Christopher Rosevear <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>A sad example of composer/soldier must of course be George Butterworth.
>Now what if he had survived the 14-18? Would he have moved from English
>Pastoral?

It's hard not to get the feeling that Butterworth had as much chance - or
intention - of surviving the Great War as i have of being Australian Prime
Minister....

He carefully & completely destroyed his musician's past when he entered the
service; burning all his draft & unworthy scores & remaking himself so
completely as a soldier that even his commanding officer had no idea that
his Cpl Butterworth was the composer George Butterworth until after the
war.

A strange, strange man from that Alien world called Edwardian England;
Butterworth's story suggests nothing so much as a Blackadder Goes Forth
stripped of Atkinson, Robinson, Laurie, et al's humorous releases....

All the best,
Robert Clements <[log in to unmask]>