Malcolm Hawkins

Malcolm Hawkins (b. 1944) has written carols, church music, piano and chamber works, concertos and music for theater and radio. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Mr. Hawkins has received commissions from many organizations, including the Vaughan Williams Trust, the Lichfield Festival, the Round Top Festival, the New Hampshire String Teachers and St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge.

His Four Carols (Catalog No. 5498) have been broadcast by the BBC Singers and performed many times in England and in the United States. The companion piece to Hillside and Seaside II, Hillside and Seaside (Catalog No. 5853), is available from the publisher.

A Reflective Lyric
by Malcolm Hawkins

Years ago I went to Cambridge University for an interview, and inquired about the study of composition. 'We do not believe composition can be taught' came the reply. I thought of the comment attributed to Brahms, that he had had to unlearn everything he had been taught, and agreed that the Cambridge don, who later became a successful conductor, had a point.

Music, however, is not only an art. It is a craft, as Percy Scholes states in the Oxford Companion; the composer, however, mostly learns it his own way, although many have needed guidance and we all like encouragement. Anton Bruckner travelled repeatedly up to Vienna for counterpoint lessons with Sechter. Vaughan Williams went to Paris to acquire a little 'French polish' as he put it, from Ravel. Aaron Copland was one of many who went to the same city to study with Nadia Boulanger.

Just one or two pieces of advice can stay with one for life. Do not be satisfied with the first version, said Egon Wellesz when, armed with a manuscript, I went to see him in Oxford. Every note counts, said Lennox Berkeley, in London. And I will not forget the comments of my composition teacher in Salzburg, Cesar Bresgen, after a chamber music performance of new compositions at the Mozarteum. Ernst Krenek had attended the concert as well. I was mortified, but it was a superb lesson.

As a student I could only, for a year or two, write piano music. Now I have very little interest in it. I was quite successful with chamber music, but approached the setting of words with apprehension, although I did win a competition for songs which were broadcast on Austrian radio.

The turning point came when I started to write lyrics myself. Here, I felt in control. Words move me as much as music, and the writing of the text is as important as the writing of the notes.

Four Carols which have been quite widely performed in Europe and the USA are set to poems inspired by ancient Christian symbolism.

Hillside and Seaside are five songs for SSA, the poems grew from New England scenes. Since the publication and performances of these pieces I have written further choral works to original texts. Usually the words come first - occasionally both words and music come together, but only in short phrases.

At least the composer who is his own lyricist can feel he has done justice to the text. To try to set Shakespeare remains very daunting.