Elisabeth Lutyens

Born in London in 1906, and known for her adaptation of the Schoenbergian serial technique, Elisabeth Lutyens influenced serialism in British music both past and present. Highly regarded by her peers, not least by Igor Stravinsky, Elisabeth was and remains a respected avant-garde artist, and an innovator of serialism itself.

As early as the young age of nine Elisabeth aspired to be a composer. In 1922 she enrolled at the École Normale de Musique de Paris to pursue her musical education, before accompanying her mother to India in 1923. Sure to continue her musical career on her return to England, she studied at the Royal College of Music as a pupil of Harold Darke from 1926 to 1930. During her time at the Royal College of Music, Elisabeth joined with a small group of other female students devoted to modern music; it was here she encountered the works of Britten, and was influenced by continuous flow of Renaissance music.

It was after the Second World War that Elisabeth began to build her audience, even earning the nickname of “12-Note Lizzie” from musical traditionalists. For this serialist style, Elisabeth is known best for pieces such as O Saisons, O Chateaux (1946), the chamber opera The Pit (1947), Concertante (1950), Quincunx (1959), The Country of Stars (1963), Vision of Youth (1970) and Echoi (1979).

Elisabeth’s creative talents also expanded to film, for which she is best known for her work on Paranoiac (1963), Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960) and The Skull (1965).

Biography taken from British Music Collection.