Warlock, Peter (EN)

Warlock Peter, actually Philip Heseltine, *30 October 1894 London, †17 December 1930 London, English composer and musicologist. In 1903, he settled with his family in Wales; he studied piano initially with C. Taylor at Eton, and then in Cologne. In 1911, he met F. Delius, with whom he formed a long-standing friendship. From 1913, he studied classical philology at Oxford for a year. In 1915, he was a music critic for the Daily Mail, in 1917, he spent a year in Dublin, and from 1918, he was active again in England. In 1920, he founded and until 1921 was editor of the magazine The Sackbut; then until 1924, he lived in Wales. In 1925–28, he lived in Eynsford in Kent, in 1928 briefly in Wales, and later returned to London. He became involved in the organisation of the Delius Festival in 1929. He died tragically, as a result of gas poisoning. The Peter Warlock Society was founded in 1963, which organises concerts, publishes works devoted to Warlock as well as his works.

Warlock’s compositional work reflects his fascination with the music of earlier eras. In the Capriol Suite, title of which refers to a character from the dance treatise Orchésographie by Th. Arbeau (1588), the composer masterfully used Renaissance dances from that treatise, such as the basse-danse, pawana, tordion, bransle and matachin. In his early songs, he referred to the tradition of the English ayre, using a piano accompaniment reminiscent of lute playing in texture (The Bayley Berith the Bell Away), while his later songs feature modern technical devices, such as the limited melodic material in The Frostbound Wood, or the extensive use of modalities in The Fox (after T. Hold). The influence of Gaulish and Celtic folk music is visible in his instrumental works (e.g. An Old Song). Warlock’s music is characterised by the occurrence of modalisms and the use of imitative technique; his works, both instrumental and vocal, are characterised by a distinct melodic profile. Of great importance are the editions and transcriptions of 16^th– and 17^th-century music prepared by Warlock, as well as musicological works devoted mainly to early music.

Literature: The Occasional Writings of Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock), ed. B. Smith, 4 volumes, London 1997–99; C. Gray Peter Warlock. A Memoir of Philip Heseltine, London 1934; I.A. Copley The Published Instrumental Music of Peter Warlock, “The Music Review” XXV, 1964; F. Tomlinson A Peter Warlock Handbook, 2 volumes, London 1974 and Rickmansworth 1977; T. Hold Peter Warlock. The Art of the Song-Writer, “The Music Review” XXXVI, 1975; I.A. Copley The Music of Peter Warlock. A Critical Survey, London 1979; N. Heseltine Capriol for Mother. A Memoir of Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock), London 1992; Peter Warlock. A Centenary Celebration, ed. J. Bishop and D. Cox, London 1994; I. Parrott The Crying Curlew. Peter Warlock, Family and Influences, Llandysul 1994; B. Smith Peter Warlock. The Life of Philip Heseltine, Oxford 1994; W. Mellers, Rebel without Applause. Wilfrid Mellers Reflects on the Chaotic Life and Enduring Achievements of Peter Warlock, Whose Centenary We Celebrate This Year, “The Musical Times” CXXXV, no. 1818, 1994; B. Collins Peter Warlock. The Composer, Aldershot 1996; B. Smith Frederick Delius and Peter Warlock. A Friendship Revealed, Oxford 2000; S. Banfield Moeran, Warlock and Song, “Tempo” no. 2015, 2001; M. Allis From Musicology to Novel. Reassessing Robertson Davies’s Literary Representation of Peter Warlock, “University of Toronto Quarterly” LXXXVIII, 2019; Kaikhosru Sorabji’s Letters to Philip Heseltine (Peter Warlock), ed. B. Inglis and B. Smith, Abingdon (Oxfordshire) 2020.