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| Composers Biography |  |
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Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax
[ Life | Works | Best Works | Photo Gallery | |
![[Arnold Edward Trevor Bax Image]](../Dizionario/images/bax.gif) |
British composer and novelist, born in London. Literary influences, especially the poetry of W.B.Yeats, were important in establishing Arnold Bax as the leading musical exponent of the so-called Celtic revival. Although he was an excellent pianist, he never made any public appearances and devoted himself entirely to composition. At its best his music has a compelling charm and power. He occupied an important place in English music during his lifetime. He was knighted in 1937. 
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Apart from his piano music, his orchestral tone-poems of Celtic implication, including The Garden of Fand, November Woods and Tintagel, are his best known works. He wrote seven symphonies and some fine chamber music. There are concertos for cello, for viola and for violin and Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra in addition to a Concertante for piano left hand and orchestra, written for Harriet Cohen, with whom he had a long relationship. Bax's choral works include settings of traditional carols, while his solo songs allow him to explore more Celtic ground in a variety of settings, ranging from A Celtic Song Cycle to settings of poems by James Joyce, J.M. Synge, and by the English writers A.E. Housman and his brother, the writer Clifford Bax. Bax wrote string quartets and quintets, an interesting Viola Sonata, three Violin Sonatas and works for larger instrumental groups, including a Nonet for wind and string instruments and an Octet for horn, piano and string sextet. Bax wrote seven piano sonatas, some unpublished, and a number of pieces for piano solo or duo, many with evocative titles.
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