Hadley, Patrick (EN)

Hadley Patrick Arthur Sheldon, *5 March 1899 Cambridge, †17 December 1973 King’s Lynn, English composer, conductor, and teacher. He studied at the University of Cambridge from 1919 to 1922, and subsequently at the Royal College of Music in London (1922–25), where he studied composition with R. Vaughan Williams and conducting with A. Boult. From 1925 he also taught there. In 1938 he received the degree of Doctor of Music from Cambridge University and was appointed lecturer in music. Between 1946 and 1962 he served as professor and head of the music department at Cambridge University. From 1941 to 1945 Hadley conducted the Cambridge University Musical Society, promoting the works of English composers, especially F. Delius; he also conducted his own compositions. In 1947 he became musical director of the Arts Theatre in Cambridge.

Like his teacher R. Vaughan Williams, Hadley composed music of a strongly national character. He drew on English folklore and texts concerning the native landscape and history. In the four-part symphonic cantata, The Trees so High he developed an old folk song through variations, while in the cantata Fen and Flood he used a text by C.L. Cudworth depicting the inhabitants of England’s eastern coasts struggling against the forces of the sea. One of Hadley’s best-known works, the cantata Travellers, was dedicated to members of Gonville and Caius College who fought during World War II. Many of Hadley’s compositions were published and performed mainly in Cambridge and at music festivals in King’s Lynn and Norwich. His works are generally lyrical in character and eclectic in technique.

Literature: C. Palmer Patrick Hadley. A 70th Birthday Tribute, “The Musical Times” CX, 1969; C. Palmer Patrick Hadley. The Man and His Music, “Music and Letters” LV, 1974; W. Todds Patrick Hadley. A Memoir, London 1974.