Christopher Hogwood

• Born: September 10, 1941
• Birthplace: Nottingham, England
• Died: September 24, 2014
• Place of death: Cambridge, England

English classical conductor and pianist

As the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music, a period instrument orchestra, Hogwood helped bring early music into the mainstream.

Member of The Early Music Consort; the Academy of Ancient Music

The Life

Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood was born in Nottingham, England, in 1941. In addition to studying music and classics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Hogwood studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt and Rafael Puyana. He studied conducting under Raymond Leppard and Thurston Dart, the latter a harpsichordist and a specialist in Johann Sebastian Bach.

From 1946 to 1965, the British Broadcasting Corporation produced a radio show called Third Programme. It offered significant broadcasts of early music, and it is considered seminal in the early-music revival. Coming of age in England during these years, Hogwood was exposed to performances by Dart on the BBC, and he began his career primarily as a harpsichordist. In that capacity, he cofounded the Early Music Consort with woodwind player David Munrow in 1973. Among the most musically accomplished of its time, this ensemble set a new standard in performance practice, and it made a somewhat radical move by commissioning new music for early instruments.

The Academy of Ancient Music was founded with a mission to perform seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music. The ensemble took its name from the original Academy of Ancient Music, an eighteenth-century London group created to explore works from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The ensemble's repertoire ranges from Henry Purcell to Igor Stravinsky. In addition, Hogwood was a prolific conductor of live and recorded music, and he was the first conductor to record the complete symphonies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven on period instruments.

Hogwood was active as an opera conductor, a scholar, and a writer. In addition to his work as a conductor of early music, he was the artistic director of Boston's Handel and Hayden Society from 1986 to 2001 and the music director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota from 1987 to 1992. Hogwood died in Cambridge, England, in 2014 at the age of seventy-three.

The Music

Hogwood’s work in music reflected his talents as conductor, writer, and editor. As a conductor, some of his most significant achievements were the recordings of the Mozart and Beethoven symphonies, as well as the recordings of the Mozart piano concerti with fortepianist Robert Levin. Hogwood’s combined talents made him a significant part of the early-music revival, and his paleographic and editorial abilities raised standards for historically informed performance around the world. Hogwood continually broadened his own repertoire, and he was an expert conductor of Stravinsky (in particular the neoclassical works) as well as of earlier music. Hogwood championed and recorded twentieth-century Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů’s music, in addition to presenting works by the so-called Entartete (degenerate) composers, whose music was banned by the Nazi Party in the 1930s. In addition to his work with twentieth century music, Hogwood commissioned and premiered new works for period instruments. In concert programming, Hogwood often juxtaposed new and old works.

Conductor. Hogwood recorded and released Mozart’s symphonies between 1978 and 1985, and these recordings were lauded for their accuracy of performance practice and for their accuracy and clarity. In addition, they were notable for adhering to the score, devoid of the interpretive elements that were common in recordings of standard repertoire. While other early-music performers and audiences expected this stylistic approach, it took the mainstream classical audience by surprise. Well-reviewed and with good sales, the recordings set a standard for orchestral performance in the early music community.

Opera. Hogwood made his opera debut in 1983 with a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (1787) in St. Louis. Thereafter, he conducted around the world, becoming a particular proponent of George Frideric Handel operas.

Writer. Hogwood wrote extensively on music. His output included a significant monograph on Handel, a book on the trio sonata form, and a Cambridge Music Handbook on Handel’s The Music for Royal Fireworks (1749) and Water Music (1717). His books are notable for their fluid writing and for their combination of musicological insight and practical concerns of a performer. Hogwood contributed articles to books on music of eighteenth-century England, on the classical period, and on many other topics. In addition, he wrote a significant number of liner notes for a wide variety of recordings.

Editor. Hogwood’s skills as an editor contributed to the performance and interpretation of early music. He prepared editions of keyboard music, including the complete keyboard works of Purcell. Other projects encompassed the preparation of new editions of many of Felix Mendelssohn’s works, which included many of the sketches and alternative endings left by the composer. Hogwood also edited twentieth-century works, including a new edition of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations (1899), and he sat on the board of the Martinů Complete Edition.

Musical Legacy

Hogwood’s musical legacy is significant. As a conductor, he made hundreds of recordings and performed with numerous ensembles. His recordings were seminal in the field, and many of the earlier recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music have been rereleased. His work as an impresario created two period instrument ensembles; while the Early Music Consort disbanded in the 1970s, the Academy of Ancient Music continues to tour internationally. Hogwood’s topics as a writer spanned hundreds of years, offering insight into both the source materials and the process of bringing the music to life. In addition to being a conductor, writer, and editor, Hogwood held several teaching positions, and he was appointed international professor of early-music performance at the Royal Academy of Music in 1992. As a pedagogue, he influenced young musicians, and he developed the practice of historically informed performance. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 1989.

Bibliography

Haskell, Harry. “Early Music.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2000.

Hogwood, Christopher. Handel. Thames & Hudson, 2007.

Millington, Barry. "Christopher Hogwood Obituary." The Guardian, 24 Sept. 2014, www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/24/christopher-hogwood. Accessed 2 Jan. 2018.

Pratt, George. “Christopher Hogwood.” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Edited by Stanley Sadie. New York: Grove’s Dictionaries, 2000.

Van Tassel, Eric. “Mozart Symphonies.” Early Music, vol. 12, no. 1, 1984, pp. 125–29.

Principal Recordings

albums (as conductor): Mozart: Symphony No. 38 “Prague”; Symphony No. 39, 1984; Bach: Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 1-6, 1990; Mozart: Clarinet Concerto; Oboe Concerto, 1990; Mozart: Requiem, 1990; Music from Pachelbel, Handel, Vivaldi, and Gluck, 1990; Vivaldi: Four Seasons, 1990; Handel: Messiah, 1991; Handel: Orlando, 1991; Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito, 1995; Bach: Brandenburg Concertos, 1997; Bach: Eight Symphonies; Three Quartets, 1997; Beethoven: Symphonies, 1997; Handel: Water Music; Music for the Royal Fireworks, 1997; Haydn: Orfeo ed Euridice, 1997; Mozart: The Symphonies, 1997; Mozart: Violin Concertos, 1997; Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Mandolins, 1997; Bach: Orchestral Suites, 1998; Emma Kirkby Sings Handel, Arne, Haydn, and Mozart, 1998; Vivaldi: L’Estro Armonico, 1998; Albinoni: Twelve Concertos, Op. 9, 1999; Mozart: Great Mass in C Minor, 1999; Mozart: Wind Concertos, 1999; Handel: Rinaldo, 2000; Haydn: Symphonies Vol. 10, 1779-1781, 2000; Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 5, 14, and 16, 2000; Vivaldi: Violin Concertos, Op. 6, 2000; Fairest Isle, 2001; The Baroque Experience, 2002; Vivaldi: Stabat Mater, 2003; Purcell: Theatre Music, 2004; Handel: Oratorios, 2005; Beethoven: Five Piano Concertos; Three Popular Sonatas, 2006; Vivaldi: Concertos, 2006.

writings of interest:Music at Court, 1977; The Trio Sonata, 1979; Haydn’s Visits to England, 1980; Music in Eighteenth-Century England, 1983; Handel, 1984.