Malcolm Arnold

Sir Malcolm Arnold CBE (1921 - 2006) was born in Northampton, England, the youngest of five children from a prosperous Northampton family of shoemakers. After seeing Louis Armstrong play in Bournemouth, he took up the trumpet at the age of 12, and five years later won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. He studied there composition with Gordon Jacob and the trumpet with Ernest Hall. In 1941, he joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra as second trumpet and became principal trumpet in 1943. In 1941, he registered as a conscientious objector, and was initially exempted from military service conditional upon joining the National Fire Service, but in the event he was allowed to continue in the LPO. In 1944, after his brother in the Royal Air Force had been killed, he volunteered for military service. When the army put him in a military band he shot himself in the foot to get back to civilian life; he remained in touch with the CO movement, giving a trumpet recital at the 1946 New Year party of the Central Board for Conscientious Objectors. After a season as principal trumpet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he returned in 1946 to the London Philharmonic, where he remained until 1948, leaving to become a full-time composer. Arnold began his career playing trumpet professionally, but by the age of 30 his life was devoted to composition. He was ranked with Benjamin Britten as one of the most sought-after composers in Britain.[citation needed] His natural melodic gift earned him a reputation as a composer of light music in works such as some of his concert overtures and the sets of Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish and Cornish dances. He was also a highly successful composer of film music, penning the scores to over a hundred features and documentaries, including titles such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, Hobson's Choice and the St Trinian's series. His nine symphonies are often deeply personal and show a more serious side to his work, which has proved more controversial. Arnold also wrote a variety of concertos and chamber works, as well as music for the theatre including major ballets. By 1961, Arnold had a reputation for being unpleasant, frequently drunk and highly promiscuous. He divorced his first wife in that year. His second wife took out a court order after they separated. After their divorce, he made two suicide attempts. His later years saw a decline in both his health and his finances. In 1978, he was treated as an in-patient for several months in the acute psychiatric ward at the Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, London, and in 1979 he entered St Andrew's Hospital in his hometown of Northampton to be treated for depression and alcoholism. Between 1979 and 1986 he was formally in the care of the Court of Protection. However despite this, and being given only a year to live in the early 1980s, he recovered and lived for 22 more years, albeit with a carer, Anthony Day. In this period he completed his Ninth and final symphony in 1986. By the time of his 70th birthday in 1991 his artistic reputation with the general public was recovering and he was even able to enjoy a triumphant appearance on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall to receive an ovation after a Proms performance of his Guitar Concerto. Arnold died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norwich, on 23 September 2006, aged 84. That same day his last work, The Three Musketeers, was premiered in a Northern Ballet production at the Bradford Alhambra. The original score was compiled by Anthony Meredith.