Musicologist, writer and publisher Donald Mitchell (far right) has sadly passed away aged 92.
Mitchell applied his knowledge of music and the wider workings of the industry throughout a career which started in the late forties, when he edited the journal Music Survey with Hans Keller.
During the fifties Mitchell wrote for Musical Times and Musical Opinion, before becoming editor of Faber and Faber. In 1964, he founded Faber Music, serving as its managing director from 1965 to 1971, before taking up the chairmanship and later the presidency.
An authority on the works of Britten, he wrote several books on the composer, and through Faber Music published many of his later works, including Nocturnal After John Dowland and Curlew River. He maintained a friendship with the composer until his death in 1976.
As the last surviving member of Benjamin Britten’s will, Mitchell was also one of the original trustees of the Britten-Pears Foundation.
During the sixties, he became a special music advisor at Boosey & Hawkes and oversaw the signing of composers Peter Maxwell Davies and Nicholas Maw.
He was also heavily involved in the work of PRS for Music, becoming a PRS board director in the late eighties, before taking the deputy chairmanship and later becoming chairman in 1990.
Among his many honours, Mitchell was awarded a CBE for his services to music in 2000.
Sally Cavender, performance music director and vice chairman of Faber Music, said: ‘Donald always espoused Britten’s view of what a publisher should be, a vision that we have endeavoured to maintain over the past 50 years, and one that encompassed primarily the desire to create an environment that a composer could flourish in, a determination that standards of editorial and production should be exemplary and that the look and design of a cover should be distinctive.
‘Solidarity with the composers he signed up was a given, and a mark of this is the long relationships that Faber has maintained with such figures as Peter Sculthorpe, Malcolm Arnold, George Benjamin, Oliver Knussen, Colin and David Matthews.
‘We will always remember Donald as an outstanding individual who whilst being a maverick at heart, managed nevertheless to chair the PRS for many years, and survive in a world that became increasingly corporate. He will be remembered also for his sometimes wicked sense of humour and his wide-ranging humanity.’
Picture above courtesy of the Britten-Pears Foundation. Donald, far right, with (from right to left) Imogen Holst, Colin Matthews, Peter Pears and William Servaes at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall during a rehearsal for the first performance of Britten’s third string quartet, which was premiered on 19 December 1976 by the Amadeus String Quartet (two weeks after Britten’s death).
Mitchell applied his knowledge of music and the wider workings of the industry throughout a career which started in the late forties, when he edited the journal Music Survey with Hans Keller.
During the fifties Mitchell wrote for Musical Times and Musical Opinion, before becoming editor of Faber and Faber. In 1964, he founded Faber Music, serving as its managing director from 1965 to 1971, before taking up the chairmanship and later the presidency.
An authority on the works of Britten, he wrote several books on the composer, and through Faber Music published many of his later works, including Nocturnal After John Dowland and Curlew River. He maintained a friendship with the composer until his death in 1976.
As the last surviving member of Benjamin Britten’s will, Mitchell was also one of the original trustees of the Britten-Pears Foundation.
During the sixties, he became a special music advisor at Boosey & Hawkes and oversaw the signing of composers Peter Maxwell Davies and Nicholas Maw.
He was also heavily involved in the work of PRS for Music, becoming a PRS board director in the late eighties, before taking the deputy chairmanship and later becoming chairman in 1990.
Among his many honours, Mitchell was awarded a CBE for his services to music in 2000.
Sally Cavender, performance music director and vice chairman of Faber Music, said: ‘Donald always espoused Britten’s view of what a publisher should be, a vision that we have endeavoured to maintain over the past 50 years, and one that encompassed primarily the desire to create an environment that a composer could flourish in, a determination that standards of editorial and production should be exemplary and that the look and design of a cover should be distinctive.
‘Solidarity with the composers he signed up was a given, and a mark of this is the long relationships that Faber has maintained with such figures as Peter Sculthorpe, Malcolm Arnold, George Benjamin, Oliver Knussen, Colin and David Matthews.
‘We will always remember Donald as an outstanding individual who whilst being a maverick at heart, managed nevertheless to chair the PRS for many years, and survive in a world that became increasingly corporate. He will be remembered also for his sometimes wicked sense of humour and his wide-ranging humanity.’
Picture above courtesy of the Britten-Pears Foundation. Donald, far right, with (from right to left) Imogen Holst, Colin Matthews, Peter Pears and William Servaes at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall during a rehearsal for the first performance of Britten’s third string quartet, which was premiered on 19 December 1976 by the Amadeus String Quartet (two weeks after Britten’s death).
