Sorabji was extraordinarily reticent about his life. He was notorious for almost always refusing requests for interviews or information, often with rude messages and warnings not to approach him again. This has led to numerous misunderstandings, for instance, that he lived in a castle, probably because he lived in the Dorset village of Corfe Castle. He was equally notorious for refusing permission for his works to be publicly performed. Since he had independent financial means, he felt no need to be tactful in his dealings with the public, critics, and musicians interested in performing his works. His home, which he named "The Eye", had a sign at the gate: "Visitors Unwelcome."
The group of musicians who have tackled Sorabji's often extremely difficult works includes: Michael Habermann, Soheil Nasseri, Donna Amato, John Ogdon, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Jonathan Powell, Yonty Solomon, Ronald Stevenson, Reinier Van Houdt, Tellef Johnson, Fredrik Ullén, Kevin Bowyer, Carlo Grante, Daan Vandewalle, and Marc-André Hamelin.