• Name: Lennox Berkeley
• Birthday: 05/12/1903
• Birth Place: Boars Hill, Oxford, England
• Died: 12/26/1989
• Place of Death: London, England
• Country: England
• Period: Modern
• Genre: Classical

Title	Release
Ruth, opera in 3 scenes, Op. 50	2003
(6) Sonatina for recorder (or flute) & piano, Op. 13
(2) A Dinner Engagement, opera in 1 act, Op. 45	2003
(2) Andantino, for cello & piano, Op. 21/2a	2000
Antiphon, for string orchestra, Op. 85	2007
Automne, for medium voice & piano, Op. 60/3	2008
Autumn's Legacy, for high voice & piano, Op. 58	2008
Bells of Cordoba, for high voice & piano, Op. 14/2	2008
Chinese Songs (5), for medium voice & piano, Op. 78	2008
Concert Studies (4), Set 1, for piano, Op. 14/1 W	1958
(2) Concert Study, for piano in E flat major, Op. 48/2	2003
(2) Concertino, for flute (or recorder), violin, cello & harpsichord (or piano), Op. 49	1998
(2) Concerto for Two pianos and Orchestra, Op. 30	2006
(2) Crux fidelis, for tenor & chorus, Op. 43/1	2003
D'un vanneur de blé aux vents, for voice & piano	2008
Daffodils, song (from "A Winter's Tale")
Diversions, for 8 instruments, Op. 63	1983
Divertimento for orchestra in B flat major, Op. 18 W
(3) Duo for cello & piano, Op. 81/1	1998
Elegy for violin & piano, Op. 33/2	1998
(2) Festival Anthem, for chorus & organ, Op. 21/2
Greek Songs (3), for medium voice & piano, Op. 38	1959
(3) Guitar Concerto, Op. 88 W	1975
Herrick Songs (5), for high voice & harp, Op. 89	2008
(2) Housman Songs (5), for high voice & piano, Op. 14/3
How Love Came In, for medium voice & piano	2008
(8) I Sing of a Maiden, for chorus W	1965
Impromptus (3) for piano, Op. 7 W	1958
Improvisation on a Theme of de Falla, for piano, Op. 55/2	2003
(2) In Wintertime, for chorus, Op. 103	1991
Introduction and Allegro, for double-bass & piano, Op. 80
(2) Introduction and Allegro, for solo violin, Op. 24	1998
Judica me, for chorus, Op. 96/1
(4) Latin Motets (3), for 5 voices, Op. 83/1
(3) Lay your sleeping head my love, for high voice & piano, Op. 14/2b	1997
(4) Look Up Sweet Babe, for treble voice & chorus, Op. 43/2	1982
Lord, when the Sense of Thy sweet Grace, for chorus & organ, Op. 21/1	1982
(3) Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, for chorus & organ, Op. 99
Magnificat, for chorus & orchestra, Op. 71
(2) Mass for 5 voices, Op. 64
Mazurka for piano, Op. 101/2	2003
(2) Mazurkas (3) for piano, Op. 32/1	2003
(3) Missa Brevis for chorus & organ, Op. 57
(2) Night covers up the rigid land, for voice & piano, Op. 14/2	1997
Nocturne for harp, Op. 67/2 W	1997
Ode du premiere jour de mai, for mezzo-soprano (or baritone) & piano, Op. 14/2	2008
(3) Palm Court Waltz, for orchestra (or piano, 4 hands), Op. 81/2a	1993
Partita for chamber orchestra, Op. 66 W
Paysage, for piano	2003
Petite Suite, for oboe & cello	1998

Though his profile outside the United Kingdom was overshadowed somewhat by the illustrious careers of Walton, Tippett, and Britten, Sir Lennox Berkeley left an indelible mark on British music in the twentieth century. A student of Nadia Boulanger with an ear for songlike lyricism, Berkeley established a style that combined French melodic elegance with English triadic sonority and neo-classical clarity.

Berkeley was born into an aristocratic family, but lost out on his inheritance because his birth had preceded his parents' marriage. He nonetheless enjoyed a relatively comfortable childhood and eventually arrived at Oxford, where he studied French. (This academic background lent his later songs on French texts a particularly elegant contour.) Ravel, upon examining some of Berkeley's student compositions, encouraged him to focus on musical studies and recommended him for study with Nadia Boulanger. Berkeley was well-suited to Boulanger's infamously methodic, craft-like approach, and thrived under her tutelage. Works such as his Serenade, Op. 12, and the Divertimento, Op. 18, which remain in the British orchestral repertoire, resonate with Boulanger's influence; Peter Dickinson has described the Finale of the latter piece as "a cross between Haydn and Poulenc." Berkeley's piano works and chamber pieces demonstrate a similar disposition. Also, during his time in Paris, he converted Catholicism, a decision that would infuse his later vocal and choral works, such as the Missa brevis, with a particular spiritual fervor. As a young composer he maintained his friendship with Ravel, and also made the acquaintance of Poulenc; in fact, much of his music betrays the influence of Les Six.

Berkeley was employed for a time as a programmer for the BBC during World War II, then in 1946 took a position at the Royal Academy of Music, where he remained on the faculty for over two decades and mentored a number of important figures in the subsequent generation, including Bennett, Maw, and, most familiar to non-Brits, John Tavener. Berkeley counted Britten among his closest friends, and, following Britten's revival of British opera, he wrote a number of operatic works as well, including the successful A Dinner Engagement. A subsequent opera, Faldon Park, remained incomplete in the composer's later life. In fact, his faculties gradually deteriorated over the course of several years preceding his death in 1989. His last years were spent, rather, receiving the honors due him; subsequent to his knighthood in 1974, he received numerous accolades and an honorary degree from the international musical community. ~ Jeremy Grimshaw, All Music Guide