Alan Bush

Alan Bush ( born December 22, 1900 in London, † October 31, 1995 in Watford ) was an English composer, pianist, choir director and music teacher.

Bush attended Highgate School and then studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Frederick Corder. Further studies in philosophy and musicology, he ran in Berlin. Later, he took composition lessons from John Ireland and took piano lessons with Benno Moiseiwitsch and Artur Schnabel. Between 1925 and 1978, Bush himself taught at the Royal Academy of Music. He was a convinced Marxist, conducted the London Labour Choral Union and since 1936 had presided Workers' Music Association held. His politics are evident in many works and led to widespread disregard Bush in British musical life after the Second World War. However, he was a welcome guest in the former Eastern Bloc countries. So experienced all four operas of the composer in the GDR, its stage premiere. Initially he used the twelve-tone technique, later he established a personal style in free harmony. In 1955 he became a corresponding member of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin (East). Alan Bush died after a brief illness at the age of just 95 years. After his death, the Alan Bush Music Trust was founded and committed to his music.

Bush's catalog of works includes operas Wat Tyler (1948-1950), Men of Blackmoor (1954 /55), The Sugar Reapers, Joe Hill - The Man Who Never Died, four symphonies, a violin and a piano concerto ( with final chorus of a communist text ), other orchestral works, chamber, piano, choral music and songs.