Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (pronounced /b oʊ l t /; April 8, 1889 – February 22, 1983), was a British conductor. He was raised in a wealthy family involved in business and studied music in England and Germany. He began his conducting career in London, working with the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet company. His first major job was as conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. In 1930, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) hired him as director of music. During this time, he created the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra became known for its high quality, matching only the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), which was formed two years later.

In 1950, Boult left the BBC when he reached retirement age. He then became principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time, the orchestra had declined in quality, but under his leadership, it improved. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957 but later served as its president. Although he worked with other orchestras, such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, he was most closely linked to the LPO. He conducted the LPO in concerts and recordings until 1978, a period often called his "Indian summer."

Boult was known for supporting British music. He conducted the first performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets and introduced works by composers such as Elgar, Bliss, Britten, Delius, Rootham, Tippett, Vaughan Williams, and Walton. During his time with the BBC, he also introduced music by foreign composers like Bartók, Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Webern. A private person who avoided the spotlight, Boult was equally skilled in recording studios and on concert stages. He recorded music throughout his career, and from the mid-1960s until his final recordings in 1978, he worked extensively for EMI. His recordings remain in use today, and he influenced many later conductors, including Sir Colin Davis and Vernon Handley.

Biography

Boult was born in Chester, Cheshire, as the second child and only son of Cedric Randal Boult (1853–1950) and his wife, Katharine Florence (née Barman; died 1927).

Cedric Boult was a Justice of the Peace and a successful businessman involved in Liverpool shipping and the oil trade. Cedric and his family had a Liberal Unitarian outlook on public affairs and a history of helping others.

When Boult was two years old, the family moved to Blundellsands, where he received a musical education. From an early age, he attended concerts in Liverpool, mostly conducted by Hans Richter. He was educated at Westminster School in London, where he also attended concerts conducted by Sir Henry Wood, Claude Debussy, Arthur Nikisch, Fritz Steinbach, and Richard Strauss. His biographer, Michael Kennedy, wrote that few schoolboys heard as many performances by great artists as Boult did between 1901 and October 1908, when he went to Christ Church, Oxford. While still a student, Boult met the composer Edward Elgar through Frank Schuster, a family friend.

At Christ Church College, Oxford, where he studied from 1908 to 1912, Boult initially studied history but later switched to music. His mentor was Hugh Allen, a musical academic and conductor. At Oxford, he became friends with Ralph Vaughan Williams, who remained a lifelong friend.

In 1909, Boult presented a paper to the Oriana Society, an Oxford musical group, titled Some Notes on Performance. In it, he outlined three principles for ideal performances: following the composer’s wishes, achieving clarity through balance and structure, and performing music without visible effort. These ideas guided his career. He was president of the University Musical Club in 1910 but also enjoyed rowing, stroking his college boat at Henley and remaining a member of the Leander Club for life.

Boult graduated in 1912 with a basic "pass" degree. He continued his musical studies at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1912 to 1913. Hans Sitt taught the conducting class, but Boult was most influenced by Arthur Nikisch. He later recalled attending Nikisch’s rehearsals and concerts, noting Nikisch’s precise baton technique and control over the orchestra. Boult admired Nikisch’s ability to communicate clearly with a baton, even though he spoke little. Boult believed conductors should focus on the music rather than drawing attention to themselves.

Boult sang in choral festivals and at the 1913 Leeds Festival, where he met George Butterworth and other British composers. Later that year, he joined the musical staff of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, assisting with the first British production of Wagner’s Parsifal and helping with lighting cues during Nikisch’s Ring cycle performances.

Boult made his professional conducting debut on February 27, 1914, at West Kirby Public Hall with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. His program included works by Bach, Butterworth, Mozart, Schumann, Wagner, and Hugo Wolf, along with arias by Mozart and Verdi performed by Agnes Nicholls.

During the First World War, Boult was declared medically unfit for active service but worked as an orderly officer in a reserve unit until 1916. He was recruited by the War Office as a translator, using his knowledge of French, German, and Italian. In his spare time, he organized and conducted concerts, some funded by his father, to provide work for musicians and share music with more people.

Just before the Armistice, Gustav Holst told Boult, "Adrian, the YMCA is sending me to Salonika soon, and Balfour Gardiner has given me the Queen’s Hall Orchestra for a Sunday morning. We’re going to do The Planets, and you’ve got to conduct."

In 1918, Boult conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in concerts featuring recent British works, including the revised version of Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony. His most famous performance of the time was Holst’s The Planets, which he conducted for an invited audience of about 250 on September 29, 1918. Holst later wrote on his score, "This copy is the property of Adrian Boult who first caused The Planets to shine in public and thereby earned the gratitude of Gustav Holst."

Elgar also thanked Boult for conducting his Second Symphony at the Queen’s Hall in March 1920, calling the performance "splendid" and expressing confidence in Boult’s ability to promote his work. Elgar’s friend, W. H. Reed, noted that Boult’s performance brought the "grandeur and nobility" of the work to a wider audience.

After the war, Boult took on many conducting roles. In 1919, he became the musical director of Sergei Diaghilev’s ballet company, succeeding Ernest Ansermet. He had to quickly learn scores for fourteen ballets, including Petrushka, The Firebird, and Scheherazade.

In 1921, Boult conducted the British Symphony Orchestra for Vladimir Rosing’s Opera Week at Aeolian Hall. He also started a conducting class at the Royal College of Music, inspired by Leipzig’s model, after Hugh Allen became principal. Boult taught from 1919 to 1930 and received a Doctorate of Music in 1921.

When Raymond Roze, founder of the British Symphony Orchestra, died in 1920, Boult took over. He led the orchestra, made up of musicians who had served in the Army, in concerts at Kingsway Hall.

In 1923, Boult conducted the first season of the Robert Mayer concerts for children. His participation in the next season was delayed by his appointment as conductor of the Birmingham Festival Choral Society in 1924, which led to his becoming musical director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra. He remained in that role for six years, known for adventurous programming.

The Birmingham position gave Boult his first opportunity to lead an orchestra and control programming entirely. However, the orchestra lacked funding, venues were unsatisfactory, and the local audience had conservative tastes. Despite these challenges, Boult included innovative works by Mahler, Stravinsky, and Bruckner in his programs.

Musicianship

A review in The Observer of Boult's second London concert in 1918 stated, "He clearly understood the music and let it express itself without using tricks that many conductors are tempted to use to achieve success." Sixty-five years later, in an obituary in the same newspaper, Peter Heyworth wrote, "Boult learned a perfect baton technique from Nikisch early in his career and was critical of conductors who used exaggerated body movements to show their artistic ideas. In a field filled with people who acted with pride or performed flashy tricks, Boult showed rare honesty in all his work."

Boult’s biographer, Kennedy, summarized, "Boult was a great conductor for the music he admired most and a very careful conductor for the rest. Though he seemed calm and unemotional from behind the orchestra, musicians could see his lively expressions. He could also become angry during rehearsals. Tall and upright in posture, with a military-like appearance, he seemed like the image of an English gentleman. However, those who experienced his sharp wit or sarcastic remarks knew there was more to him than that." Grove's Dictionary also described him similarly:

Boult preferred the traditional way of arranging an orchestra, with first violins on the conductor’s left and second violins on the right. He disagreed with the modern arrangement, where all violins are on the left, saying, "The new seating is easier for the conductor and second violins, but I believe the second violins sound better on the right. When this new style came from America around 1908, some conductors adopted it, but others like Richter, Weingartner, Walter, and Toscanini kept the traditional balance."

Boult’s attention to balance was a key part of his work. Musicians over many years noted his strict requirement that every important musical part be clearly heard. In 1938, the BBC’s principal violist wrote, "If a woodwind player says they are exhausted from playing, someone will be in trouble." Forty years later, trombonist Raymond Premru said, "Conductors like Boult are refreshing because they adjust the volume, telling the strings to play softer so the soloist can be heard clearly. This shows the old idea of balance."

As an educator, Boult shaped many generations of musicians, starting with his conducting class at the Royal College of Music in London, which he taught from 1919 to 1930. Since no such classes existed in Britain before, Boult "developed the course based on his own experiences. From this small class came all the later formal training for conductors in Britain." In the 1930s, he held "conferences for conductors" at his country home near Guildford, sometimes with help from Vaughan Williams, who lived nearby. From 1962 to 1966, he taught again at the Royal College of Music. Later in life, he advised young conductors who sought his guidance. Among those who studied with or were influenced by Boult were Colin Davis, James Loughran, Richard Hickox, and Vernon Handley. The last not only studied with Boult but also worked as his musical assistant on many occasions.

Honours and memorials

Boult was made a Knight Bachelor in 1937 and was named a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 1969. In 1944, he was awarded the gold medal by the Royal Philharmonic Society. In 1956, he received the Harvard Glee Club medal, which he shared with Vaughan Williams. He was given honorary degrees and fellowships from 13 universities and conservatoires. In 1951, he became the first president of the Elgar Society. In 1959, he was named president of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music. A small memorial stone for Boult is located in the north choir aisle of Westminster Abbey. It was revealed on April 8, 1984.

Westminster, Boult’s former school, has a music centre named after him. The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire includes a hall named Adrian Boult Hall in its main building. This hall was used for classical concerts, other musical performances, and conferences. The hall was removed in June 2016 as part of a redevelopment project.

In the June 2013 issue of Gramophone, Boult was added to the magazine’s Hall of Fame. This group honors musicians who have had a lasting influence on recorded classical music.

Recordings

Boult was a very active recording artist. Unlike many musicians, he felt comfortable in the recording studio and preferred working without an audience. His recording career began during the time of acoustic recordings and continued until the start of the digital era. His final recording of The Planets, made in May 1978, was recorded using a new type of digital sound, but technical issues caused EMI to release an analogue version instead.

Boult’s recordings can be divided into three main periods. The first period, from 1920 to the end of the 1940s, included almost all of his recordings for HMV/EMI. During the 1950s and early 1960s, he was less in demand by major labels, though he made many recordings for Decca. He also recorded mostly for smaller labels, especially Pye Nixa. His final period, from the mid-1960s, often called his "Indian Summer," was again with HMV. With his regular collaborators, producer Christopher Bishop and engineer Christopher Parker, he made over sixty recordings. He re-recorded much of his important music in stereo and added many new works to his list of recordings.

Among British composers, Boult recorded and sometimes re-recorded major works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams. He recorded all eight existing symphonies by Vaughan Williams for Decca Records in the 1950s with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in the presence of the composer. The recording producer, John Culshaw, noted that Vaughan Williams said very little during the sessions because he fully supported Sir Adrian’s interpretation of his music. Vaughan Williams was supposed to be present for the first recording of his Ninth Symphony for Everest Records in 1958, but he died the night before the session. Boult recorded a short introduction as a memorial. All these recordings have been released again on CDs. In the 1960s, Boult re-recorded the nine symphonies for EMI.

Other British composers featured in Boult’s recordings include Holst, Ireland, Parry, and Walton. Despite his reputation for introducing works by the Second Viennese School and other modern composers in Britain, record companies were cautious about recording these works, and only one recording of a piece by Berg represents this part of his career. His recordings of Brahms’s four symphonies and Schubert’s Great C Major Symphony were widely praised during his lifetime and remained popular for three decades after his death. Later in his career, he recorded four discs of excerpts from Wagner’s operas, which received strong critical praise. The wide range of Boult’s musical choices includes recordings of works not typically linked to him, such as Berlioz’s Overtures (1956), Franck’s Symphony (1959), Dvořák’s Cello Concerto with Mstislav Rostropovich (1958), and a groundbreaking live recording of Mahler’s Third Symphony in 1947.

Notes, references and sources

• Aldous, Richard (2001). Tunes of Glory: The Life of Malcolm Sargent. Published in London by Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6540-4.
• Bland, Alexander (1981). The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. Published in London by Threshold Books. ISBN 0-901366-11-0.
• Boult, Adrian (1973). My Own Trumpet. Published in London by Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-02445-5.
• Chesterman, Robert (1976). Conversations with Conductors: Bruno Walter, Sir Adrian Boult, Leonard Bernstein, Ernest Ansermet, Otto Klemperer, Leopold Stokowski. Published in London by Robson Books. ISBN 978-0-90-389544-6.
• Culshaw, John (1981). Putting the Record Straight. Published in London by Secker and Warburg. ISBN 0-436-11802-5.
• Hill, Ralph (1951). Music 1951. Published in Harmondsworth by Penguin Books. OCLC 26147349.
• Kennedy, Michael (1987). Adrian Boult. Published in London by Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-333-48752-4.
• Moore, Jerrold Northrop (1979). Music and Friends: Letters to Adrian Boult. Published in London by Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 0-241-10178-6.
• Morrison, Richard (2004). Orchestra – The LSO. Published in London by Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-21584-X.
• Previn, André, ed. (1979). Orchestra. Published in London by Macdonald and Janes. ISBN 0-354-04420-6.
• Reed, W H (1943). Elgar. Published in London by J M Dent. OCLC 8858707.
• Russell, Thomas (1944). Philharmonic Decade. Published in London by Hutchinson. OCLC 941577.
• Shore, Bernard (1938). The Orchestra Speaks. Published in London by Longmans. OCLC 499119110.
• Simeone, Nigel; Simon Mundy (1980). Sir Adrian Boult: Companion of Honour. Published in London by Midas Books. ISBN 0-85936-212-4.