John Jeffreys
'... gentle passions and distinctive craftsmanship ...' - Patric Standford
John Jeffreys, a British composer of Welsh parentage, was born at Margate on 4 December 1927. He studied piano, counterpoint and musical philosophy at Trinity College of Music in London, and wrote a considerable amount of music for orchestra, chamber groups, keyboards and choirs. There is also a large collection of songs for voice and piano, of which more than a hundred have been published. Jeffreys, like many other composers, suffered during William Glock's years as controller of music at the BBC, and destroyed a large quantity of his music, but he later began a process of revision and recomposition. He lived in West Suffolk, and died on 3 September 2010, aged eighty-two.
(Another Welsh musician with the same name, but from the sixteenth century, was a composer of hymn tunes, especially Hero and Dyfrdwy. He was born at Llanynys in about 1718 and died in 1798.)
A selection of articles about John Jeffreys
CD Spotlight. Gentle Passions - Music by John Jeffreys, heard by Patric Standford. '... beautifully paced ...'
Record box. The masque of pastiche - Trevor Hold listens to baritone songs by John Jeffreys