Next Moves
Donald Macleod and Leah Broad look at the challenges Dorothy Howell faced in following up on the huge success of her first orchestral work.
This week Donald Macleod is joined by the award-winning author Leah Broad to explore the story of the British composer Dorothy Howell, who shot to fame aged 21 after the triumphant premiere of her orchestral work 鈥楲amia鈥� at the Proms. By the mid-1920s she was regarded as one of the leading women composers of the day, performing in prestigious venues across the UK and regularly appearing on radio programmes in the earliest days of broadcasting. But she faced challenges from the 1930s onwards that left her disillusioned, and by the end of her life she wanted to destroy all but a handful of her works. Luckily family intervened, but even so Howell鈥檚 music almost disappeared from view - until recently.
At a turning point in her career, Howell wrote the score for a ballet which had all the right ingredients for a huge success, and should have capitalised on the success of Lamia at the Proms. The young composer鈥檚 self-confidence was badly affected by hostile reviews, but through the ballet she made contact with Ethel Smyth, who became a mentor.
Five Studies (Mvt 5)
Sophia Rahman, piano
Rosalind
Lorraine McAslan, violin
Sophia Rahman, piano
The Little Round House, The Bears
91热爆 Singers
Francesca Massey, piano
Will Dawes, conductor
Koong Shee
91热爆 Concert Orchestra
Rebecca Miller, conductor
Phantasy for violin and piano
Lorraine McAslan, violin
Sophia Rahman, piano
Last on
Music Played
-
![]()
Dorothy Howell
Five Studies for piano (No 5)
Performer: Sophia Rahman.- DUTTON : CDLX-7144.
- DUTTON.
- 13.
-
![]()
Dorothy Howell
Rosalind
Performer: Lorraine McAslan. Performer: Sophia Rahman.- DUTTON : CDLX-7144.
- DUTTON.
- 4.
-
![]()
Dorothy Howell
The Little Round House
Performer: Francesca Massey. Choir: 91热爆 Singers. Conductor: Will Dawes. -
![]()
Dorothy Howell
The Bears
Performer: Francesca Massey. Choir: 91热爆 Singers. Conductor: Will Dawes. -
![]()
Dorothy Howell
Koong Shee
Orchestra: 91热爆 Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Rebecca Miller.- SIGNUM : SIGCD763.
- SIGNUM.
- 7.
-
![]()
Dorothy Howell
Phantasy in G minor
Performer: Lorraine McAslan. Performer: Sophia Rahman.- DUTTON : CDLX-7144.
- DUTTON.
- 15.
Broadcast
- Tue 8 Oct 2024 16:0091热爆 Radio 3
Vaughan Williams Today
Programmes, concerts and features celebrating Vaughan Williams's 150th anniversary.
Beethoven Unleashed 鈥� the box set
The complete set of Radio 3 Beethoven Unleashed podcasts, with Donald Macleod.
What was really wrong with Beethoven?
Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh examine the composer's numerous health problems
Composers A to Z
Visit the extensive audio archive of Radio 3 programmes about Composers and their works.
Who knew? Five eye-opening stories from Composer of the Week
The production team reflects on 5 of Donald Macleod鈥檚 best stories from the last 20 years
Five reasons why we love Parry's Jerusalem
What is the strange power of Jerusalem which makes strong men weep?
A man out of time 鈥� why Parry's music and ideas were at odds with his image...
The composer of Jerusalem was very far from the conservative figure his image suggests.
Composer Help Page
Find resources and contacts for composers from within the classical music industry.