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Brindle (Reginald Smith) Collection
IGRA.RSB
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Reginald Smith Brindle Collection
Creator:
Brindle, Reginald Smith, 1917-2003
Identifier/Call Number: IGRA.RSB
Extent:
14.61 linear feet
Extent:
50.9 Gigabytes
Date (inclusive): 1920-2000
Date (bulk): 1948-1998
Abstract: Reginald Smith Brindle was an English
composer best known for his works for guitar, but he also wrote works for percussion,
orchestras, and electronic instruments, as well as numerous articles and books on modern
music, including serialism, composition, and percussion. The
Reginald
Smith Brindle Collection
documents Brindle's professional life as a composer,
arranger, professor, and author. The collection includes original scores, recordings of his
music, letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, articles, notes for performers of his
compositions, and an unpublished autobiography.
Language of Material: English,
French,
Italian,
Spanish; Castilian,
German,
Greek, Modern
(1453-)
Reginald Smith Brindle was born on January 5, 1917 in Cuerdon, Lancashire, England, to
Robert Smith Brindle, a livestock breeder, and Jane Brindle, a homemaker. He attended Hutton
Grammar School in Preston, Lancashire, where he skipped several grades and from which he
graduated at age fifteen. Apprenticed to a local architect by his father after graduation,
he joined the military as a member of the Royal Engineers, serving in Africa and Italy. In
Florence, he met his future wife, Giulietta Borsi, whom he married in 1947; they had one son
and three daughters. He studied music at the University College of North Wales in Bangor and
independently in Italy, and was professor at his alma mater and at the University of
Surrey.
Brindle took an early interest in music despite the fact that his parents had only limited
musical ability or interest. During his early childhood, he experimented with and took
lessons in several instruments, including piano, flute, organ, and guitar. At Hutton, he
learned the clarinet and saxophone, and he played in jazz bands semi-professionally on
weekends between graduation and his enlistment in the army.
After the war, he remained in Italy until his discharge; during this time, he won the
award for the Rome Army Arts Festival in 1946 and enrolled in an Army sponsored music course
in Florence. Returning to England when his service ended, he studied music at the University
College of North Wales in Bangor from 1946 to 1949, then returned to Florence in 1949, where
he supported himself as a journalist, import-export manager, radio announcer, and
translator. He also studied composition with Ildebrando Pizzetti and Luigi Dallapiccola.
Dallapiccola was a member of the scuola dodecafonica or twelve-tone school of Florence,
which also included the composers Bruno Bartolozzi, Sylvano Bussotti, and Luciano Berio.
Brindle's studies in Italy led to his composition of a number of works in the Italian
serialist school, as well as modern editions of works by earlier composers, but he did not
stay with one tradition or instrument for long. Over the course of his career, he composed
works for percussion, organ, saxophone, choir, orchestra, and electronic tape. Inspiration
for his works came from Greek myth, spirituals, the Old and New Testaments, the writings of
Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dylan Thomas, and Basho, the tapestries of Jean Lurçat, the paintings
of Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, and Egyptian monumental architecture. He wrote pieces for
the guitarist Julian Bream and studied guitar with Andrés Segovia.
Returning to England in 1957, he became a lecturer at the University College of North
Wales. From 1970, he was professor of music at the University of Surrey, until 1985 when he
retired. His achievements, in addition to his teaching and composition, include many
articles and several highly respected books on modern music, including serialism,
percussion, and composition. Reginald Smith Brindle passed away on September 9, 2003 in
Caterham, Surrey, England
The
Reginald Smith Brindle Collection documents Brindle's
professional life as a composer, arranger, professor, and author. The collection includes
scores, recordings of his music, correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, articles,
and notes for performances. The collection contains multiple versions of the same
composition, sometimes in the form of revisions, sometimes as versions for different
instruments. Correspondence and lecture notes are sparse, and teaching materials are not
part of this collection. It is divided into three series:
Music Scores
and Recordings
(1949-2000),
Publications, Presentations, and
Correspondence
(1920-1998), and
Programs and Reviews
(1951-1992).
Series I,
Music Scores and Recordings, has been divided into
two subseries. Subseries A,
Works Composed or Arranged by Brindle
(1949-2000), consists of approximately 325 music scores and recordings of Brindle's
compositions, with the bulk of them having been produced between 1960 and 1995. Most of the
recordings were produced in England, while his compositions were written and published in
Italy and Great Britain. Also included in this series is correspondence with performers and
publishers related to these compositions. Subseries B,
Works by Other
Composers
(1989-1998) contains scores and recordings Brindle used as source
materials for his own compositions, as well as arrangements and recordings given to him by
other composers of their own work. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically by existing
title.
Series II,
Publications, Presentations and Correspondence
features Brindle's articles on music, notes for his books, poetry, and an unpublished
autobiography. It also includes correspondence with the Italian composer Bruno Bartolozzi,
the Clements Memorial Prize committee, the English guitarist Julian Bream, his publishers in
England and Italy, and the BBC. Most of the items in this series are excerpts from
magazines, drafts for articles to be published, and notes for lectures or awards ceremonies.
The bulk of material in this series is dated 1948 to 1998, and is arranged
alphabetically.
Series III,
Programs and Reviews, consists of reviews of, and
programs for, performances of his music. The majority of the performances reviewed took
place in Italy and Great Britain. The bulk of of this material us dated 1960-1992, and the
series is arranged alphabetically.
Series I: Music Scores and Recordings, 1949-2000
Subseries A: Works Primarily Composed or Arranged by Brindle, 1949-2000
Subseries B: Works by Other Composers, 1989-1998
Series II: Publications, Presentations, and Correspondence, 1920-1998
Series III: Programs and Reviews, 1951-1992
This collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has been transferred to California State University, Northridge. Copyright
status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the
written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Alban Smith Brindle. 02/12/2014.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival
Materials
guide.
Philip Walsh, 2018
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Photographs
Audiovisual materials