Brian Boydell

Brian Boydell (17 March 1917 – 8 November 2000) was an Irish composer whose works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, and songs. He was Professor of Music at Trinity College, Dublin for 20 years, founder of the Dowland Consort, conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players, and a prolific broadcaster and writer on musical matters.

Brian Boydell was born in Howth, County Dublin, into a prosperous Anglo-Irish family. His father James ran the family maltings business while his mother, Eileen Collins, was one of the first women graduates of Trinity College. Following their son's birth, the Boydells moved from Howth and lived in a succession of rented houses before settling in Shankill, County Dublin. The young Boydell began his formal education at Monkstown Park in Dublin and was subsequently sent to the Dragon School at Oxford. From there he went to Rugby, where he came under the influence of Kenneth Stubbs, the music master. Although Boydell later spoke of his resentment at the anti-Irish attitude he experienced at Rugby, he appreciated the very good education in science and music he received there.

Having completed his secondary education, Boydell spent the summer of 1935 developing his musical knowledge at Heidelberg, where he wrote his first songs and also studied organ. He won a choral scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge, where, perhaps through parental pressure, he studied natural science, graduating in 1938 with a first-class degree.

However, his love of music led him next to the Royal College of Music where he studied composition under Patrick Hadley, Herbert Howells, and Vaughan Williams. Already a good pianist, Boydell also became a proficient oboe player during this time.

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