Michael Head (composer)

Michael Head, FRAM (28 January 190024 August 1976) was an English composer, pianist, organist and singer who left some enduring works still popular today. He was noted for his association with the Royal Academy of Music. His compositional oeuvre mainly consists of songs, as well as choral works and few larger-scale pieces such as a piano concerto. Early life Michael Dewar Head was born in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on 28 January 1900. His father was a barrister and journalist and his mother an accomplished amateur singer and pianist. His mother’s influence evidently dominated, and at age 10 he commenced his musical training, taking lessons in piano with Jean Adair and in singing with Fritz Marston at the Adair-Marston School of Music. Head began to study at the Royal Academy of Music but was soon called up for service in the First World War. While working at an ammunition factory, he composed the song cycle Over the rim of the moon (Head et al., 1920). This was to become his first published work. After the war, Head resumed his studies at the academy. He studied composition with Frederick Corder, piano with T B Knott and organ with Reginald Steggall. He won a scholarship for composit