Malcolm Henry ARNOLD (b.1921)
Malcolm Arnold was born on October 21,
1921, in Northampton, England, the descendant of musical lineage. Arnold’s
grandfather formed a family string quartet and his father, a successful
shoemaker by trade, was an amateur pianist and organist. However, it was
Arnold’s mother who was the more serious musician in the household. An
accomplished pianist, she introduced her son to music and encouraged his gifts
by purchasing him a trap drum set when he was fairly young. He later dabbles in
violin study, but it was the trumpet which captured his attention due to Louis
Armstrong and the influence of jazz. He found his first trumpet in a local shop
and had lessons from a Russian taskmaster who taught him the value of long hours
in the practice studio. During this same period he wrote his first compositions,
dedicated as birthday gifts for his mother. Arnold believed that one should
“always think in terms of sound…not only of notes on paper”, and hailed
Berlioz as having the greatest musical influence in his life.
At 16, he won a scholarship
to the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied piano with Hurst
Bannister, trumpet with Ernest Hall, conducting with Constant Lambert, and
composition with Gordon Jacob. In 1941, he received the first significant
recognition of his compositional skill by winning the Cobbett Composition Prize.
From an interview five years
ago he was quoted as saying,
“The
pursuit of happiness is not my aim. I just wanted to lead a useful life and
occasionally write a piece of music. I’d have been quite happy to always
remain a trumpet player.”
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