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Music Webmaster
Len Mullenger:
Len@musicweb-international.com
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LEONARD SALZEDO (1921 - 2000) by Paul Conway
Leonard Salzedo was born in London on 24th September 1921. He was descended from Sephardic Jews driven from Spain as a result of an anti-Semitic purge in 1492. At the age of six he began learning to play the violin and six years later he began his first compositions. Leonard was a pupil at the Madame Memgers School of Violin Playing from 1937 to 1940. From 1940 to 1944 he studied at the Royal College of Music, where his principal teachers were Isolde Menges for violin and Herbert Howells for composition (he had previously taken lessons in composition with William Lloyd Webber). He also studied orchestration with Gordon Jacob, conducting with George Dyson and chamber music with Ivor James. He gained the ARCM in 1941 for violin playing and additional harmony and in 1942 he won the Cobbett Prize for his First String Quartet. The composer played in the first performance of his first string quartet and also in the second quartet. Marie Rambert, who was at the première performance of the second string quartet, recognised a composer with a potential flair for ballet music and commissioned Leonard to write for the Ballet Rambert Company. The resulting ballet score, The Fugitive (1944) turned out to be the first of seventeen examples in the genre. It was premièred in November 1944 and was performed more than 400 times by the Ballet Rambert in whose repertoire the piece remained for six years. As the composer remarked, "if you want to hear your score more than once, write a ballet!"
In 1945 he married Pat Clover. They were both strongly committed to the Ballets Nègres, a company providing opportunities for talent in immigrant post-war West Indian communities. In 1946, the year in which he was Music Director of the Ballets Nègres, Leonard wrote four ballets for the company: "De Prophet", "They Came", "Market Day" and "Aggrey".
Leonard continued to strengthen his links with the Ballet Rambert: in 1946 he became their conductor and completed a re-orchestration of Adam's "Giselle" for their small-scale orchestral forces. The same year, Andrée Howard, choreographer of "The Fugitive", asked Leonard to write a work for her. The resulting ballet score "Mardi Gras" was written for Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet.
From 1947 to 1950 he was a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This was at the same time as another budding composer, Malcolm Arnold was first trumpet. Leonard played in the first performance of Arnold's First Symphony as well as the first performance of Alan Bush's Nottingham Symphony (no 2) in 1949. He took part in such prestigious concerts as the first British performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, the event which made such an impression on Carlo Martelli and had no little influence on Martelli's own Second Symphony (1955). Leonard also remembered playing under Stravinsky: "not a good conductor but he knew what he wanted and got it!" Stravinsky was rehearsing "The Rake's Progress" with the LPO when Robert Craft commented adversely on the play through, having been asked his opinion by the composer. Stravinsky replied succinctly, "I thought it wasn't that bad!"
From 1950 to 1966 he was a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and played on many a legendary Beecham recording, including the Haydn "London" symphonies. Leonard, who became the conductor's assistant, helped Beecham with his re-orchestration of Grétry and in return Beecham asked the young composer if there were any pieces of his that he might like to be performed. Without hesitation, Leonard Salzedo opted for his newly finished first symphony (1952) and so it was that Beecham performed the work with the RPO in the Royal Festival Hall in 1956. On this occasion, Leonard was in the audience rather than on the concert platform. Another work which Beecham performed was the concert suite from the ballet "The Witch Boy" (1955). This ballet was the most successful of all Leonard's works in that field. It was first performed by the Ballet der Lage Landen in Amsterdam in May 1956 and has had more than 1,000 performances in thirty different countries since then. It remains one of the most successful and lucrative scores the composer ever wrote (the other two being the film score for the Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) and the Fanfare from the Divertimento for three trumpets and three trombones (1959) which, for many years, was used to introduce programmes of the Open University).
In 1966 Leonard finally gave up orchestral playing (from which he had supplemented his income since 1947) and took up an appointment as Music Director of the Ballet Rambert which he held until 1972 when he was invited to become Principal Conductor of the Scottish Ballet. He conducted the Scottish Ballet until 1974. His last position of responsibility in the world of ballet came in 1982 when he became Music Director of the London City Ballet, a post he relinquished in 1986.
After 1986, he decided to devote all his time to composition and the years between 1986 and 1997 saw a string of important compositions from this industrious composer. One of the most important works from this glorious Indian summer of creativity is the "Requiem Sine Voxibus" or Requiem without Voices for a very large orchestra (1989). At around 60 minutes' duration, this work is one of its composer's largest and most substantial scores. The composer himself regarded it as one of his finest achievements. Sadly it has yet to receive a performance, something any right-thinking conductor or concert planner would do well to put right. Other notable scores from this late period are the Stabat Mater for soprano, alto, chorus and orchestra (1991), the Violin Concerto (1992), the Piano Concerto (written for Leslie Howard) (1994), string quartets 8 (1994), 9 (1996) and 10 (1997) and a cello sonata (1997).
Unfortunately ill health prevented Leonard Salzedo from continuing to compose and his last composition was his opus 143, the Improvisations for Musette and Piano dating from 1997. He passed away at his home in Leighton Buzzard on May 6th 2000 aged 78 leaving behind a vast, musically diverse legacy of works which bespeak a love of his craft and an insider's knowledge of the orchestra and its various instruments. He published most of his music himself under the name of Lopès, preferring to keep control of it rather than entrusting it to a publishing firm.
Apart from the seventeen ballet scores, Leonard also wrote a great deal of orchestral music in other genres, concentrating on the traditional forms of concerto and symphony, though not exclusively so. One of his earliest orchestral works is the Concerto for Double Bass and Small Orchestra (1947) written for a friend, the lead double bass player of the London Philharmonic.
The Serenade for Flute, Oboe and Piano dates from 1951. Its brief five movements already capture much of the mature style of Leonard Salzedo's writing, especially the last movement. The Serenade begins with elaborate flute and oboe arabesques over sonorous piano chords, leading to a faster sequence. The second movement takes the form of a Round and has a slightly Ravelian flavour. The following movement has a moto perpetuo feel to it, a favourite form of the composer (it was the moto perpetuo-like 6/8 Finale of Leonard's Fifth String Quartet (1952) which so influenced Arthur Butterworth when he came to write the Finale of his Symphony no 1 in 1957). A slower movement characterised by fluid piano writing and woodwind trills is followed by a Finale which begins with an extended cantabile flute melody over sonorous piano chords and soon turns into a quick, tongue-in-cheek, Spanish-sounding dance with jazzy cross-rhythms for the piano. Here is the typical "Salzedo" sound which characterises much of his writing, especially the ballets.
Also in 1951 Leonard wrote his only overture called "Bosworth Field" and a year later a symphonic poem entitled "Gabble Retchit (The Harlething)". After completing "Two Rhythmic Pieces" for orchestra in 1952 he produced his Symphony no 1 which was completed on the 8th of June 1952. The work is cast in the traditional four movements but the work is unusual in that is begins with a brooding slow movement characterised by a recurring five-note descending figure marked Lento and follows it with a quick monothematic moto perpetuo-like scherzo (Allegro vivace). A brief Adagio movement with an eloquent and impassioned Mahlerian string theme comes next and an irrepressible Allegro Finale in an obsessive Latin dance rhythm sweeps all before it, bringing the symphony to a powerful climax. The symphony is scored for 2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglias, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (cymbals and side drum), 4 timpani, harp and strings. The work takes about 30 minutes in performance and is a splendid example of the composer's early confidence in writing for the orchestra. His mastery of the forces for which he is writing is evident and is a pleasure to hear such a finely balanced and powerful work driven by the use of ostinati and rhythmic cells. The Finale has a Spanish flavour to it, at times recalling de Falla and the Ravel of Rhapsodie Espagnole. There is no indulgence in symphonic rhetoric which inflates many another post-war British symphony to indulgent proportions.
The second symphony was written in 1954 and is cast in three movements played without a break (Allegro-Lento-Allegro). The work is scored for 3 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (3 players: cymbals, gong, tam-tam, snare drum, tenor drum, bass drum), harp and strings. It was given its first performance on the 29th of August 1987 at the Edinburgh International Festival by the Rehearsal Orchestra conducted by Harry Legge. An exuberant work, the second symphony follows on from its predecessor in many ways, not least in its use of obsessive Spanish rhythms. The last movement starts with a memorable bell-like tolling theme after which a quicker dance version ensues. The quality of this work and the first symphony leads one to regret that Leonard did not write more works in this genre but his natural flair for dance rhythms was to lead him towards sectional ballet music rather than long, organically conceived symphonic structures.
Soon after completing the second symphony, Leonard Salzedo composed a Sinfonietta for chamber orchestra (2 oboes, 2 horns in F and strings). In three movements (Lento-Allegro), Andante and Allegro, the work was finished in London on the 15th of March 1955. In the same year, he completed his orchestration of a Suite from his 1946 ballet "Mardi Gras". The Suite is in four movements: Introduction: Sad Pierrot…"My grief lies onward and my joy behind"; Masked Revellers; Interlude: Three Girls in Blue; Dance of the Circus Girl. It is this last movement which most clearly contains the seeds of future Salzedo ballet scores with its tarantella-like rhythm which is deconstructed before a bravura conclusion. The Suite from Mardi Gras was performed by Adrian Boult and the LPO.
Also in 1955, Leonard wrote one of his most successful works, "The Witch Boy", a ballet in Three Scenes. After its first performance in Amsterdam in July 1956 by the Ballet der Lage Landen (Ballet of the Low Countries), the work was subsequently taken up by London's Festival Ballet who first performed it in Manchester in November 1957. In July 1958 the ballet had its first performance in London where its success was equal to that it had already received in Paris, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. It went on to be performed all over Europe, Latin America as well as Japan, Korea and South Africa, Buenos Aires and received its US première in Washington, DC. Taking place in the mountains of the Middle West, the ballet is the story of a village girl who flees the advances of the preacher. In the hills she witnesses the eerie symbolic birth of the Witch Boy from under the cloak of the Conjor-Man. The Witch Boy is represented by the unearthly sounds of the vibraphone. The Witch Boy and the village girl fall in love and the girl takes the Witch Boy back to the village. The villagers shy away from them, sensing something supernatural. The jealous preacher condemns the girl and rouses the wrath of the menfolk, who leave their dancing and lynch the Witch Boy. The girl dies, the god-figure of the Conjor-Man returns and the Witch Boy is reborn. In the Concert Suite, the first scene is omitted, as is the music for the Conjor-Man. After the Introduction, the Suite goes straight into the Dance of the Witch Boy, with its spasmodic rhythms in which he discovers the use of his limbs. In the following Dance of the Lovers, the Witch Boy experiences emotion for the first time. The music is lyrical and sensuous and after a big climax dies away as the lovers return to the village. A Square Dance is in progress, a splendidly Copland-style Hoe Down with a witty theme for violin. The Witch Boy tries to join in but is unable to adapt to the simple steps and the dance is disrupted: this is expressed in the music by a gradual change of character and an accelerando. In The Lynching, the preacher exhorts the villagers to violence. At the outset, the preacher is accompanied by the Wind and the responses of the villagers are played by Strings but as the music gathers momentum, these two elements are integrated and a climax is reached as the Witch Boy is lynched. The Witch Boy's first music returns as he is reborn, but is disembodied in character. As he sees the body of the dead girl, the foreboding chords of the Introduction return.
The Suite from The Witch Boy was recorded and released on an LP (now deleted) with the London Philharmonic under the direction of the composer on the Classics for Pleasure label in 1971 (CFP 179). The record also featured a performance of Ibert's Divertissement also with the LPO under Leonard Salzedo.
The Divertimento Concertante for three clarinets and orchestra of 1958 and the Sinfonietta Espanola of 1959 were both written for Harry Legge and the Edinburgh Rehearsal Orchestra. The conductor asked especially for pieces which were musically interesting but not too difficult so that they could be played by advanced amateur or student orchestras. Leonard wrote the pieces in such a way that if a small number of the parts are omitted, the works could still be performed. Thus, in the Divertimento Concertante, the orchestral clarinet parts and the tuba are optional and in both works it is possible to play the harp part on the piano. The Divertimento came about as a result of their being too many clarinet players in the Rehearsal Orchestra in 1957 and so Harry Legge had the idea of commissioning a concertante piece for clarinets and orchestra. The piece is on three movements. The first movement, a bright and frothy Allegro, was inspired by the opening of Mozart's String Quartet in G K387. The central Andante is contemplative in the minor key whilst the Allegro Vivace Finale is quick and high spirited. At one stage, its jazzy cross rhythms are transformed into a Malcolm Arnold-like oompah march. The soloists have some florid arabesques before the fanfare-like conclusion. The work was completed in July 1958 just in time to get the parts copied for the first performance the following month.
In 1958 Leonard completed his most famous film score: "Revenge of Frankenstein", one of his most lucrative scores for any medium. The sequel to Hammer's original "Curse of Frankenstein" of 1956, it was a prestigious project. Unlike most Hammer scores, the music accompanying the opening credits are subdued. They creep onto the soundtrack under a tolling of bells as the opening shot depicts the guillotine by which Peter Cushing's evil Baron Frankenstein is supposed to have perished at the end of the previous entry in the series. Leonard contributes an impressively dark-toned score, especially in the many important scenes featuring transplants. "The Revenge of Frankenstein" is available on video coupled with "The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb" which features one of Carlo Martelli's finest film scores (Columbia Tristar Home Video CVRP 178). "Revenge" was the last film score Leonard Salzedo wrote for the company, apart from a TV film in 1980 entitled "The Silent Scream" most notable for being Peter Cushing's only contribution to Hammer's output for television. One cannot help feeling that it is a shame Leonard was not chosen to write the score for Hammer's "Curse of the Werewolf" whose Spanish setting would have provided a perfect vehicle for the composer's unique brand of Latin rhythms.
Leonard Salzedo wrote his ballet score "Hazard" in 1965. It was the result of a Ballet Rambert collaboration with the choreographer Norman Morrice and designer Nadine Bayliss. The composer wanted to write a musical parallel to certain scientific ideas which were inspired by his fascination with astronomy and, to a lesser extent, physics. Thus, Leonard tried to present, in musical terms, the creation from basic matter, the organisation, the interaction of matter, chain reactions and final disintegration back to original chaos. The score is divided into three parts. The first part is entitled "Primitive Development" and consists of four sections. The initial "Chaos" presents the sound spectrum, a series of eight notes, intervals, triads and chords. It is as if the entire musical spectrum of the piece is displayed and from it are selected the note relationships which steer the work through its various stages of development. Thus, in the words of the composer, "unlike most pieces of music, this one begins and ends with sound and not with silence". A parallel might be the start of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, another "cosmic" work whose opening distant thrumming on first violins seems to have been conjured out of the very atmosphere. In the following section, "Cosmos and Ego", a pulse becomes more and more rhythmic, each phrase starting at a different point of the rhythm. "Daughters of Eve" employs a faster rhythm and cumulative phrases of oriental derivation with an assymetric bass-line. The final section of Part One, "Gymnasium of Adam" is faster still, consisting of short phrases which rise to a climax and then subside.
The second part of "Hazard" is entitled "Sophisticated Development" and comprises four sections. In "The Prize", a clarinet solo explores derivations of the previous thematic ideas. "The Choice" is a dance fugue for three woodwinds with rhythmic background. "Celebration" takes the form of variations on a rhythmic theme. Each variation is in a different key, the key sequence being the original eight notes of the work. "The Unattainable" is a slow lament with arpeggio accompaniment and little "bridge" phrases.
The third and last part is called "Contemporary Development" and begins with a battle which is rhythmic and percussive. The following section entitled "The Dead" is aleatory: short improvisatory phrases eventually join together and lead into the final section, "The Hunt - The Battle". The original eight notes are presented as at the beginning but with a rhythmic background that telescopes. There is a final climax and a quick diminuendo to the original sound spectrum with which the work began. In musical terms, the work charts the progress and development of Music itself: from a basic sound spectrum, through primitive folk music and more advanced folk music to simple (but organised) melody to more advanced melody; fugue; variations; semi-romantic lament; rhythm; random thought; climax and back to basic sound spectrum.
His next ballet score, the Divertimento Espagñol was written in 1967 in close collaboration with the choreographer Ana Ricarda. The score uses no actual folk tunes, but the movements are all based on classical Spanish dance rhythms. These dances include the Malaguena (literally, from Malaga), a stately version of the Fandango, the Panderos, a dance with rhythms in its feet and the Bolero with its repeated rhythm, usually played on castanets, though not in this score. The ballet also features a Romanza which acts as a quiet interlude between the more animated dances. The score has many echoes of Prokofiev, particularly in its adventurous harmonies and bold rhythms. There is also an epic quality to some of the movements, especially the last two, which suggests that this ballet score might work just as well as film music.
Four of the movements were recorded by Leonard Salzedo and released on an LP (now deleted) on the Classics for Pleasure label in 1972. The orchestra was the Royal Philharmonic and the composer conducted. Also featured on the LP were Leonard's orchestral arrangements of two of Granados's Spanish Dances.
The Concerto for Percussion was written in 1968 especially for a record of percussion music issued by Phillips Records which also included works by John Mayer and Geoffrey Grey. The work had a number of concert performances both in the UK and the USA and was also used for the ballet "The Empty Suit" first produced by the Batsheva Ballet in Israel in October 1970 and in the following month by the Ballet Rambert in England. This demonstrated how even works never intended to be danced to make eminently suitable ballet music, so strong is the dance element in Leonard Salzedo's writing. The Concerto used four players who use a variety of instruments, both percussive and tuned. The Concerto is in five movements, the first of which is a Prelude contrasting a rhythmic figure against a melodic one. The following Scherzo is pure rhythm (although the timpani are used, the actual notes are not important). The central Arioso uses only tuned instruments and develops the melodic idea from the first movement. In the following Antífonia, two snare drums comment over a timpani ostinato which is derived from an old plainsong melody. The Finale is comprised of two sections, using both tuned and percussive instruments, but it is rhythm which dominates ultimately, the second section consisting of a gradual accelerando and crescendo to the end. The thirty-minute Concerto was recorded in the United States by the Milwaukee Music-With-Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Pavel Burda, and released on CD by the Milwaukee 20th Century Ensemble Inc.
In 1973, Leonard wrote his Ballett Drei for chamber forces. Its unusual scoring for piano, harpsichord and organ with woodwind and brass instruments and only double basses from the string section lends it a jazzy, "orchestra pit" feel. In fact much of the score sounds like a 1970s version of Weill's "Threepenny Opera". The opening number sounds like a disconcerting combination of Michael Nyman and the theme from "The Munsters" with its scrunching dissonances, minimalist repetitions and relentless ostinati. The ballet score is in seventeen short movements and received a performance by members of the Saatheaters, Kassel.
The Viola Concerto was written in 1983 especially for Richard Crabtree who gave the first performance at the Helmsley Festival on July 30th 1983. Originally Leonard had the idea of writing a piece for solo violin and percussion instruments but later felt that that a viola might be more suitable. Finally, he arrived at the idea of a Viola Concerto in which one of the important elements is the vibraphone. The concerto is scored for percussion, harp and strings and is in eight sections, each of which is a little faster than the preceding one. For most of the time, the orchestral texture is rhythmic, creating a mosaic of sound over which the solo part can dominate. There are no themes as such, but the eight notes heard at the opening if the work are used in different ways throughout. The Concerto is very much a vehicle for the virtuosity of the soloist and there are few opportunities for extended orchestral passages. The idiomatic writing for viola reveals its creator as a born string player.
Perhaps the composer's greatest orchestral work and one of his finest in any medium is the Requiem Sine Voxibus of 1989. This 60-minute large scale setting of the Mass for orchestra only is one of Leonard Salzedo's most personal works. It is scored for a mighty orchestra: 3 flutes (piccolo), 3 oboes (cor anglais), 2 clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, 8 timpani (2 players), percussion (at least 7 players: bass drum, gong, cymbals, triangle, snare drum, tambourine, suspended cymbal, tenor drum, ratchet, vibraphone, campanelli, bells), piano, celesta (1 player), harp and strings. The score is prefaced by a quote from Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), the same man whose writings inspired William Alwyn to write his Fifth (and arguably greatest) Symphony. The words at the head of Leonard's score are "Life itself is but the shadow of Death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living, All things fall under this name. The sun itself is but the dark simalcrum and light but the shadow of God". The composer said to me that he thought this was perhaps his greatest work and he felt it was such a personal work as he wrote it after a grave illness and found writing it aided his recovery. It should be heard and one hopes an enterprising conductor and concert promoter will soon arrange a première.
In February 1990 he completed his Partita for vibraphone, marimba, tuned gongs, timpani and string quartet. It was premiered in Milwaukee on 2nd April 1991 by Music with Percussion Ensemble conducted by Pavel Burda. The work is cast in six movements: the Intraduzione has sustained harmonies in the strings set against more rhythmic textures for the percussion. The following Toccata uses pizzicato strings throughout while the percussion parts are characterised by ostinati. Sustained harmonies and open strings accompany the percussion in the Notturno whilst in the following Capriccio very quick writing for muted strings contrasts with simple chords for the percussion. The penultimate movement, entitled Aria, utilises a theme on unison strings accompanied by simple rhythmic figures in the percussion and the concluding Moto perpetuo has fast syncopated rhythms in all the instruments. A change of rhythm near the end of the piece leads to a last climax.
Leonard's next work was a piece for solo piano entitled "Pardes Rimonim": Four Improvisations for Piano". The title translates as "The Garden of the Pomegranites" and comes from a 16th Century Cabalistic tract by Moses Cordovero. The Cabbala is an occult Hebrew tradition of the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament. The first Improvisation is made up of alternate short scales and successions of minor and major chords of Messiaen-like intensity. The second movement is a single line of music in a very fast tempo which covers almost the entire range of the piano. The third movement is a sequence of high minor and major chords played softly. The last movement consists of very fast phrases interspersed with chord sequences. Unusually, Leonard Salzedo wrote the entire piece without time signatures or bar lines.
The following year, 1992, saw the composition of his Violin Concerto, another work scandalously still awaiting its first performance. It is written in three movements, an Allegro moderato, a Largo con precisione and a concluding Allegro brilliantissimo e molto vivace. Leonard Salzedo wrote it to sound like Vivaldi with "no rhapsodising or slow bits" and thus the brief cadenza is very much part of the musical argument rather than an excuse for showing off from the soloist: typical of the integrity of this most unshowy and modest of composers.
It is difficult to single out individual works from such a large and distinguished body of work: the choice of pieces is mine and not that of the composer (who, for example, did not rate his own symphonies very highly compared with his other orchestral works). I have tried to do justice to this most fastidious of composers' output and have chosen what I feel are representative works from all the fields of orchestral, chamber, brass, percussion, vocal and film music. His 17 ballet scores form the backbone of his output whilst his 10 string quartets encompass his entire creative output: his first quartet (1942) was his opus 1 and his last example (opus 140) was written in 1997 the year he ceased writing. He wrote many works for brass, songs, chamber music and eighteen film scores, seven of them for the Hammer film company. His own favourite genres were the brass band and percussion. In the field of brass band writing he distinguished himself with such works as the Divertimento (1959), "Polimetría" for brass and percussion (1971), a Capriccio for brass quintet (1977), a sonata for five trombones (1987) and "Theodore and the Trumpet" for narrator and brass (1996). Apart from the concerto of 1968, he demonstrated his love of the percussion section in many works, including "Diseños" for six percussion (1964), a Canzona for clarinets and percussion (1986), a Sonatina for tuned gongs (four players) and piano (1991) and "Four Antiphons" for chorus, tuned gongs and piano (1992). It is no accident that he never completed a full-scale opera: he felt it was not "his" medium and much preferred to write for the orchestra.
There are many important compositions amongst Leonard Salzedo's prolific output, particularly orchestral works which have yet to receive their premières. I hope it will not be long before this oversight is remedied so that the full extent of his achievement as a composer can be assessed. On the basis of the small percentage of works that have been recorded, Leonard's is a distinctive and instantly communicative voice and musicians should lose no time in bringing about performances and recordings of the rest of his large and impressive body of work.
©Paul Conway 07/00
LINKS
Impulse Web site for Leonard Salzedo
A Final Injustice Leonard Salzedo 1921-2000 by Jennifer Paull
COMPLETE LIST OF LEONARD SALZEDO'S COMPOSITIONS
Opus 1 String Quartet no 1 (1942)
Opus 2 Fantasia for Strings (1943)
Opus 3 String Quartet no 2 (1943)
Opus 4 Five Songs for Voice and Piano (1943)
Opus 5 Mass for Six Voices (unfinished) (1944)
Opus 6 String Quartet no 3 (1945)
Opus 7 The Fugitive (a ballet in two scenes for small orchestra) (1944)
Opus 8 Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias for High Voice and Piano (1944)
Opus 9 Impromptu for Solo Piano (1944)
Opus 10 Rimas for High Voice and Piano (1944)
Opus 11 Two Pieces for Violin and Piano (1945)
Opus 12 Thamar y Amnon (a cantata for soprano, string trio and piano) (1945)
Opus 13 Seis Caprichos for High Voice and Piano (1945)
Opus 14 They Came (a ballet for solo piano) (1946)
Opus 15 Mardi Gras (a ballet for orchestra) (1946)
Opus 16 Three Songs (for medium voice and piano) (1947)
Opus 17 String Quartet no 4 (1947)
Opus 18 Concerto for Double Bass and Small Orchestra (1948)
Opus 19 Rhapsody for Solo Violin (1947)
Opus 20 Rhapsody for Double Bass and Piano (1948)
Opus 21 String Trio (1948)
Opus 22 Four Moods for Violin and Piano (1950)
Opus 23 Bosworth Field (an overture for orchestra) (1951)
Opus 24 Eleven Caprices for Two Violins (1951)
Opus 25 Living Image (Narcissus and Echo) (a ballet for small orchestra) (1951)
Opus 26 Serenade for Flute, Oboe and Piano (1951)
Opus 27 Fantastic Impressions for Violin and Piano (1951)
Opus 28 Gabble Retchit (The Harlething) (a symphonic poem for orchestra) (1952)
Opus 29 Two Rhythmic Pieces for Orchestra (1952)
Opus 30 Symphony no 1 for Orchestra (1952)
Opus 31 Maladie D'Amour (a ballet for small orchestra) (1952)
Opus 32 No 1 String Quartet no 5 (1952)
Opus 32 No 2 String Quartet no 6 (1952)
Opus 33 Lucy Gray (a chamber opera in one act) (not orchestrated) (1953)
Opus 34 The Alcove (A ballet for solo piano) (1953)
Opus 35 Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano (1953)
Opus 36 Soleares for Cello and Harp (1953)
Opus 37 Symphony no 2 for Orchestra (1954)
Opus 38 Rhapsody for Orchestra (score lost) (1955)
Opus 39 Sinfonietta for Chamber Orchestra (1955)
Opus 40 Divertimento for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon (1955)
Opus 41 Alleluja for High Voice and Piano or Organ (1955)
Opus 42 The Witch Boy (a ballet in three scenes for orchestra) (1955)
Opus 43 Quartet for Oboe, Violin, Viola and Cello (1956)
Opus 44 Sonata for Violin and Piano (1956)
Opus 45 Concerto for Viola da Gamba and Chamber Orchestra (1957)
Opus 46 Divertimento Concertante for Three Clarinets and Orchestra (1958)
Opus 47 Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1959)
Opus 48 Tres Canciones for High Voice and Piano (1958)
Opus 49 Divertimento for Three Trumpets and Three Trombones (1959)
Opus 50 Furor (a fantasy for orchestra) (1959)
Opus 51 Sinfonietta Espagñola for Orchestra (1959)
Opus 52 La Folia (variations for orchestra) (1961)
Opus 53 Sonantina for Two Cellos (1959)
Opus 54 Auto da Fé (an essay for 57 instruments) (1961)
Opus 55 Ladinos (four sephardic impressions for orchestra) (1961)
Opus 56 Partita for Solo Violin (1961)
Opus 57 The Vision of the Dry Bones (a cantata) (1961)
Opus 58 Tres Modos Ritmicos for Clarinet, Bassoon, Violin and Piano (1962)
Opus 59 Songs of the Lebanon for High Voice, String Trio and Guitar (1962)
Opus 60 Caprichos for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1962)
Opus 61 The Travellers (a ballet for small orchestra) (1963)
Opus 62 Concerto Ferdivo for Ten Instruments (1964)
Opus 63 Agrionia (a ballet for chamber ensemble) (1964)
Opus 64 Diseños for Six Percussion (1964)
Opus 65 The Realms of Choice (a ballet for small orchestra) (1965)
Opus 66 Hazard (a ballet for orchestra) (1965)
Opus 67 Paen to the Sun (a cantata for voices and strings) (1966)
Opus 68 Distances for Nine Strings, Horn and Tape (1966)
Opus 69 Tangents for Strings (1967)
Opus 70 Toccata for Orchestra (1967)
Opus 71 Divertimento Espagñol (a ballet for orchestra) (1967)
Opus 72 The Innocence of Lizzie Borden (a mini opera) (1968)
Opus 73 Concerto for Percussion (1968)
Opus 74 Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings (1968)
Opus 75 Estadea for Orchestra (1969)
Opus 76 String Quartet no 7 'Cuatro voces ladinas' (1969)
Opus 77 Songs of Nature for Voice, Violin, Cello and Piano (1970)
Opus 78 The Man Within (a ballet for chamber ensemble) (1970)
Opus 79 Cantiga Mozárabe for Oboe d'Amore and Piano (1970)
Opus 80 Polimetría for Brass and Percussion) (1971)
Opus 81 The Lotus Eater Abroad (a song cycle for baritone and ensemble) (1971)
Opus 82 Ballet Drei (a ballet for chamber ensemble) (1973)
Opus 83 End and Beginning (an oratorio for voices and orchestra) (1971)
Opus 84 Matirio de Santa Olalla for Chamber Orchestra (1971)
Opus 85 Cantata Senza Parole for Five Voices and Harpsichord (1974)
Opus 86 Four Madrigals for Five Voices (1975)
Opus 87 Meditaciones en el Camino de Dios for Orchestra (1975)
Opus 88 Meditacion Espirituel for Organ (1976)
Opus 89 Tonda Sefardita for Seven Clarinets (1976)
Opus 90 Capriccio for Brass Quintet (1977)
Opus 91 The Pied Piper of Hamelin (a dramatic cantata) (1977)
Opus 92 Procesiones for Wind Orchestra (1979)
Opus 93 Sonata for Tuba and Piano (1980)
Opus 94 Variations on Plaisir d'Amore for Cello Ensemble (1981)
Opus 95 Diferencias for Brass Ensemble (1981)
Opus 96 The Last Song of Penelope for Voice and Piano (1982)
Opus 97 Chaconne for Strings (after Purcell) (1982)
Opus 98 Sonata for Piano (1982)
Opus 99 Molly and the Robot for Narrator and Piano (1983)
Opus 100 Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra (1983)
Opus 101 Improvisations on a Theme of Liszt for Horn and Chamber Orchestra (1983)
Opus 102 Variations on a Theme of Rossini for Nine Instruments (1984)
Opus 103 A Time for Sorrow and a Time for Joy for Voices and Orchestra (1985)
Opus 104 In Praise of Mary for Voice, Flute and Piano (1985)
Opus 105 Giuoco Dei Colpi for Percussion, Piano and Double Bass (1985)
Opus 106 Canzona for Clarinets and Percussion (1986)
Opus 107 Sonata for Five Trombones (1987)
Opus 108 Requiem Sine Voxibus for Orchestra (1989)
Opus 109 Toccata for Brass Quintet (1989)
Opus 110 Vive Henry IV (variations for piano duet) (1989)
Opus 111 Sonata A Tre per Oboe d'Amore, Corno Inglese a Clavicembalo (1989)
Opus 112 Partita for Four Percussion and String Quartet (1990)
Opus 113 Pardes Rimonim 'The Garden of Pomegranates' for Piano Solo (1991)
Opus 114 Stabat Mater for Soprano, Alto, Chorus and Orchestra (1991)
Opus 115 Sonatina for Tuned Gongs (Four Players) and Piano (1991)
Opus 116 Four Inventions for Organ (1991)
Opus 117 Elegy for Piano Solo (1991)
Opus 118 Canzona for Orchestra (1992)
Opus 119 Pasacalle 1992 for Orchestra (1992)
Opus 120 Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1992)
Opus 121 Four Antiphons for Chorus, Tuned Gongs and Piano (1992)
Opus 122 Canto Eterno for Soprano Saxophone, Vibraphone and Guitar (1992)
Opus 123 His Litany to the Holy Spirit for Voice and Harp (1992)
Opus 124 Alla Marcia for Piano and Organ (1993)
Opus 125 Eves Apologie for Mezzo Soprano, Viola and Strings (1993)
Opus 126 Saette D'Amor for Soprano and Orchestra (1993)
Opus 127 Bailables for Oboe Quartet (1994)
Opus 128 Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1994)
Opus 129 Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Rossini for Brass Quintet (1994)
Opus 130 String Quartet no 8 (1994)
Opus 131 Epifanía (a cantata for chamber choir and sextet) (1995)
Opus 132 Sonata for Violin and Viola (1995)
Opus 133 Where Griping Grief (variations for strings) (1996)
Opus 134 String Quartet no 9 (1996)
Opus 135 Canto de la Sibila for Oboe d'Amore and String Quartet (1996)
Opus 136 Trisagion for Orchestra (1996)
Opus 137 Theodore and the Trumpet for Narrator and Brass (1996)
Opus 138 Maypole Variations for Piano (1997)
Opus 139 Tonada for Harp (1997)
Opus 140 String Quartet no 10 (1997)
Opus 141 Four Impromptus for Piano (1997)
Opus 142 Sonata for Cello and Piano (1997)
Opus 143 Improvisations for Musette and Piano (1997)
Works Without Opus Numbers
Aggrey (a ballet for solo piano) (1946)
Deirdre of the Sorrows (an opera in three acts) (unfinished) (1948)
Gather ye Rosebuds (a part song for four voices) (1953)
Ave Verum Corpus (a Latin motet for four voices) (1953)
Rendezvous for Jazz Group and Orchestra (with David Lindup) (1960)
Prelude, Air and Toccata for School Orchestra (1964)
Os Dos Companheros (a samba for violin and cello) (1966)
Who'll Be My Witness For My Lord (a unison song) (1967)
Seven Spanish Dances for Piano Solo (1968)
The Wind at Morning (a song for high voice and piano) (1968)
Cumulation for Wind Quintet (1968)
Telerañas for Flute, Clarinet, Cello and Piano (1970)
Capriccio for Octet (1971)
This Appears To Be My Life (a ballet for flute, clarinet and percussion) (1972)
Grand Defilé (a march for orchestra) (1973)
In Praise of Pan (a song for voice and piano) (1980)
Coridon's Song (a unison song) (1980)
Cantiga Morisca for Solo Flute (1981)
Film Scores
The Stranger Came Home (Hammer Films) (1954)
Mask of Dust (Hammer Films) (1954)
Mystery at Monstein (Film Producer's Guild) (1954)
The Glass Cage (Hammer Films) (1954)
Jaguar (Highlife) (Ghana Film Unit) (1954)
Before I Wake (Greenpark Productions) (1954)
One Day In Perfect Health (Data Films) (1955)
Women Without Men (Hammer Films) (1955)
The Steel Bayonet (Hammer Films) (1956)
Suez Crisis (Warwick Films) (1956)
Painting To Plan (ICI Films) (1956)
Seawife (Twentieth Century Fox) (1956)
Work In Progress (Ghana Films Unit) (1957)
Energy For Europe (Esso Films) (1957)
The Revenge of Frankenstein (Hammer Films) (1958)
The Majestic Continent (Athos Films) (1960)
Sunshine Islands (Athos Films) (1961)
The Silent Scream (TV Film) (Hammer Films) (1980)
Incidental Music
Cry The Beloved Country (St Martin in the Fields) (1954)
The Bedbug (Mermaid Theatre) (1962)
He Was Gone When They Got There (Mermaid Theatre) (1966)
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