Duncan Druce

Robert Duncan Druce (23 May 193913 October 2015) was an English composer, string player and musicologist, noted for his interest in early to contemporary music, as well as the music of India. Education and academic life Druce was born in Cheshire in 1939, the son of Robert Druce, a bacteriologist, and Katy Chesters. In 1957, he entered King’s College, Cambridge, which later awarded him a double first in music. Subsequently, he completed a Masters at the University of Leeds and, in 1984 embarked upon a second master’s degree, at the University of York, choosing the music of southern India as the topic of his thesis. In 1991, Druce stood down from his long-standing post as senior lecturer at Leeds University’s Bretton Hall Campus, to continue to work as a performer and composer. Druce lectured in composition part-time at the University of Huddersfield until his death. Druce married Clare Spalding in 1964. The couple had two daughters, Alison and Emily. His wife, daughters, four grandchildren, a great-grandson, and his sister Cathy survived him at the time of his death. In 1984, Druce finished a new completion of Mozart’s Requiem, which was performed at The Proms in 1991. This complet