104-696: The Waltz in D-flat major , Op. 64, No. 1, sometimes known as " Valse du petit chien " (French for "Waltz of the puppy"), and popularly known in English as the Minute Waltz , is a piano waltz by Polish composer and virtuoso Frédéric Chopin . It is dedicated to the Countess Delfina Potocka . Chopin composed the waltz in 1847 and had it published by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig
208-684: A Wareham hospital; in the October of that year, he put Hinton (his sole heir) in charge of his personal affairs. By this time, the Shapurji Sorabji Trust had been exhausted and his house, along with his belongings (including some 3,000 books), was put up for auction in November 1986. In March 1987, he moved into Marley House Nursing Home, a private nursing home in Winfrith Newburgh (near Dorchester, Dorset ), where he
312-674: A variation set takes the place of the slow movement. Starting with the Second Symphony for Piano (1954), fugues are positioned either midway through the work or right before a closing slow movement. Interludes and moto perpetuo -type sections link larger movements together and make appearances in Sorabji's later fugues, like in the Sixth Symphony for Piano (1975–76), whose "Quasi fuga" alternates fugal and non-fugal sections. Other important forms in Sorabji's output are
416-464: A "howling mob" with brickbats and large stones pursued him and "half killed" him. These experiences have been identified as the root of his dislike of England, and he was soon to describe English people as intentionally and systematically mistreating foreigners. In late 1919, Warlock sent the music critic Ernest Newman several of Sorabji's scores , including his First Piano Sonata. Newman ignored them, and in November that year, Sorabji privately met
520-608: A blow to the composer. Sorabji suffered a mild stroke in June and died later that year; their ashes are buried beside each other. Sorabji's writings include Gianandrea and Stephen , a short homoerotic story set in the Italian city of Palermo . Though the text purports to be biographical, Roberge considers most of it a fabrication. He nevertheless argues that Sorabji probably had sexual encounters with men while he lived in London, citing
624-559: A castle, once called him "the most enigmatic composer now living". Sorabji's mother had long been believed to have been Spanish-Sicilian, but the Sorabji scholar Sean Vaughn Owen has shown she was born to English parents christened in an Anglican church. He found that she often spread falsehoods and suggested this influenced Sorabji, who made a habit out of misleading others. Owen concludes that despite Sorabji's elitist and misanthropic image, his acquaintances found him serious and stern but generous, cordial and hospitable. He summarises
728-710: A commission from Gentieu (who acted on behalf of the Philadelphia branch of the Delius Society) and fulfilled it by writing Il tessuto d'arabeschi (1979) for flute and string quartet . He dedicated it "To the memory of Delius" and was paid £1,000 (equivalent to £6,390 in 2023 ). Sorabji completed his final piece, Due sutras sul nome dell'amico Alexis , in 1984, and stopped composing afterwards because of his failing eyesight and struggle to physically write. His health deteriorated severely in 1986, which obliged him to abandon his home and spend several months in
832-672: A companion piece to "Opus 27, No. 1" ( Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat major , 1800–01), paired in same opus number, with both being subtitled Sonata quasi una Fantasia , the only two of the kind in all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas. Furthermore, the Piano Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2, in C-sharp minor is also catalogued as "Sonata No. 14", because it is the fourteenth sonata composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. Given composers' inconsistent or non-existent assignment of opus numbers, especially during
936-433: A composer". Sorabji's descriptions of his Symphony No. 2, Jāmī , give an insight into their organisation. He compared the piece to his nocturne Gulistān and wrote of the symphony's "self-cohesive texture relying upon its own inner consistency and cohesiveness without relation to thematic or other matters". Melodic material is treated loosely in such works; instead of themes, ornamentation and textural patterns assume
1040-420: A composer's juvenilia are often numbered after other works, even though they may be some of the composer's first completed works. To indicate the specific place of a given work within a music catalogue , the opus number is paired with a cardinal number ; for example, Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1801, nicknamed Moonlight Sonata ) is "Opus 27, No. 2", whose work-number identifies it as
1144-581: A composer's works, as in the sets of string quartets by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827); Haydn's Op. 76, the Erdödy quartets (1796–97), comprises six discrete quartets consecutively numbered Op. 76 No. 1 – Op. 76 No. 6; whilst Beethoven's Op. 59, the Rasumovsky quartets (1805–06), comprises String Quartet No. 7, String Quartet No. 8, and String Quartet No. 9. From about 1800, composers usually assigned an opus number to
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#17327914562351248-453: A composition, Prokofiev occasionally assigned a new opus number to the revision; thus Symphony No. 4 is two thematically related but discrete works: Symphony No. 4, Op. 47, written in 1929; and Symphony No. 4, Op. 112, a large-scale revision written in 1947. Likewise, depending upon the edition, the original version of Piano Sonata No. 5 in C major, is cataloged both as Op. 38 and as Op. 135. Despite being used in more or less normal fashion by
1352-409: A crucial role in Sorabji's return to composition. Sorabji's next two pieces, Benedizione di San Francesco d'Assisi and Symphonia brevis for Piano , were written in 1973, the year after the two first met, and marked the beginning of what has been identified as his "late style", one characterised by thinner textures and greater use of extended harmonies . Roberge writes that Sorabji, upon completing
1456-595: A defective index for Sorabji's book Around Music , which the composer was displeased with. He also apparently behaved incorrectly as trustee, causing Sorabji considerable monetary losses, which led to his removal from the Trust and the end of their friendship around 1942. Occult themes rarely appeared in Sorabji's music and writings afterwards. Sorabji spoke favourably of the Parsis, though his experiences with them in India in
1560-503: A few seconds. Sorabji's early influences include Cyril Scott , Ravel , Leo Ornstein and particularly Alexander Scriabin . He later became more critical of Scriabin and, after meeting Busoni in 1919, was influenced primarily by the latter in both his music and writings. His later work was also significantly influenced by the virtuoso writing of Charles-Valentin Alkan and Leopold Godowsky , Max Reger 's use of counterpoint , and
1664-558: A fraction of what his Indian heirs did. An action was instituted around 1936 and the bigamous marriage was declared null and void by a court in 1949, but the financial assets could not be retrieved. Sorabji countered the uncertainty that he experienced during this time by taking up yoga . He credited it with helping him command inspiration and achieve focus and self-discipline, and wrote that his life, once "chaotic, without form or shape", now had "an ordered pattern and design". The practice inspired him to write an essay titled "Yoga and
1768-406: A hothouse or a rainforest. Various religious and occult references appear in Sorabji's music, including allusions to the tarot , a setting of a Catholic benediction and sections named after the seven deadly sins . Sorabji rarely intended for his works to be programmatic ; although pieces like "Quaere reliqua hujus materiei inter secretiora" and St. Bertrand de Comminges: "He was laughing in
1872-623: A large group, he was perfectly content in more intimate situations bringing direct attention to his ring or his thorny attitude regarding the ban on his music. In 1919, Sorabji experienced a "sexual awakening", which led him to join the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology and the English branch of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft . In the early 1920s, at a time of considerable emotional distress, he consulted Havelock Ellis ,
1976-683: A letter in which he wrote, "deep affection and indeed love between men is the greatest thing in life , at any rate it is in my life ". He suggests that Sorabji often felt lonely, which led him "to create for himself an ideal world in which he could believe—and have his friends believe". Many of Sorabji's friends were not musicians and he said that their human qualities meant more to him than their musical erudition. He sought warmth in others and said he depended emotionally on his friends' affection. He could be extremely devoted to them, though he admitted to preferring solitude. Some of his friendships, like those with Norman Peterkin or Hinton, lasted until
2080-577: A life income that would free them of the need to work. Sorabji's father, affected by the fall of the pound and rupee in 1931, stopped supporting the publication of Sorabji's scores that same year, and died in Bad Nauheim , Germany, on 7 July 1932. Following an initial trip to India, Sorabji's second one (lasting from May 1933 to January 1934) revealed that his father had been living with another woman since 1905 and had married her in 1929. Sorabji and his mother were excluded from his will and received
2184-606: A lifelong tendency to seclusion. Sorabji was educated privately. His mother was English and his father a Parsi businessman and industrialist from India, who set up a trust fund that freed his family from the need to work. Although Sorabji was a reluctant performer and not a virtuoso , he played some of his music publicly between 1920 and 1936. In the late 1930s, his attitude shifted and he imposed restrictions on performance of his works, which he lifted in 1976. His compositions received little exposure in those years and he remained in public view mainly through his writings, which include
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#17327914562352288-402: A musician and piano teacher who was a friend of his mother's. Sorabji attended a school of about twenty boys where, in addition to general education, he took music lessons in piano, organ and harmony, as well as language classes for German and Italian. He was also educated by his mother, who took him to concerts. The first major insight into Sorabji's life comes from his correspondence with
2392-576: A new will that bequeathed Hinton (now his literary and musical executor) all the manuscripts in his possession. Sorabji, who had not written any music since 1968, returned to composition in 1973 owing to Hinton's interest in his work. Hinton also persuaded Sorabji to give Yonty Solomon permission to play his works in public, which was granted on 24 March 1976 and marked the end of the "ban", although another pianist, Michael Habermann , may have received tentative approval at an earlier date. Recitals with Sorabji's music became more common, leading him to join
2496-520: A non-English identity. Sorabji joined the Parsi community in 1913 or 1914 by attending a Navjote ceremony (probably performed in his home by a priest) and changed his name. He had apparently been mistreated by other boys in the school he attended and his tutor, who sought to make an English gentleman out of him, would make derogatory comments about India and hit him on the head with a large book, which gave him recurring headaches. Sorabji said that in 1914,
2600-433: A note reserving the right of performance. Few concerts with his music—most of them semi-private or given by his friends and with his approval—took place in those years, and he turned down offers to play his works in public. His withdrawal from the world of music has usually been ascribed to Tobin's recital, but other reasons have been put forward for his decision, including the deaths of people he admired (such as Busoni) and
2704-422: A number of exceptionally long letters that captured a desire for intimacy and to be with him alone, and have been interpreted as expressing Sorabji's love for him. Chisholm got married in 1932 and apparently rebuffed him around this time, after which Sorabji's letters to him became less sentimental and more infrequent. Sorabji spent approximately the last 35 years of his life with Reginald Norman Best (1909–1988),
2808-563: A number of important early-twentieth-century composers, including Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) and Anton Webern (1883–1945), opus numbers became less common in the later part of the twentieth century. To manage inconsistent opus-number usages — especially by composers of the Baroque (1600–1750) and of the Classical (1720—1830) music eras — musicologists have developed comprehensive and unambiguous catalogue number-systems for
2912-563: A portion of Opus clavicembalisticum . The performance lasted 90 minutes—twice as long as it should have. Sorabji left before it finished and denied having attended, paid for, or supported the performance. A number of leading critics and composers attended the concert and wrote negative critiques in the press, which severely damaged Sorabji's reputation. Sorabji gave the premiere of his Toccata seconda in December 1936, which became his last public appearance. Three months earlier, he had said he
3016-617: A preeminent position. The nocturnes explore free, impressionist harmonies and are usually to be played at subdued dynamic levels, though some of the later ones contain explosive passagework. They can be stand-alone works, such as Villa Tasca , or parts of larger pieces, like "Anāhata Cakra", the fourth movement of his Tāntrik Symphony for Piano Alone . Sections titled "aria" and "punta d'organo" (the latter of which have been likened to "Le gibet" from Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit ) are included in this genre. Sorabji's fugues usually follow traditional methods of development and are
3120-726: A result, the plural opera of opus tends to be avoided in English. In other languages such as German, however, it remains common. In the arts, an opus number usually denotes a work of musical composition , a practice and usage established in the seventeenth century when composers identified their works with an opus number. In the eighteenth century, publishers usually assigned opus numbers when publishing groups of like compositions, usually in sets of three, six or twelve compositions. Consequently, opus numbers are not usually in chronological order, unpublished compositions usually had no opus number, and numeration gaps and sequential duplications occurred when publishers issued contemporaneous editions of
3224-437: A role in his decision to leave the city. As a critic, he earned no money, and while his lifestyle was modest, he sometimes found himself in financial difficulties. Sorabji had a strong emotional attachment to his mother, which has been partly attributed to being abandoned by his father and the impact this had on their financial security. She accompanied him on his travels and he spent nearly two-thirds of his life with her until
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3328-572: A single minute. Playing the piece as fast as possible is still a feat some pianists attempt. Camille Bourniquel , one of Chopin's biographers, reminds the reader that Chopin got the inspiration for this waltz as he was watching a small dog chase its tail, which prompted the composer to name the piece Valse du petit chien , meaning "The Little Dog Waltz". A vocal version of the piece, with lyrics by screenwriter Lan O'Kun , has been performed by multiple artists, including Barbra Streisand on her 1966 album Color Me Barbra , her version peaked at #23 in
3432-480: A three-hour programme produced by WNCN in 1970. The latter was broadcast several times in the 1970s and helped in the dissemination and understanding of Sorabji's music. Sorabji and Holliday's friendship ended in 1979 because of a perceived rift between them and disagreements over custodianship of Sorabji's legacy. Unlike Sorabji, who proceeded to destroy much of their correspondence, Holliday preserved his collection of Sorabji's letters and other related items, which
3536-532: A time, each about once or twice per year. In an unpublished text titled The Fruits of Misanthropy , he justified his reclusiveness by saying, "my own failings are so great that they are as much as I can put up with in comfort—those of other people superadded I find a burden quite intolerable". Sorabji had an interest in the occult , numerology and related topics; Rapoport suggested that Sorabji chose to hide his year of birth for fear that it could be used against him. Early in his life, Sorabji published articles on
3640-641: A work or set of works upon publication. After approximately 1900, they tended to assign an opus number to a composition whether published or not. However, practices were not always perfectly consistent or logical. For example, early in his career, Beethoven selectively numbered his compositions (some published without opus numbers), yet in later years, he published early works with high opus numbers. Likewise, some posthumously published works were given high opus numbers by publishers, even though some of them were written early in Beethoven's career. Since his death in 1827,
3744-546: A writer on sexual psychology, on the matter of his orientation. Ellis held progressive views on the subject and Sorabji inscribed a dedication "To Dr. Havelock Ellis.—in respectful admiration, homage and gratitude" in his Piano Concerto No. 7 (1924). He went on to reference Ellis in many of his articles, often building on the concept of sexual inversion . Although Sorabji's homosexual tendencies were first exhibited in his letters to Warlock in 1914, they manifested most strongly in his correspondence with Chisholm. Sorabji sent him
3848-455: Is combined near the end. Sorabji's fugal writing has at times been treated with suspicion or criticised. The subjects can lack the frequent changes of direction present in most melodic writing, and some of the fugues are among the longest ever penned, one being the two-hour "Fuga triplex" that closes the Second Symphony for Organ. This structural layout was employed and refined in most of Sorabji's piano and organ symphonies. In some cases,
3952-564: Is given the tempo marking Molto vivace . Although it has long been known as the "Minute" Waltz, its nickname was intended to mean "small" in the sense of a "miniature" waltz, given by its publisher. Chopin did not intend for this waltz to be played in one minute. A typical performance of the work will last between 1 + 1 ⁄ 2 and 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 minutes. The waltz is 140 measures long with one fifteen-measure repeat included, and thus it would have to be played at almost 420 quarter notes per minute in order to play it completely within
4056-588: Is one of the largest and most important sources of material on the composer. He took many notes during his visits to Sorabji and often accepted everything he told him at face value. The collection was purchased by McMaster University ( Hamilton, Ontario , Canada) in 1988. Another devoted admirer was Norman Pierre Gentieu, an American writer who discovered Sorabji after reading his book Around Music (1932). Gentieu sent Sorabji some provisions in response to post-war shortages in England, and he continued to do so for
4160-411: Is similar, but not identical, and features several broken scales over several octaves between a repeated quarter note and triplet motive. The B section is somewhat calmer, using alternating half and quarter notes over waltz accompaniment. Following a lengthy trill , the A section is repeated, modified only in the ending, which features a three-octave descent instead of a two-octave one. The piece
4264-492: Is still a "dominant theme" or "motto" in these polythematic movements that is given primary significance and permeates the rest of the composition. The nocturnes are generally considered to be among Sorabji's most accessible works, and they are also some of his most highly regarded; they have been described by Habermann as "the most successful and beautiful of [his] compositions", and by the pianist Fredrik Ullén as "perhaps ... his most personal and original contribution as
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4368-420: Is the main source of information on this area, though much of it is missing, as Sorabji often discarded large volumes of his letters without inspecting their content. Marc-André Roberge [ fr ] , the author of Sorabji's first biography, Opus sorabjianum , writes that "there are years for which hardly anything can be reported". Sorabji peddled some myths himself. He claimed to have had relatives in
4472-488: The Billboard ' s Easy Listening chart. O'Kun's lyrics perpetuate the notion that the tune should be performed in one minute, although Streisand's performance clocks in at just under two minutes. Because the lower notes were hard to reach, Streisand finished up the ending phrases in a spoken voice. This version was also performed by a female Muppet on the 1969–70 premiere season of Sesame Street . That same version
4576-608: The Baroque (1600–1750) and the Classical (1750–1827) eras, musicologists have developed other catalogue-number systems; among them the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV-number) and the Köchel-Verzeichnis (K- and KV-numbers), which enumerate the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , respectively. In the classical period , the Latin word opus ("work", "labour"), plural opera ,
4680-726: The Performing Right Society and derive a small income from royalties. In 1977, a television documentary on Sorabji was produced and broadcast. The images in it consisted mostly of still photographs of his house; Sorabji did not wish to be seen and there was just one brief shot of him waving to the departing camera crew. In 1979, he appeared on BBC Scotland for the 100th birthday of Francis George Scott , and on BBC Radio 3 to commemorate Nikolai Medtner 's centenary. The former broadcast led to Sorabji's first meeting with Ronald Stevenson , whom he had known and admired for more than 20 years. Shortly after, Sorabji received
4784-458: The toccata and the autonomous variation set. The latter, along with his non-orchestral symphonies, are his most ambitious works and have been praised for the imagination exhibited in them. Sequentia cyclica super "Dies irae" ex Missa pro defunctis (1948–49), a set of 27 variations on the original Dies irae plainchant , is considered by some to be his greatest work. His four multi-movement toccatas are generally more modest in scope and take
4888-548: The "Minute Waltz". Opus number In music , the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition , or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer 's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work, or "Opp." when referring to more than one work. Opus numbers do not necessarily indicate chronological order of composition. For example, posthumous publications of
4992-450: The 1930s upset him. He embraced only a few aspects of Zoroastrianism before cutting his ties to various Parsi and Zoroastrian organisations over objections to their actions. However, he retained an interest in his Persian heritage, and insisted that his body should be cremated after his death (which is an alternative to using the Tower of Silence ). Sorabji's attitude towards Christianity
5096-414: The 1950s. He also looked after his mother in her last years when they were no longer together. Despite his social isolation and withdrawal from the world of music, Sorabji retained a circle of close admirers. Concerns over the fate of his music gradually intensified, as Sorabji did not record any of his works and none of them had been published since 1931. The most ambitious attempt to preserve his legacy
5200-639: The Composer" and compose the Tāntrik Symphony for Piano Alone (1938–39), which has seven movements titled after bodily centres in tantric and shaktic yoga. Sorabji did not perform military or civic duties during World War II, a fact that has been attributed to his individualism. His open letters and music criticism did not cease, and he never touched the topic of war in his writings. Many of Sorabji's 100 Transcendental Studies (1940–1944) were written during German bombings, and he composed during
5304-601: The English composer Frederick Delius sent him a letter admiring the piece's "real sensuous beauty", and around the 1920s, the French pianist Alfred Cortot and the Austrian composer Alban Berg took an interest in his work. Sorabji first played his music publicly in 1920 and he gave occasional performances of his works in Europe over the next decade. In the mid-1920s, he befriended the composer Erik Chisholm , which led to
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#17327914562355408-989: The Mendelssohn heirs published (and cataloged) them as the Italian Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 , and as the Reformation Symphony No. 5 in D major and D minor, Op. 107 . While many of the works of Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) were given opus numbers, these did not always bear a logical relationship to the order in which the works were written or published. To achieve better sales, some publishers, such as N. Simrock , preferred to present less experienced composers as being well established, by giving some relatively early works much higher opus numbers than their chronological order would merit. In other cases, Dvořák gave lower opus numbers to new works to be able to sell them to other publishers outside his contract obligations. This way it could happen that
5512-399: The architectural blueprint of this style is his Fourth Piano Sonata (1928–29), which is in three sections: Sorabji's symphonic first movements are related in their organisation to his Second and Third Piano Sonatas and the closing movement of his First Organ Symphony. They have been described as being based superficially on either the fugue or the sonata-allegro form , but they differ from
5616-522: The beginning of Sorabji's compositional maturity. Sorabji himself considered that it began with his Organ Symphony No. 1 (1924), his first work to make ample use of forms like the chorale prelude , the passacaglia and the fugue , which are descended from baroque music . Their union with his earlier compositional ideas led to the emergence of what has been described as his "symphonic style", displayed in most of his seven symphonies for piano solo and three symphonies for organ . The first piece to apply
5720-498: The best work of an artist with the term magnum opus . In Latin, the words opus (singular) and opera (plural) are related to the words opera (singular) and operae (plural), which gave rise to the Italian words opera (singular) and opere (plural), likewise meaning "work". In contemporary English, the word opera has specifically come to denote the dramatic musical genres of opera or ballet, which were developed in Italy. As
5824-474: The books Around Music and Mi contra fa: The Immoralisings of a Machiavellian Musician . During this time, he also left London and eventually settled in the village of Corfe Castle, Dorset . Information on Sorabji's life, especially his later years, is scarce, with most of it coming from the letters he exchanged with his friends. As a composer, Sorabji was largely self-taught. Although he was attracted to modernist aesthetics at first, he later dismissed much of
5928-536: The case of Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47); after his death, the heirs published many compositions with opus numbers that Mendelssohn did not assign. In life, he published two symphonies ( Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 11 ; and Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ), furthermore he published his symphony-cantata Lobgesang , Op. 52, which was posthumously counted as his Symphony No. 2; yet, he chronologically wrote symphonies between symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, which he withdrew for personal and compositional reasons; nevertheless,
6032-466: The cases of César Franck (1822–1890), Béla Bartók (1881–1945), and Alban Berg (1885–1935), who initially numbered, but then stopped numbering their compositions. Carl Nielsen (1865–1931) and Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) were also inconsistent in their approaches. Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was consistent and assigned an opus number to a composition before composing it; at his death, he left fragmentary and planned, but numbered, works. In revising
6136-699: The composer Alistair Hinton , then a student at the Royal College of Music in London, discovered Sorabji's music in the Westminster Music Library and wrote a letter to him in March 1972. They met for the first time in Sorabji's home on 21 August 1972 and quickly became good friends; Sorabji began to turn to Hinton for advice on legal and other matters. In 1978, Hinton and the musicologist Paul Rapoport microfilmed Sorabji's manuscripts that did not have copies made, and in 1979 Sorabji wrote
6240-428: The composer Ferruccio Busoni and played the piece for him. Busoni expressed reservations about the work but gave him a letter of recommendation, which helped Sorabji get it published. Warlock and Sorabji then publicly accused Newman of systematic avoidance and sabotage, which led the critic to detail why he could not meet Sorabji or review his scores. Warlock proceeded to call Newman's behaviour abusive and stubborn, and
6344-476: The composer and critic Peter Warlock , which began in 1913. Warlock inspired Sorabji to become a music critic and focus on composition. Sorabji had obtained a matriculation but decided to study music privately, as Warlock's claims about universities made him abandon his plan of going to one. Thus, from the early 1910s until 1916, Sorabji studied music with the pianist and composer Charles A. Trew . Around this time, he came to be close to and exchanged ideas with
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#17327914562356448-461: The composers Bernard van Dieren and Cecil Gray , who were friends with Warlock. For unknown reasons, Sorabji was not conscripted during World War I, and though he later praised conscientious objectors for their courage, there is no proof he tried to register as one. Sorabji's letters from this time document his nascent feelings of otherness, the sense of alienation that he as a homosexual of mixed ancestry experienced and his development of
6552-450: The death of either party; others were broken. Though Sorabji had often reserved harsh words for the English, in the 1950s, he conceded he had not been objective in so doing and acknowledged that many of his close friends were or had been Englishmen. Best, Sorabji's companion, suffered from depression and multiple congenital deficiencies. Around 1970, he began taking electroconvulsive therapy , which caused him considerable anxiety. Sorabji
6656-416: The development of India's engineering and cotton machinery industries. He was musically cultured and financed the publication of 14 of Sorabji's compositions between 1921 and 1931, although there is little evidence that he lived with the family, and he did not want his son to become a musician. In October 1914, Sorabji's father set up the Shapurji Sorabji Trust, a trust fund that would provide his family with
6760-564: The established and contemporary repertoire. He drew on such diverse influences as Ferruccio Busoni , Claude Debussy and Karol Szymanowski and developed a style blending baroque forms with frequent polyrhythms , interplay of tonal and atonal elements and lavish ornamentation . Though he composed mostly for the piano and has been likened to the composer-pianists he admired, including Franz Liszt and Charles-Valentin Alkan , he also wrote orchestral, chamber and organ pieces. His harmonic language and complex rhythms anticipated works from
6864-435: The faith in private. Although there has been speculation about earlier works, Sorabji's first known (albeit lost) composition is a 1914 piano transcription of Delius's orchestral piece In a Summer Garden . His early works are predominantly piano sonatas , songs and piano concertos . Of these, Piano Sonatas Nos. 1–3 (1919; 1920; 1922) are the most ambitious and developed. They are characterised mainly by their use of
6968-415: The first four symphonies to be composed were published after the last five; and (c) the last five symphonies were not published in order of composition. The New World Symphony originally was published as No. 5, later was known as No. 8, and definitively was renumbered as No. 9 in the critical editions published in the 1950s. Other examples of composers' historically inconsistent opus-number usages include
7072-498: The first movement of Symphonia brevis , "felt that it broke new ground for him and was his most mature work, one in which he was doing things he had never done before". Sorabji said his late works were designed "as a seamless coat ... from which the threads cannot be disassociated" without compromising the coherence of the music. During his late period and several years before his creative hiatus, he also produced sets of "aphoristic fragments", musical utterances that can last just
7176-534: The impressionist harmonies of Claude Debussy and Karol Szymanowski . Allusions to various composers appear in Sorabji's works, including his Sixth Symphony for Piano and Sequentia cyclica , which contain sections titled "Quasi Alkan" and "Quasi Debussy" respectively. Eastern culture partially influenced Sorabji. According to Habermann, it manifests itself in the following ways: highly supple and irregular rhythmic patterns, abundant ornamentation, an improvisatory and timeless feel, frequent polyrhythmic writing and
7280-524: The increasing prominence of Igor Stravinsky and twelve-tone composition . Nonetheless, the 1930s marked an especially fertile period in Sorabji's career: he created many of his largest works and his activity as a music critic peaked. In 1938, Oxford University Press became the agent for his published works until his death in 1988. A major factor in Sorabji's change of attitude was his financial situation. Sorabji's father had returned to Bombay after his marriage in 1892, where he played an important role in
7384-737: The issue was settled after the journal Musical Opinion reproduced correspondence between Sorabji and Newman. Sorabji has been called a late starter, as he had not composed music before the age of 22. Already before picking up the craft of composition, he had been drawn to recent developments in art music at a time when they did not receive much attention in England. This interest, along with his ethnicity, cemented his reputation as an outsider. The modernist style, increasingly longer durations and technical complexity of his works baffled critics and audiences. Although his music had its detractors, some musicians received it positively: after hearing Sorabji's Le jardin parfumé—Poem for Piano Solo in 1930,
7488-775: The microfilms became available in several libraries and universities in the United States and South Africa. Over the years, Sorabji grew increasingly tired of composition; health problems, stress and fatigue interfered and he began to loathe writing music. After the Messa grande sinfonica (1955–61)—which comprises 1,001 pages of orchestral score —was completed, Sorabji wrote he had no desire to continue composing, and in August 1962, he suggested he might abandon composition and destroy his extant manuscripts. Extreme anxiety and exhaustion caused by personal, family and other issues, including
7592-580: The mid-20th century onwards , and while his music remained largely unpublished until the early 2000s, interest in it has grown since then. Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was born in Chingford , Essex (now Greater London ), on 14 August 1892. His father, Shapurji Sorabji (1863–1932), was a Parsi civil engineer born in Bombay , India. Like many of his near ancestors, he was an industrialist and businessman. Sorabji's mother, Madeline Matilda Worthy (1866–1959),
7696-413: The most atonal and least polyrhythmic of his works. After an exposition introduces a subject and one to four countersubjects , the thematic material undergoes development. It is followed by a stretto that leads to a section featuring augmentation and a thickening of lines into chords . If a fugue has multiple themes, this pattern is repeated for each subject and material from all expositions
7800-593: The most fruitful period of his pianistic career. Their correspondence began in 1926 and they first met in April 1930 in Glasgow , Scotland. Later that year, Sorabji joined Chisholm's recently created Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music, whose concerts featured a number of distinguished composers and musicians. Despite Sorabji's protestations that he was "a composer—who incidentally , merely , plays
7904-604: The next four decades. In the early 1950s, Gentieu offered to pay for the expenses to microfilm Sorabji's major piano works and provide copies to selected libraries. In 1952, Gentieu set up a mock society (the Society of Connoisseurs) to mask the financial investment on his part, but Sorabji suspected that it was a hoax. Microfilming (which encompassed all of Sorabji's unpublished musical manuscripts) began in January 1953 and continued until 1967 as new works were produced. Copies of
8008-590: The night and early morning in his home at Clarence Gate Gardens ( Marylebone , London) even as most other blocks were abandoned. Wartime records show that a high explosive bomb hit Siddons Lane, where the back entrance to his former place of residence is located. In 1950, Sorabji left London, and in 1956, he settled in The Eye, a house that he had built for himself in the village of Corfe Castle, Dorset . He had been on holidays in Corfe Castle since 1928 and
8112-480: The normal application of those forms: the exposition and development of themes are not guided by conventional tonal principles, but by how the themes, as the musicologist Simon John Abrahams says, "battle with each other for domination of the texture". These movements can last over 90 minutes, and their thematic nature varies considerably: while the opening movement of his Fourth Piano Sonata introduces seven themes, his Second Piano Symphony's has sixty-nine. There
8216-401: The paranormal and he included occult inscriptions and references in his works. In 1922, he met the occultist Aleister Crowley , whom he shortly after dismissed as a "fraud" and "the dullest of dull dogs". He also maintained a 20-year friendship with Bernard Bromage, an English writer on mysticism. Bromage acted as joint trustee of the Shapurji Sorabji Trust between 1933 and 1941 and produced
8320-402: The piano", he was the guest performer to make the most appearances in the series. He came to Glasgow four times and played some of the longest works he had written to date: he premiered Opus clavicembalisticum and his Fourth Sonata in 1930 and his Toccata seconda in 1936, and he gave a performance of Nocturne, "Jāmī" in 1931. On 10 March 1936 in London, the pianist John Tobin played
8424-409: The place had appealed to him for many years. In 1946, he expressed the desire to be there permanently, and once settled in the village, he rarely ventured outside. While Sorabji felt despised by the English music establishment, the main target of his ire was London, which he called the "International Human Rubbish dump" and "Spivopolis" (a reference to the term spiv ). Living expenses also played
8528-407: The private recordings and preparing for them, had drained him and he took a break from composition. He eventually returned to it, but worked at a slower pace than before and produced mostly short works. In 1968, he stopped composing and said he would not write any more music. Documentation of how he spent the next few years is unavailable and his production of open letters declined. In November 1969,
8632-565: The same day. His remains are buried in "God's Acre", the Corfe Castle cemetery. During Sorabji's lifetime and since his death, myths about him have circulated. To dispel them, scholars have focused on his compositional method, his skills as a performer, the dimensions and complexity of his pieces and other topics. It has proven to be a challenging task: while nearly all of Sorabji's known works have been preserved and there are almost no lost manuscripts, few documents and items relating to his life have survived. His correspondence with his friends
8736-475: The same opus number was given to more than one of his works. Opus number 12, for example, was assigned, successively, to five different works (an opera, a concert overture, a string quartet, and two unrelated piano works). In other cases, the same work was given as many as three different opus numbers by different publishers. The sequential numbering of his symphonies has also been confused: (a) they were initially numbered by order of publication, not composition; (b)
8840-555: The same year, as the first of the Trois Valses , Op. 64. The second waltz is in the enharmonic parallel minor key of C-sharp minor . A fast version of the waltz, played by Arthur Rubinstein , has served as the theme music for the BBC Radio 4 show Just a Minute since the programme’s inception. The waltz is in the key of D-flat major and has a tempo marking of molto vivace (very lively). Chopin indicates that
8944-441: The single-movement format and by their athematism . The main criticism against them is that they lack stylistic consistency and organic form . Sorabji developed a largely unfavourable view of his early works, described them as derivative and lacking in cohesion, and even considered destroying many of their manuscripts late in his life. The Three Pastiches for Piano (1922) and Le jardin parfumé (1923) have often been seen as
9048-579: The son of his mother's friend. Best spent his life savings to help Sorabji buy The Eye and shared the costs of living with him. He was homosexual, and although Sorabji often described him as his godson, many suspected there was more to their relationship and those close to them believed they were partners. Sorabji once called him "one of the two people on earth most precious to me". In March 1987, they moved into Marley House Nursing Home, where Sorabji called him "darling" and complimented him on his looks before Best's death on 29 February 1988, an event described as
9152-453: The structure of Busoni's work of the same name as their starting point. In 1953, Sorabji expressed uninterest in continuing to compose when he described Sequentia cyclica (1948–49) as "the climax and crown of his work for the piano and, in all probability, the last he will write". His rate of composition slowed down in the early 1960s, and later that decade, Sorabji vowed to cease composing, which he eventually did in 1968. Hinton played
9256-452: The tensions displayed in Sorabji's reputation, writings, persona and behaviour thus: The contradictions between his reputation and the actuality of his existence were known to Sorabji and they appear to have given him much amusement. This sense of humour was detected by many in the village, yet they too were prone to believe his stories. The papal connection ... was a particular favourite and as much as Sorabji detested being spotlighted in
9360-437: The tower" (both inspired by ghost stories by M. R. James ) have been described as such, he repeatedly heaped scorn on attempts to represent stories or ideologies in music. Sorabji's interest in numerology can be seen in his allotting of a number to the length of his scores, the amount of variations a piece contains or the number of bars in a work. Recent scholarly writings on Sorabji's music have suggested an interest in
9464-452: The un-numbered compositions have been cataloged and labeled with the German acronym WoO ( Werk ohne Opuszahl ), meaning "work without opus number"; the same has been done with other composers who used opus numbers. (There are also other catalogs of Beethoven's works – see Catalogues of Beethoven compositions .) The practice of enumerating a posthumous opus ("Op. posth.") is noteworthy in
9568-536: The upper echelons of the Catholic Church and wore a ring that he said had belonged to a deceased Sicilian cardinal and would go to the Pope upon his death. The villagers in Corfe Castle sometimes referred to him as "Sir Abji" and "Indian Prince". Sorabji often gave lexicographers incorrect biographical information on himself. One of them, Nicolas Slonimsky , who in 1978 erroneously wrote that Sorabji owned
9672-557: The vast dimensions of some of his compositions. Sorabji wrote in 1960 that he almost never sought to blend Eastern and Western music, and although he had positive things to say about Indian music in the 1920s, he later criticised what he saw as limitations inherent in it and the raga , including a lack of thematic development, which was sidelined in favour of repetition. A major source of inspiration were his readings of Persian literature , especially for his nocturnes, which have been described by Sorabji and others as evoking tropical heat,
9776-500: The waltz is to be played with the sustain pedal used, and makes frequent use of crescendi and diminuendi . It is in a simple ternary form , as are many of Chopin's compositions. The A section is marked leggero , and the B section sostenuto . The A section itself can be divided into two themes , separated by a double barline . The first consists of the familiar opening melody over standard waltz accompaniment, frequently rising an octave only to drop back down. The second theme
9880-769: The works of composers such as: Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji ; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music , written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to works lasting several hours. One of the most prolific 20th-century composers , he is best known for his piano pieces, notably nocturnes such as Gulistān and Villa Tasca , and large-scale, technically intricate compositions, which include seven symphonies for piano solo , four toccatas , Sequentia cyclica and 100 Transcendental Studies . He felt alienated from English society by reason of his homosexuality and mixed ancestry, and had
9984-490: Was English and born in Camberwell , Surrey (now South London ). She is said to have been a singer, pianist and organist , but there is little evidence of this. They married on 18 February 1892 and Sorabji was their only child. Little is known of Sorabji's early life and musical beginnings. He reportedly started to learn the piano from his mother when he was eight, and he later received help from Emily Edroff-Smith ,
10088-502: Was also used for a skit on Captain Kangaroo in the 1970s. New Orleans rhythm and blues pianist James Booker included an instrumental version on his album Junco Partner (1976). The composers Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji , Rafael Joseffy , Max Reger , Leopold Godowsky , Jeannot Heinen [ lb ] , Moriz Rosenthal , Giuseppe Ferrata , Sam Raphling , Marc-André Hamelin , and Bertold Hummel created paraphrases of
10192-423: Was concerned by the impact copyright laws would have on the spread of his music, but Holliday eventually persuaded him after years of opposition, objections and stalling. A little over 11 hours of music were recorded in Sorabji's home between 1962 and 1968. Although the tapes were not intended for public circulation, leaks occurred and some of the recordings were included in a 55-minute WBAI broadcast from 1969 and
10296-456: Was initiated by Frank Holliday, an English trainer and teacher who met Sorabji in 1937 and was his closest friend for about four decades. From 1951 to 1953, Holliday organised the presentation of a letter inviting Sorabji to make recordings of his own music. Sorabji received the letter, signed by 23 admirers, soon after, but made no recordings then, in spite of the enclosed cheque for 121 guineas (equivalent to £4,481 in 2023 ). Sorabji
10400-534: Was mixed. In his early life, he denounced it for fuelling war and deemed it a hypocritical religion, though he later voiced his admiration for the Catholic Church and attributed the most valuable parts of European civilisation to it. His interest in the Catholic Mass inspired his largest score, the Messa grande sinfonica . Although he professed that he was not Catholic, he may have embraced some of
10504-455: Was no longer interested in performances of his works, and over the next decade, made remarks expressing his opposition to the spread of his music. Sorabji eventually placed restrictions on performances of his works. These became known as a "ban", but there was no official or enforceable pronouncement to this effect; rather, he discouraged others from playing his music publicly. This was not without precedent and even his first printed scores bore
10608-533: Was permanently chairbound and received daily nursing care. In June 1988, he suffered a mild stroke, which left him slightly mentally impaired. He died of heart failure and arteriosclerotic heart disease on 15 October 1988 at the age of 96. He was cremated in Bournemouth Crematorium on 24 October, and the funeral service took place in Corfe Castle in the Church of St. Edward, King and Martyr, on
10712-453: Was upset by this and Owen believes that the treatment and Best's mental health problems exacerbated their reclusiveness. Sorabji cherished his privacy (even describing himself as a "claustrophiliac" ) and has often been called a misanthrope. He planted more than 250 trees around his house, which had a number of notices to deter uninvited visitors. Sorabji did not like the company of two or more friends simultaneously and would accept only one at
10816-409: Was used to identify, list, and catalogue a work of art. By the 15th and 16th centuries, the word opus was used by Italian composers to denote a specific musical composition, and by German composers for collections of music. In compositional practice, numbering musical works in chronological order dates from 17th-century Italy, especially Venice . In common usage, the word opus is used to describe
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