Anthony Payne
English composer, musicologist and music critic Anthony Payne was born in London on 2 August 1936. He studied at Durham University. From the 1960s onwards he received commissions from high profile ensembles such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble and the English Chamber Orchestra. Important works include the Phoenix Mass, The Spirit's Harvest, Time's Arrow, Visions and Journeys and Of Land, Sea and Sky.
In 1988 Payne and his wife Jane Manning founded the ensemble Jane's Minstrels, and Payne wrote music for the group.
He is perhaps best known for his completion of Edward Elgar's Symphony No 3, left incomplete when Elgar died. Payne began working on and lecturing about Elgar's sketches for this work in 1993, and his completion was performed in 1998. He subsequently gave the same treatment to Elgar's sketches for Pomp and Circumstance March No 6, first performed in 2006.
Payne also worked as a music critic for The Daily Telegraph and The Independent, and wrote books about Frank Bridge and Arnold Schoenberg.
Anthony Payne died on 30 April 2021, aged eighty-four, just a month after the death of his wife.
A selection of articles about Anthony Payne
Classical music news. Obituary - Jane Manning (1938-2021)
Much Augmented - A new score of Elgar's 'Arthur', perused by Robert Anderson
Ensemble. Shattering Conviction - Mike Wheeler listens to Markus Stenz and the Hallé in music by Colin Matthews and Mahler
DVD Spotlight. Extreme Individuality - A film about Delius, seen by Paul Sarcich. '... a commendable breadth.'
Scholarship and originality - David Bury explains the merits of Robert Anderson's new book 'Elgar and Chivalry'
Reality or invention? - Peter Dale reads from a Liverpool University symposium on the musical work