The culturally important British Classical Composer’s 1985 Queen’s Birthday Honours Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and double Ivor Novello Award group awarded to John McCabe, C.B.E. A British composer and pianist, he created works in many different forms, including symphonies, ballets, and solo works for the piano. He served as director of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990. Guy Rickards praised him as "one of Britain's finest composers in the past half-century" and "a pianist of formidable gifts and wide-ranging sympathies”. Honoured at a national level on his being appointed a Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire in June 1985, by this stage he had already been presented with the Royal Manchester Institute’s Heywood Medal in 1961, and the first of his two prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, given in 1977 for the Best Theme from T.V. or Radio during 1976-1977, for “Sam”. McCabe was honoured by The Incorporated Society of Musicians, who awarded him The Distinguished Musician Award in 2003, and The Worshipful Company of Musicians of London honoured him with The Iles Medal in 2014. During that same year, McCabe was awarded the second of his two prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, this The Ivors Classical Music Award, as presented to him on 22 May 2014, in respect of his lifetime achievement to classical music.
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Commander, C.B.E., 2nd Type, Civil Division, silver-gilt and enamels, complete with full length of neck ribbon and housed in its fitted presentation case by Thomas Fattorini of Birmingham.
Royal Manchester Institute Heywood Medal, silver, with hallmarks for Birmingham and date letter ‘J’ for 1958, rim engraved: ‘JOHN McCABE 1961’, this housed in its fitted presentation case by Fattorini and Sons of Birmingham.
The Ivor Novello Award, a large bronze figurine, the plinths bronze band engraved: ‘IVOR NOVELLO AWARD PRS’, beneath which is a plaque engraved: ‘John McCabe / “SAM” / Best Theme from T.V. or Radio / 1976/77’.
Incorporated Society of Musicians The Distinguished Musician Award, silver and enamel, reverse bearing hallmarks for Birmingham with .925 mark and date letter ‘e’ for 2004, the reverse engraved: ‘JOHN McCABE CBE 2003’. with full length of neck ribbon, and housed in its fitted presentation case by Thomas Fattorini.
Worshipful Company of Musicians of London - The Iles Medal, silver, bearing hallmarks for Birmingham with .925 mark and date letter ‘o’ for 2013, rim engraved: ‘The Iles Medal 2014 John McCabe’, this housed in its fitted presentation case.
The Ivor Novello Award, a large bronze figurine, the plinths bronze band engraved: ‘IVOR NOVELLO AWARD BASCA’, beneath which is a plaque engraved: ‘John McCabe / The Ivors Classical Music Award / Presented 22 May 2014’.
Condition: light contact wear, overall Good Very Fine
Together with the following:
Warrant of Appointment to be appointed as a Commander of the Civil Division of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, inscribed in the name of ‘John McCabe Esq’, dated 15 June 1985, bearing facsimile signature of Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Phillip in his role as Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, this with its card backing board.
Statures of Appointment to The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, 1970 edition.
A copy of the book ‘So Written To After-Times - John McCabe - A Life in Letters’, as compiled by Monica McCabe, paperback, card covers, 259 pages, as published in 2024, with opening page signed by Monica McCabe.
An unwrapped CD, this -‘War Memorials - Music for Brass Band, which includes music composed by John McCabe, as produced by the Tredegar Town Band and the Cory Band during 2015-2017.
John McCabe was born in Huyton, Liverpool on 21 April 1939. His father was an Irish physicist and his German/Finnish mother, Elisabeth Herlitzius, was an amateur violinist. McCabe was badly burned in an accident when he was a child and was home schooled for eight years. During this time, McCabe said that there was "a lot of music in the house", which inspired his future career. He explained "My mother was a very good amateur violinist and there were records and printed music everywhere. I thought that if all these guys – Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert – can do it, then so can I!". By the age of 11 McCabe had composed 13 symphonies, but he later suppressed them, believing they were not good enough. He subsequently attended the Liverpool Institute.
McCabe first became known as a pianist. His repertoire was wide, from pre-classical to modern composers. He specialised in 20th century music, particularly in English composers. He performed the UK premiere of John Corigliano's Piano Concerto. He also specialised in the music of Haydn, with Gramophone Magazine praising McCabe's 1970s-era recording of Haydn's piano sonatas as "definitive" and "one of the great recorded monuments of the keyboard repertoire".From 1965 to 1968 McCabe was pianist‐in‐residence at Cardiff University.
McCabe began studying composition with British composers Humphrey Procter Gregg at Manchester University and with Thomas Pitfield at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern College), and later, in 1964, at the Munich Hochschule fur Musik he continued studying composition with German composer Harald Genzmer and others. He embarked upon a career as both a composer and a virtuoso pianist. Guy Rickards considers McCabe's early works to have been overlooked because he was perceived as a pianist rather than a composer. One of his early successes was the orchestral song cycle Notturni ed Alba, soprano and orchestra (1970), based on a set of poems in medieval Latin about the theme of night, which was described as "an intoxicating creation, full of tingling atmosphere and slumbering passion". The Chagall Windows (1974) is a closely argued symphonic work in 12 sections, each depicting one of Marc Chagall's stained-glass windows in Jerusalem. His Concerto for Orchestra (1982) brought him international recognition.
It was not until the 1990s that he came to be viewed primarily as a composer, with the successes of the piano scoreTenebrae (1992–93), which marked the deaths in 1992 of musicians Sir Charles Groves, William Mathias and Stephen Oliver, and was written for Barry Douglas; his 4th symphony, Of Time and the River (1993–94); and his third baIlet Edward II (1995), which permitted David Bintley's choreography to win the 1998 TMA/Barclays Theatre Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
He worked in almost every genre, though large-scale forms lie at the heart of his catalogue with seven symphonies, two dozen concertante works and eight ballet scores to his name. His numerous concerti include four for his own instrument, the piano (1966–76), three for one or two violins (1959, 1980, 2003) as well as for viola (1962), Metamorphoses, harpsichord and orchestra (1968), oboe d'amore (1972), clarinet (1977), orchestra (1982), trumpet (1987) and flute (1990), and double concertos for viola and cello (1965) and clarinet and oboe (1988). His chamber works include seven string quartets, the third of which (1979) was inspired by the landscape of the Lake District. His solo instrumental music was mainly written for the piano; he composed 13 studies for the instrument, including Gaudí (1970), inspired by the Catalan architect; Mosaic (1980), inspired by Islamic art; and a series of seven (2000–9) each explicitly drawing inspiration from a different composer. Other significant piano works include the Haydn Variations (1983), written to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's birth.
McCabe's style evolved gradually from an initial lyrical constructivism through a serialist phase, with a fascination with repetitive patterns leading to a more complex combination of processes to achieve more subtle forms of continuity. Rickards states that his influences included Vaughan Williams, Britten, Tippett and Karl Amadeus Hartmann, and he was also influenced by non-classical music including rock and jazz.
He had a long-lasting association with the Presteigne Festival, an annual classical music event held in Powys County, Wales. He was also commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to compose Rainforest I in 1984.
Further, as a pianist, McCabe recorded several CDs with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, and as a teacher, he served as principal of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990, where his efforts to enhance the college's profile resulted in its merging with Thames Valley University (currently University of West London) in 1991. He also held visiting professorships at the universities of Melbourne, Australia, and Cincinnati, United States, during the 1990s. Among his notable pupils is Canadian composer Gary Kulesha. McCabe wrote guides to the music of Haydn, Bartok and Rachmaninoff, and a book on contemporary English composer Alan Rawsthorne. A compilation of his letters to performers and other composers, compiled by his wife Monica, was published in 2024.
During his life time, McCabe was honoured at a national level, and through various institutions. He was awarded the Royal Manchester Institute’s Heywood Medal in 1961, and in 1977 was honoured with the first of his two prestigious Ivor Novello Award’s, this being for the Best Theme from T.V. or Radio during 1976-1977, for “Sam”.
‘For his services to British Music’ he was appointed a Commander of the Civil Division of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List as published in the London Gazette for 15 June 1985.
The Incorporated Society of Musicians awarded him The Distinguished Musician Award in 2003, and The Worshipful Company of Musicians of London honoured him with The Iles Medal in 2014, and during that same year, by then desperately ill, he was awarded the second of his two prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, this The Ivors Classical Music Award, as presented to him on 22 May 2014, in respect of his lifetime achievement to classical music.
McCabe married Monica Smith, a former head of the Sittingbourne Music Society, in 1974. In December 2012 McCabe was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He continued to compose music during his treatment. John McCabe died after the unsuccessful long cancer treatment on 13 February 2015.
