Arthur Butterworth

Butterworth was born in New Moston, near Manchester. His father was secretary of the local church choir. His mother played the piano and Butterworth himself sang in the choir. For the entrance fee of sixpence, young Butterworth attended Hallé concerts and volunteered for the village brass band who allocated him the trombone. While still a teenager he played with the noted band at Besses o' th' Barn and started taking conducting lessons.[3] While playing with the band, he caught his trombone in tram tracks and, discouraged by the accident, changed to the trumpet.[4]

His music teacher at North Manchester Grammar School, Percy Penrose, gave him much encouragement but his parents and headmaster tried to dissuade him from a full-time career. Five years in the wartime Army gave him little scope for music-making but Butterworth more than made up for it afterwards. In 1939, however, he won the Alexander Owen Scholarship for young brass players and had his first work played in public by the Wingates Band conducted by Granville Bantock. Butterworth had no idea at the time how famous Bantock was, nor that he was a friend of Sibelius whom he revered! Nevertheless, the great man said kindly “If you try hard enough, maybe one day you’ll grow up to be a proper composer.” At the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern College of Music), Butterworth studied composition with Richard Hall and also learned the trumpet and conducting. He studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams after writing to the composer in 1950, requesting lessons.[3] He served as a trumpeter in the Scottish National Orchestra (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) from 1949–55 and in the Hallé from 1955–62;[5] he also played as a freelance until 1963. In that year he began to teach at the Huddersfield School of Music, an activity which he combined with composing and conducting (he was for many years principal conductor of the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra). He was made an MBE in 1995. He was unrelated to the composer George Butterworth (1885–1916).

His works include seven symphonies, eight concertos, several other large orchestral scores and a considerable amount of 'serious' music for brass (almost totally neglected by the brass band movement). In the summer of 2008 Butterworth returned to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra to conduct a recording of his Fourth Symphony (1986) and his Viola Concerto (1988) with the English viola player, Sarah-Jane Bradley. The Sixth Symphony had its première in Saint Petersburg by St Petersburg State Capella Orchestra on 15 November 2009.[2]

A selection of Arthur Butterworth's orchestral and chamber works have been released on the Dutton Epoch Label. The Viola Concerto and the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies are all performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the composer's baton. One of the releases also includes Barbirolli's 1958 mono recording of Butterworth's First Symphony, along with a series of reminiscences by the composer. A CD of Piano Trios is also available.

He was married to Diana Butterworth, until her death in February 2013. He died at Embsay.