Vernon Handley

Vernon George "Tod" Handley CBE (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor. He was born of Welsh parents into a musical family in Enfield, London. He acquired the nickname "Tod" because his feet were turned in at his birth, which his father simply summarised: "They toddle".^[1] Handley preferred the use of the name "Tod" throughout his life over his given names.^[2]

Handley attended Enfield Grammar School and later Balliol College, Oxford.^[3] While in school, Handley watched the BBC Symphony Orchestra in its studio in Maida Vale, where by his own account he learned some of his conducting technique by watching Sir Adrian Boult. Later the two corresponded in the early 1950s and met around 1958. He spent a period in the Armed Forces and then attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he read English philology, and the Guildhall School of Music, where his performing instrument was the double bass. He then became Sir Adrian Boult's pupil. During their first meeting he "was put through the worst two hours of counterpoint and harmony that I've ever faced" and was then asked how he would conduct a page of a score that Boult put in front of him, Sir Arnold Bax's Third Symphony, which Handley happened to have studied.^[1] Handley later conducted that work in the first concert he gave in London, with the symphony orchestra of Morley College.^[4] Handley was a devoted champion of the music of Bax during his career.^[5]

In 1962, Handley was appointed the musical director of the newly formed Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he programmed much of Bax's music and made the first recording of Bax's Symphony No. 4. Handley and the orchestra also recorded Gerald Finzi's Intimations of Immortality.^[6] He also directed the Tonbridge Philharmonic orchestra. In 1983 he was appointed associate conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He was Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra from 1985 to 1989, and had the title of Conductor Laureate from 2003 until his death. From 1986 to 1988, he was chief conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. He held assistant conductorships elsewhere, was Conductor Emeritus of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducted a number of others in concert, for broadcast and for recording. Handley was appointed Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra in January 2007.

Handley premiered and recorded premiere performances of works by British composers, including a series on Hyperion Records of the symphonies of Robert Simpson and Sir Granville Bantock; Simpson dedicated his Symphony No. 10 to Handley. He contributed a foreword to Alan Poulton's Dictionary-Catalog of Modern British Composers (Greenwood Press) and to a book on Adrian Boult. He also recorded symphonies by Bax, Moeran and Stanford for Chandos Records as well as discs of other orchestral works. Handley recorded the symphonies of Elgar and Vaughan Williams for EMI. Handley also recorded many works by Sir Malcolm Arnold for Conifer Records, which have recently been reissued in the UK by Decca Records

Vernon Handley with Ursula Vaughan Williams and Julian Lloyd Webber at the recording of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes

Handley was the recipient of numerous awards, such as The Gramophone magazine's Special Achievement Award in 2003; and the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Classical BRIT Awards on 3 May 2007 at the Royal Albert Hall. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours^[7] (having declined appointment as an Officer of the order in 1988). He held an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Surrey and was a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.

Handley died at home in Monmouthshire on 10 September 2008.^[8][9] He had been scheduled to conduct Prom 2 of the 2008 BBC Proms season on 19 July, but withdrew due to ill health and Paul Daniel replaced him.^[10][11] After Handley's death, the director of The Proms, Roger Wright, announced the dedication of the 10 September Prom concert (Prom 73) to Handley.^[9]

Handley was married and divorced three times. His first marriage in 1954 to Barbara Black produced a daughter and two sons, one of whom died aged 13 months. His second marriage in 1977 to Victoria Parry-Jones produced a son and a daughter. His third marriage to the flautist Catherine Newby in 1987 produced a son. The five remaining children survive Handley.

Discography

References

External links

• Biographical information, tributes
• Hyperion artist page
• Vernon Handley at Chandos Records
• Vernon Handley on Dutton Epoch
• Biography on Clarion
• BBC brief biography On the occasion of an honorary doctorate from the University of Surrey in 2004
• Interview about Bax - contains biography
• Review of the 1982 Delius Cello Concerto recording