Hugh Ottaway (27 July 1925 – 6 November 1979) was a prominent British writer and lecturer on classical music.[1]
Ottaway studied history at
Exeter University (then the University of the South-West) from 1944. His career began as a teacher, freelance writer and from the 1950s as a presenter of musical talks on BBC Radio.[2] His most significant contributions to music criticism were as a commentator on that portion of twentieth-century music which retained an allegiance to tonality; thus
Nielsen,
Shostakovich,
Sibelius and
William Walton featured largely in his output.
Ottaway was especially associated with British composers such as
Edmund Rubbra and
Robert Simpson, and a staunch supporter of the politically active
Alan Bush.[3] But David Scott has pointed out that he "was not limited by a nationalist outlook. His ability to view English composition in a broader context also made his reviews valuable".[1]
He died in Malvern, aged 54.[4] An archive of his papers is held at the
Bodleian Library in Oxford.[5]
Books
Vaughan Williams (Novello Short Biographies; 1966)[6]
‘Carl Nielsen’, ‘Prospect and Perspective’, chapter in Robert Simpson (ed). The Symphony, Vol.2 (1967, rev. 1972), pp. 268–77
‘The Enlightenment and the Revolution’, chapter in A. Robertson, D Stevens (ed.) The Pelican History of Music, 1968), pp. 11–96
Sibelius (Novello Short Biographies; 1968)
Vaughan Williams Symphonies (BBC Music Guides series; 1972 [reprinted 1977, 1980 and 1987])
ISBN0-563-12242-0.
William Walton (Novello Short Biographies; 1972, revised 1977)
Shostakovich Symphonies (BBC Music Guides, No 39; 1978)
Mozart (1979)
Edmund Rubbra, an appreciation: Together with a complete catalogue of compositions to May 1981 (Lengnick; 1981)
Articles
‘The Piano Music of John Ireland’, Monthly Musical Record 84 (1954), pp. 258–66
'Nielsen's Sixth Symphony'; The Musical Times, Vol. 95, No. 1337 (Jul., 1954), pp. 362–363