John Veale

John Douglas Louis Veale (15 June 1922 – 16 November 2006) was an English classical composer. Early career He was born in Shortlands, Bromley, Kent; his father, the civil servant Douglas Veale, later served as Registrar of the University of Oxford (1930–1958) and received a knighthood. Discovering Sibelius and Shostakovich, and receiving encouragement from William Walton, Sir Hugh Allen and Humphrey Searle, he decided to become a composer, taking some lessons from Egon Wellesz. Veale sketched out his first symphony during the war while serving in the Army’s Education Corps. After demobilisation he returned to Corpus Christi for more composition lessons with Wellesz and counterpoint and harmony with Thomas Armstrong. While there he began composing incidental music for Oxford University Dramatic Society productions, in which Kenneth Tynan and Lindsay Anderson were involved. Between 1949 and 1951 he won a scholarship to study in California with Roger Sessions and Roy Harris (the latter’s only English pupil). The Symphony No. 1 was premiered by Sir John Barbirolli at the Cheltenham Music Festival in 1952. The Clarinet Concerto had its premiere at the Royal Festival Hall in 1954, conduc