Anthony Hedges

Anthony J Hedges (b. Bicester, Oxfordshire 5 March 1931 – 19 June 2019) was an English composer, the son of children's writer Sidney Hedges. He studied music at Keble College Oxford, where his tutors included Thomas Armstrong. While on National Service for two years at Catterick (from 1955) he was a member of the Band of the Royal Signals Regiment. From 1957 he was a music lecturer at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, and from 1962 a lecturer at The University of Hull (1962–94) where he was awarded an Hon.DMus. During his time in Glasgow he also contributed regular reviews and articles on music to The Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. While at Hull he met the poet Philip Larkin. Often regarded primarily as a light-music composer due to the large number of recordings of his light orchestral music, (such as the popular Kingston Sketches of 1969), such works in fact represent only a small portion of his overall output. His orchestral works include two symphonies, a Sinfonia Concertante, concertinos for flute, horn, trumpet, bassoon, and the Variations on a theme of Rameau. There are numerous pieces for chorus and orchestra, including Bridge for the Living, (for which Philip Larkin wrote the text), The Temple of Solomon (a Huddersfield Choral Society commission), The Lamp of Liberty, (commissioned by Hull Philharmonic Orchestra for the Wilberforce bicentennary), I Sing the Birth (Canticles for Christmas) together with a number of large-scale works for massed junior choirs and orchestra which have been widely performed. Hedges' chamber-music output was also extensive, from solo to ensemble works and his vocal compositions equally numerous and varied. He also published a considerable amount of educational music.