(b Bunbury, 14 April 1939). Australian composer. She studied at the University of Western Australia (BA 1960, BMus 1967), during which time she had pieces performed in the Festival of Perth and broadcast by the ABC. She then worked as a teacher while establishing herself as a composer. In 1968 she won a Dutch Government Scholarship and studied for a year at the Studio of Electronic Music, University of Utrecht. In 1969 she moved to London, where she works as a freelance composer.
Her music often uses simple procedures to striking and distinctive effect, as is evident in the frequently performed Blow Flute (1983) for flute or Threaded Stars (1983) for harp, a work which explores the complex possibilities of a single melodic line. Several choral works, such as Veni Sancte Spiritus – Veni Creator (1971) and the haunting Lament for Dunblane (1996), reflect and reinterpret plainchant procedures. Fowler has maintained close links with Australia, as can be heard in works such as Chant with Garlands (1974), We Call to You, Brother (1988) and Singing the Lost Places (1996) for soprano and 14 instruments; Singing the Lost Places was commissioned by the Festival of Perth, and expresses the concept of ‘singing the landscape’, using Aboriginal place names from Western Australia as a text. Her music has been performed at many international festivals and has won several awards – Ravelation for string quintet (1971) was joint winner of the Radcliffe Award of Great Britain in 1971 and also won first prize in the International Competition for Women Composers in Mannheim in 1975.
WORKS -
Orch: Look on this Oedipus, 1973; Chant with Garlands, 1974; Ring out the Changes, str, bells, 1978; Plainsong for Strings, 1992
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Inst: Chimes Fractured, 2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bn, org, bagpipes, 6 perc, 1971; Ravelation, 2 vn, va, 2 vc, 1971, rev. 1980; Piece for an Opera House, 2 pf/(pf, tape)/pf, 1973; Music for Pf – Ascending and Descending, 1980; The Arrows of St Sebastian II, b cl, vc, tape, 1981; Piece for E.L., pf, 1981; Invocation to the Veiled Mysteries, fl, cl, bn + dbn, vn, vc, pf, 1981; Line Spun with Stars, vn/fl, vc, pf, 1982; Blow Flute: Answer Echoes in Antique Lands Dying, fl, 1983; Echoes from an Antique Land, 5 perc, 1983, arr. fl, cl, pf, db/b gui, arr. also variable ens; Threaded Stars, hp, 1983; Answer Echoes, 3 fl, a fl, 1986; Between Silence and the Word, wind qnt, 1987; Lament, Baroque ob, bass viol/vc, 1987; We Call to You, Brother, fl, eng hn, vc, perc, 2 trbn + didjeridoo, 1988; Restless Dust, va, vc, db, 1988, arr. vc, pf, 1988; Reeds, Reflections … Ripples Re-Sound Resound, ob, vn, va, vc, 1990; Remembering 1695, a fl, cl, eng hn, flugel hn, 1994; Lament for Mr Henry Purcell, a fl, va, hp/vn, cl, mar, 1995; Lament, variable ens, 1996
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Vocal: Hours of the Day (Lat., Little Breviary of Stanbrook Abbey), 2 S, 2 Mez, 2 ob, 2 cl, 1968; Veni Creator Spiritus – Veni Creator (Lat.), SATB, 1971; Voice of the Shades (Fowler), (S, ob/cl, vn/fl)/(2 tpt, ob/cl)/cl, ob, vn/fl), 1977; Tell Out, My Soul: Magnificat (Lat.), S, vc, pf, 1980, rev. 1984; When David Heard … (Bible), SATB, pf, 1982; Letter from Haworth (C. Brontë), S/Mez, cl, vc, pf, 1984; And Ever Shall Be (trad. texts), Mez, fl, ob, cl, trbn, vn, va, vc, perc, 1989; Let’s Stop Work! (Fowler), SA, opt. pf, 1993; Come, Quick! (W. de la Mare), (SA, opt. pf)/(vn, vc), 1995; Lament for Dunblane (Fowler), (S, S, T, B)/(SSATB), 1996; Singing the Lost Places (Aboriginal place names), S, ens, 1996
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Principal publishers: Sounds Australian, Universal Edition (Aust.) Pty Ltd
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FullerPG
J. Fowler: ‘Of Smallpipes and Double Basses’, CMR, xi (1994), 95–108
SOPHIE FULLER
Fowler, John
(fl c1460). English composer. A John Fowler was clerk of the Chapel Royal from 1433 to 1467, and may be the composer of a three-voice O quam glorifica luce in GB-Cmc Pepys 1236, which is attributed simply to ‘Fowler’. The name, however, was a common one: a John Fowler was a member of the Queen’s Chapel in 1411 and was still living in 1434; another (d 1472) was in charge of the King’s Free Chapel in Nottingham Castle; and a third was a later member of the Chapel Royal, 1499–1518.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S.R. Charles: ‘The Provenance and Date of the Pepys MS 1236’, MD, xvi (1962), 57–71, esp. 64
S.R. Charles, ed.: The Music of the Pepys MS 1236, CMM, xl (1967), 75
SYDNEY ROBINSON CHARLES
Fox.
American firm of oboe and bassoon makers. The firm was founded in 1949 by Hugo Fox (b South Whitley, IN, 2 Feb 1897; d South Whitley, IN, 29 Dec 1969), a bassoonist with a serious interest in the acoustics of his instrument, in the wooded district of Indiana where he was born. From 1922 unitl that year he had been principal bassoonist of the Chicago SO; he also taught for 15 years at Northwestern University, as well as having worked as a bassoon reed-maker and repairman. Specializing in bassoons and in oboe and bassoon reeds, by 1960 he had produced 60 bassoons, 5,000 reeds for bassoon, and 10,000 for oboe. That year he was joined by his son Alan (b 1 April 1934), who in 1963 took over the managment. Despite the setback of a potentially disastrous fire in 1974, the company, which had recently added double bassoon and oboe to its production, has successfully continued to consolidate and expand its operations. Their bassoons in particular have in recent years enjoyed increasing favour among orchestral players worldwide. In addition to a full range of professional instruments, the company supplies under the Renard brand name inexpensive models for students. For this market the firm has pioneered the use of polypropylene, a synthetic material found to maintain excellent standards of intonation and response while offering advantages of durability and prive. The wood used for their bassoons, in addition to North American and European varieties of maple, is grown locally.
Although by training a chemical engineer rather than a musician, Alan Fox has became an acknowledged expert on double-reed acoustics. In an important article ‘Defining the Two Types of Bassoons – Long and Short Bore’ (The Instrumentalist, xxiii/4, 1968–9, pp.53–4), he identified two contrasting acoustical designs among the Heckel-system bassoons then in use, which he has since supplied as alternative models. Thanks to enlightened management and a constant process of research and development, Fox has now become the world major supplier of double-reed instruments, with a workforce of 80 and exporting one quarter of its production.
WILLIAM WATERHOUSE
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