As a prolific musician and writer, Arnold Bax was hugely popular in the inter-war period when his symphonic compositions were regularly broadcast on the radio.
Born in London to wealthy parents, he was already composing by the age of 13. Four years later he was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music where he excelled, becoming a talented piano player and prize-winning student.
A lifetime passion for Celtic mythology and folklore was sparked on reading Irish poet W.B. Yeats’ work The Wanderings of Oisin in 1902 which inspired his creative life and led to regular visits to Glencolumcille, Ireland.
He learned Irish Gaelic and named his children Maeve and Dermot but his enthusiasm for Ireland was not limited to its ancient past. He wrote poems about his adopted land including one about those killed during the Easter Rising which was considered so politically challenging that it was banned by the British government.
In 1928 he made the first of his winter visits to the Scottish Highlands. He was to spend the next 12 years traveling up on the train from London to spend his winters at the Station Hotel in Morar where he composed much of his music including his Third Symphony.
His best known work is Tintagel, a symphonic poem which evokes Cornwall’s wild natural landscape and folklore which he wrote in 1917 following a visit to Tintagel Castle with his lover. Bax’s achievements were recongnised during his lifetime with many awards including a knighthood in 1937 and appointment as Master of the King’s Music in 1942, a post he held until his death.
One of his last compositions was a Coronation March for Queen Elizabeth II for which he was made Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1953. He died the same year at Cork in his beloved Ireland.
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