Donald Macleod and Leah Broad survey the life and work of British composer Dorothy Howell

This week Donald Macleod is joined by the award-winning author Leah Broad to explore the story of the British composer Dorothy Howell, who shot to fame aged 21 after the triumphant premiere of her orchestral work ‘Lamia’ at the Proms. By the mid-1920s she was regarded as one of the leading women composers of the day, performing in prestigious venues across the UK and regularly appearing on radio programmes in the earliest days of broadcasting. But she faced challenges from the 1930s onwards that left her disillusioned, and by the end of her life she wanted to destroy all but a handful of her works. Luckily family intervened, but even so Howell’s music almost disappeared from view - until recently.

Music Featured:

Spindrift
Humoresque for Orchestra
Sonata for violin and piano (1st mvt)
Two Frogs
Five Studies for piano
Boat Song for piano
Lamia
Five Studies
Rosalind
The Little Round House, The Bears
Koong Shee
Phantasy for violin and piano
The Tortoiseshell Cat
Pot Pourri
My White Lady
The Moorings
If you will come to Corte
Piano Concerto in D minor
Mazurka
Two Pieces for Muted Strings
Puppydog’s Tales
Prelude 1 in F minor
Prelude 2 in C
Prelude 3 in A flat
Recuerdos Preciosos No 1 and 2
The Rock Overture
Sonata for violin and piano (2nd & 3rd mvts)
To Sine in Winter
Sonata for piano
Three Divertissements

Presented by Donald Macleod
Produced by Megan Jones for BBC Audio Wales & West

For full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Dorothy Howell (1898-1982) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023f35

And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we’ve featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z