Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Full name	Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji
Nationality	English
Era	20th century
Teacher(s)	Madeline Matilda Worthy Emily Edroff-Smith
Influenced by	Ferruccio Busoni Claude Debussy Karol Szymanowski Alexander Scriabin Franz Liszt Charles-Valentin Alkan Maurice Ravel Max Reger Leo Ornstein Cyril Scott Leopold Godowsky Isaac Albéniz Enrique Granados
Instrument(s)	Piano
Date of Birth	14 August 1892
Date of Death	15 October 1988

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, pianist, music critic, and writer. One of the most prolific composers of the 20th century, he wrote over 80 hours of music in his career. He is best known for his piano music, most notably his Opus Clavicembalisticum, Sequentia cyclica super Dies iræ ex Missa pro defunctis, 100 Transcendental Studies, piano symphonies and sonatas, nocturnes, and toccatas.

Sorabji's music is characterized by complex rhythms, interplay of tonal and atonal elements, and rich ornamentation. His influences include Ferruccio Busoni, Claude Debussy, and Karol Szymanowski, and he has been likened to Franz Liszt and Charles-Valentin Alkan. Although his music was deep in obscurity for many years, it has become steadily more famous since the early 2000s, largely thanks to Alistair Hinton's "Sorabji Archive" and pianists such as Yonty Solomon, Jonathan Powell, John Ogdon, Geoffrey Douglas Madge, Michael Habermann, Fredrik Ullén, Marc-André Hamelin, Donna Amato, Lukas Huisman, Ronald Stevenson, and Carlo Grante; organist Kevin Bowyer; and sopranos Jane Manning, Jo Ann Pickens, and Sarah Leonard.

Biography

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was apparently born in Chingford, Essex, England (though he once hinted that he was actually born in Bombay) on 14 August 1892. His father, Shapurji Sorabji, was a Zoroastrian Parsi civil engineer and his mother, Madeline Matilda Worthy, was an English singer, pianist, and organist allegedly of Sicilian descent. From his early teens, Sorabji had a great interest in contemporary European and Russian music and went to great lengths to obtain the latest scores of composers such as Gustav Mahler, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg, Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel, Nikolai Medtner, Richard Strauss, and others.

A late developer in music, Sorabji did not begin to actively compose until his twenties. Although he initially pursued a career as a music critic (working for The New English Weekly until his retirement in 1945), he became increasingly prolific in the craft of composition. A reluctant performer, he rarely played his own works in public, his final concert taking place in 1936. This coincided with his decision to virtually ban public performances of his compositions without his express consent after a highly inaccurate performance of Opus Clavicembalisticum's Pars Prima by John Tobin, declaring that "no performance at all is vastly perferable to an obscene travesty". This lead to his music slipping into obscurity for almost 40 years, until various supporters of his music convinced him to lift this veto.

From 1976, the South African pianist Yonty Solomon began to pioneer Sorabji's music, sparking the slow but sure rise of international interest thereof. Other performers joined Solomon in championing Sorabji, premiering works such as the first organ symphony and Opus Clavicembalisticum in the 1980s.

Sorabji died of heart failure caused by arteriosclerotic heart disease on 15 October 1988 at the age of 96. He was cremated in Bornemouth Crematorium on 24 October, and a funeral service was held on the same day in Corfe Castle in the Church of St. Edward, King and Martyr, where his remains are buried.

List of compositions

KSS	Title	Instrumentation	Year	Recordings
1	The Poplars	Voice and piano	1915	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
2	Chrysilla	Voice and piano	1915	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
3	Roses du soir	Voice and piano	1915	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
4	L'heure exquise	Voice and piano	1916	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
5	Vocalise pour soprano fioriturata	Voice and piano	1916	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
6	Piano Concerto No. 1	Piano and orchestra	1915–16
7	Apparition	Voice and piano	1916	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
8	Hymne à Aphrodite	Voice and piano	1916	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
9	Piano Sonata No. 0	Piano	1917	Soheil Nasseri
10	L'étang	Voice and piano	1917	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
11	I was not sorrowful	Voice and piano	1917	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
11a	Le mauvais jardinier	Voice and piano	1917
12	Quasi Habanera	Piano	1917	Michael Habermann
13	Désir Eperdu	Piano	1917	Ivo Delaere
14	Piano Concerto No. 2	Piano and orchestra	1917
15	Chaleur — Poème	Orchestra	1917
16	Piano Concerto No. 3	Piano and orchestra	1918
17	In the Hothouse	Piano	1918	Michael Habermann Steven Max Eric Xi Xin Liang Kyle Hannenberg
18	Piano Concerto No. 4	Piano and orchestra	1918
19	Fantaisie Espagnole	Piano	1919	Michael Habermann John Carey Donna Amato
20	Piano Sonata No. 1	Piano	1919	Marc-André Hamelin Kyle Hannenberg
21	Trois poèmes pour chant et piano	Voice and piano	1918–19	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier: Correspondances, Crépuscule du soir mystique, Pantomime
22	Music to The Rider by Night	Voice(s) and orchestra	1919
23	Toccata	Piano	1920	John Carey Michael Habermann
24	Arabesque	Voice and piano	1920	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier
25	Prélude, Interlude, and Fugue	Piano	1920, 1922	Michael Habermann: Prélude, Interlude, Fugue
26	Piano Quintet No. 1	Piano, 2 violins, viola, and cello	1919–20
27	Piano Concerto No. 5	Piano and orchestra	1920	Donna Amato and Ed Spanjaard with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest
28	Piano Sonata No. 2	Piano	1920
29	Piano Sonata No. 3	Piano	1922
30	Symphony No. 1	Piano, large orchestra, chorus, and organ	1921–22
31	Three Pastiches for piano	Piano	1922	Michael Habermann: Minute Waltz by Chopin, Habanera from Carmen by Bizet, Song of the Hindu Merchant from Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov
32	Piano Concerto No. 6	Piano and orchestra	1922
33	Rapsodie Espagnole	Piano	1923	Michael Habermann: Prélude à la nuit, Malagueña, Habanera, Feria
34	Opusculum	Orchestra	1923
35	Le Jardin Parfumé	Piano	1923	Michael Habermann Eric Xi Xin Liang Yonty Solomon Simon Callaghan
36	Cinque Sonetti di Michelagniolo Buonarroti	Baritone voice and orchestra	1923
37	Trois fêtes galantes de Verlaine	Voice and piano	1924?	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier: L'allée, à la Promenade, Dans la Grotte
38	Piano Concerto No. 7: Sīmurgh-‘Anqā	Piano and orchestra	1924
39	Organ Symphony No. 1	Organ	1924	Kevin Bowyer
40	Valse-Fantaisie (Hommage à Johann Strauss)	Piano	1925	Michael Habermann
41	Variazioni e fuga triplice sopra Dies iræ per pianoforte	Piano	1923–26
41a	Fragment (Prélude and Fugue)	Piano	1926
42	Trois Poèmes du Gulistān de Sa‘dī: La lampe, La Jalousie, and La Fidelité	Voice and piano	1926 (rev. 1930)
43	Fragment for Harold Rutland	Piano	1926, 1928, 1937	Michael Habermann
44	L'irrémédiable	Voice and piano	1927
45	Piano Concerto No. 8	Piano and orchestra	1927–28
46	Toccata No. 1	Piano	1928	Jonathan Powell
47	Nocturne: Djâmi	Piano	1928	Jonathan Powell Michael Habermann Eric Xi Xin Liang
48	Piano Sonata No. 4	Piano	1928–29	Jonathan Powell
48a	Introduction, Passacaglia, Cadenza, and Fugue	Piano	1929
49	Toccatinetta sopra C.G.F.	Piano	1929	Donna Amato
50	Opus Clavicembalisticum	Piano	1929–30	Geoffrey Douglas Madge John Ogdon Eric Xi Xin Liang
51	Piano Symphony No. 0	Piano	1930–31
52	Vocalise Movement	Voice and piano	1927, 1931
53	Organ Symphony No. 2	Organ	1929–32
54	Piano Quintet No. 2	Piano, 2 violins, viola, and cello	1932–33
55	Fantasia Ispanica	Piano	1933	Jonathan Powell
56	Pasticcio Capriccioso on the Minute Waltz by Chopin	Piano	1933	Michael Habermann Fredrik Ullén
57	Toccata Seconda	Piano	1933–34	Abel Sánchez-Aguilera
58	Piano Sonata No. 5: Opus Archimagicum	Piano	1934–35	Cadenza: Kyle Hannenberg
59	Symphonic Variations for piano	Piano	1935–37
60	Piano Symphony No. 1: Tāntrik	Piano	1938–39
61	Transcription in the Light of Harpsichord Technique for the Modern Piano of the Chromatic Fantasia of J.S. Bach, Followed by a Fugue	Piano	1940	Michael Habermann: Chromatic Fantasia, Fugue
62	Quære Reliqua Hujus Materiei Inter Secretiora	Piano	1940	Michael Habermann Donna Amato
63	Gulistān (The Rose Garden)	Piano	1940	Jonathan Powell Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Charles Hopkins Michael Habermann "klangfarbe" Eric Xi Xin Liang
64	St Bertrand de Comminges: He was laughing in the Tower	Piano	1941	Jonathan Powell Michael Habermann Donna Amato
65	Trois Poèmes	Voice and piano	1941	Elizabeth Farnum and Margaret Kampmeier: Le Faune, Les Chats, La derniêre fête galante
66	100 Transcendental Studies	Piano	1940–44	Fredrik Ullén
67	Rapsodie Espagnole	Piano	1945
68	Prélude from the French Suite in E-flat major, BWV 815a	Piano	1945
69	Concerto per suonare da me solo	Piano	1946	Jonathan Powell
70	Schlußszene aus Salome von Richard Strauss	Piano	1947
71	Sequentia cyclica super Dies iræ ex Missa pro defunctis	Piano	1948–49	Jonathan Powell
72	Symphony No. 2: Jāmī	Orchestra	1942–51
73	Organ Symphony No. 3	Organ	1949–53
74	Un nido di scatole	Piano	1954	Jonathan Powell
75	Piano Symphony No. 2	Piano	1952–54
76	Toccata Terza	Piano	1955
77	Passeggiata Veneziana	Piano	1955–56	Jonathan Powell
78	Symphonic variations for piano and orchestra	Piano and orchestra	1938–56
79	Rosario d'Arabeschi	Piano	1956	Jonathan Powell
80	Opus Clavisymphonicum	Piano and orchestra	1957–59
81	Piano Symphony No. 3	Piano	1959–60
82	Suggested Bell-Chorale for St Luke's Carillon	Bells	1961
83	Fantasiettina sul nome illustre dell'egregio poeta Christopher Grieve ossia Hugh M'Diarmid	Piano	1961	Michael Habermann Ronald Stevenson
84	Messa Alta Sinfonica	Orchestra, organ, 8 soloists, and chorus	1955–61
85	Piano Symphony No. 4	Piano	1962–64
86	20 Frammenti Aforistici	Piano	1962–63
87	Toccata Quarta	Piano	1964–67
88	Frammento cantato	Voice and piano	1967
89	Concertino non grosso	4 violins, viola, cello, and piano	1968
90	104 Frammenti Aforistici (Sutras)	Piano	1962–72?
91	Benedizione di San Francesco d'Assisi	Voice and organ	1973
92	Piano Symphony No. 5: Symphonia Brevis	Piano	1973	John Ogdon
93	Variazione Maliziosa e Perversa sopra La Morte d'Åse da Grieg	Piano	1974
94	Opusculum Clavisymphonicum	Piano and orchestra	1973–75
95	Piano Symphony No. 6: Symphonia Claviensis	Piano	1975–76
96	4 Frammenti Aforistici	Piano	1977
97	Symphonic Nocturne	Piano	1977–78	Lukas Huisman
98	Il grido del gallino d'oro	Piano	1978–79
99	Il tessuto d'arabeschi	Flute, 2 violins, viola, and cello	1979	Deborah Carter, Jonathan Beiler, Davyd Booth, Sidney Curtiss, Gloria Johns, and William Smith
100	Villa Tasca	Piano	1979–80	Jonathan Powell
101	Opus Secretum	Piano	1980–81	Carlo Grante
102	Passeggiata variata	Piano	1981
103	Fantasiettina atematica	Oboe, flute, and clarinet	1981	Dimitri Ashkenazy, Monica McCarron, David Theodore
104	2 Sutras sul nome dell'amico Alexis	Piano	1981?
105	Passeggiata arlecchinesca	Piano	1981–82	Donna Amato