Francis Routh

Francis John Routh (5 January 1927 – 27 November 2021) was an English composer and author. Education Born in Kidderminster, Routh attended Malvern College and Harrow School before serving in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (1945–48). He read Classics at King’s College, Cambridge (where he also learned the organ) and from 1951 studied at the Royal Academy of Music for two years with William Alwyn (for piano) and Wesley Roberts (organ). After that he took private composition lessons with Mátyás Seiber. Composer, teacher, author Routh first came to notice as a composer in the early 1960s with the song cycles A Woman Young and Old (Yeats, 1962) and Four Shakespeare Songs (1963), using a chromatic, but still tonal style. Instrumental (especially organ music) and orchestral works followed, including the massive Sacred Tetralogy for organ, composed between 1959 and 1974, as well as numerous concertos, such as the Violin Concerto (1965), Double Concerto (1970) and Cello Concerto (1973). In all there are some 85 published works spanning 60 years, including three symphonies, chamber music, large scale solo piano and organ works and several song cycles. Late works included The Well Tempered