Louis Boyd Neel (July 19, 1905 - September 30, 1981) was an English (and later Canadian) conductor and academic. He is perhaps best known for revitalizing the genre of the chamber orchestra. July 19 is the 200th day (201st in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 165 days remaining. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... September 30 is the 273rd day of the year (274th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. ...

Early years

Neel was born in Blackheath, London and wanted to be a pianist as a child.^[1] His mother, Ruby Le Couteur, was a professional accompanist, and his father was an engineer. Destined for the Royal Navy, Neel went to Osborne naval college and then to Dartmouth. Soon after he was commissioned, the armed forces underwent a drastic reduction (the so called ‘Geddes axe’), and Neel left the navy to study medicine at Caius College Cambridge. He qualified in 1930, and became House Surgeon and Physician at Saint George's Hospital, London, and Resident Doctor at King Edward VII’s Hospital, London. ^[2] In 1930, while practising medicine, Neel studied music theory and orchestration at the Guildhall School of Music.^[3] Blackheath is the name of a number of places: Blackheath, London, England Blackheath, West Midlands, England Blackheath, New South Wales, Australia See also Blackheath Rugby Club – founded 1858. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... Full name Gonville and Caius College Motto - Named after Edmund Gonville & John Caius Previous names Gonville Hall (1348), Gonville & Caius (1557) Established 1348 Sister College Brasenose College Master Neil McKendrick Location Trinity St Undergraduates 468 Graduates 291 Homepage Boatclub Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, generally known as Caius (though pronounced... The University of Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, with one of the most selective sets of entry requirements in the United Kingdom. ... Categories: University stubs | Performing arts education in London ...

The Boyd Neel Orchestra

For Neel, at this stage, music was still a hobby. He conducted amateur groups and was persuaded to form an orchestra of young professionals, whom he recruited in 1932 from the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music. The Boyd Neel London String Orchestra (later The Boyd Neel Orchestra) made its début at the Aeolian Hall, London, on 22 June 1933. After the concert, Neel returned to his surgery and delivered a baby. By December 1933, the orchestra was invited to broadcast by the BBC. When Decca offered Neel and the orchestra a contract, he left medicine to devote his full time to music. ^[4] The Royal Academy of Music (sometimes abbreviated to RAM) is a music school in London, England and is one of the leading music institutions in the world. ... // The Royal College of Music from Prince Consort Road, London The Royal College of Music is a prestigious music school located in Kensington, London. ... Aeolian Hall was a concert hall near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City located at 29-33 West 42nd Street across the street from Bryant Park. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... Decca may refer to: Decca Records, a 1929 British record label, also known as Decca Music Group Decca Radar (later Racal-Decca Marine), a British marine electronics manufacturer, a spin-off from the gramophone and records company Decca tree, a microphone recording system London Decca, a maker of turntable tonearms...

Among the Boyd Neel Orchestra’s early releases were the first recordings of Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and Britten’s Simple Symphony. Neel conducted the first music heard in the new Glyndebourne opera house in 1934, in private performances, at John Christie’s invitation. ^[5] In 1937, Neel and his orchestra were invited to the Salzburg Festival, for which Neel commissioned Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. ^[6] The orchestra toured Great Britain and Europe until 1939.^[7] Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was an influential English composer. ... Also known as the The Fantasia was one of the first major successes of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. ... Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH (November 22, 1913 Lowestoft, Suffolk - December 4, 1976 Aldeburgh, Suffolk) was a British composer, conductor, and pianist. ... The Simple Symphony is a work for string orchestra by Benjamin Britten. ... Glyndebourne is a country house near Lewes in East Sussex, England. ... The Salzburg Festival (Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama. ...

WW2 to 1952

During World War II, Neel returned to medical work and the Navy^[8], while continuing to conduct when time permitted. Britten wrote his Prelude and Fugue for 18 string instruments as a 10th birthday present to the Boyd Neel Orchestra in 1943. After the war, Neel resumed his musical career, conducting for Sadler's Wells Opera (’50 Rigolettos’ he recalled) from 1944 to 1946 and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for its 1947 and 1948 London seasons at Sadler's Wells. ^[9] Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The London Coliseum, home of the English National Opera English National Opera (ENO), located at the Coliseum Theatre on St. ... Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome) Rigoletto is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi. ... The DOyly Carte Opera Company staged performances of Gilbert and Sullivans Savoy operas in the UK, Europe, America, South Africa and elsewhere from the nineteenth century to the twenty first. ...

Beginning in 1947, with the Boyd Neel Orchestra, he embarked on a series of world tours, playing in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States of America, and appearing in festivals such as Edinburgh and Aix-en-Provence. ^[10] Neel published a book about these experiences called The Story of an Orchestra in 1950^[11] There is no one Edinburgh Festival but those using the term are usually referring to the collection of various festivals in August and early September of each year in Edinburgh, Scotland. ... The Festival DAix-en-Provence takes place throughout July each year. ...

Toronto and later years

In 1952 Neel accepted the post of Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at Toronto, Ontario, in which post he served for 18 years, reorganising and rebuilding the Faculty of Music at the University. Soon after his appointment he formed the Hart House Orchestra in Toronto and toured with it extensively, at, among other events, the Brussels World's Fair in 1958, the Aldeburgh Festival in 1966 and Expo ’67. After this, he became Artistic Director of the Sarnia Festival Opera House on Lake Huron. ^[12] Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages English (de facto) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total  - Land  - Water  (% of total)  Ranked 4th 1,076... Nickname: The Capital Of Europe, Comic City City of a 100 Museums[] Map showing the location of Brussels in Belgium Coordinates: Country Belgium Region Brussels-Capital Region Founded 979 Founded (Region) June 18, 1989  - Mayor (Municipality) Freddy Thielemans Area    - City 162 (Region) km²  (62. ... Worlds Fair is any of various large expositions held since the mid-19th century. ... The Aldeburgh Festival is an English festival, largely revolving around classical music. ... Sarnia is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada (population 70,876 in 2001). ... Ipperwash Beach, Lake Huron. ...

After Neel’s departure to Canada, the Boyd Neel Orchestra was renamed the Philomusica of London and continues under that name today. Neel was awarded the C.B.E. in 1953 and was an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1961.^[13] Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire (Military division) The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority... The Royal Academy of Music (sometimes abbreviated to RAM) is a music school in London, England and is one of the leading music institutions in the world. ...

As a radio commentator, Neel was heard on such CBC programs as 'Sunday Concert,' 'Tuesday Night,' 'Concerts from Two Worlds,' and his own 'Opera with Boyd Neel' (1954). He also wrote a series of essays, under the headline 'This Week's Music,' for the CBC Times in 1959, and his writings have appeared in Opera Canada, the Journal of Music Education, and the University of Toronto Bulletin. He was the subject of a CBC-FM series - 'The Boyd Neel Memoirs' - in 1979. Neel became an instructor for the Student Conductors' Workshop (run by the OAC and University of Toronto) at its inception in 1969 and continued to conduct with it until the late 1970s. In 1972, he became the first conductor of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, continuing after 1978 as conductor emeritus.^[14] The University of Toronto (U of T) is a coeducational public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ...

After his retirement, Neel worked on his memoirs, which were edited and published posthumously by his close friend, J. David Finch. The book also includes an extensive discography of recordings of the Boyd Neel Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Neel for Decca Records between 1934 and 1979. Neel died in Toronto at the age of 76.^[15]

Notes

Reference

• The Gramophone, July 1972
• Neel at the G&S Who Was Who website
• Neel at Answers.com
• Neel at the Encylcopedia of Music in Canada
• Neel, Boyd, and J David Finch My orchestras and other adventures: the memoirs of Boyd Neel University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1985. ISBN: 0802056741

External links

• profile of Neel
• Description of how Neel started his orchestra
• List of some available Neel recordings
• Another list of available Neel recordings
• Speech by Neel
• Photo of Neel