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Englefield’s
Enchanted Encore Composing a symphony is a monumental, painstaking and arduous task. Composing twelve symphonies is for most composers the work of a lifetime. My first symphony took over one year to complete. Ten years passed before my ninth symphony was finished. No doubt many musicians have thought about composing symphonies, but the degree of difficulty and immense time required probably discourages most who would try. In retrospect, there is a wonderfully surprising reward in having composed twelve symphonies. Unlike the composers of years gone by, one can, with the aid of software and sound modules, hear instantly the instrumental sounds of the orchestra rather than wait for a live performance. Playing back my first triad chords with the violins resulted in an instant addiction to what became a profoundly rewarding profession. There must be valuable lessons for future generations in reading a book by a composer. There are lessons in music to be learned and lessons from the composer’s life’s experiences far too valuable to leave to the wasteland of oblivion. Thus, I have decided to share my experiences about symphony composition in the 20th-21st century. The rewards are very personal. The financial rewards await the passage of time and the deserved recognition so necessary for the success of any artist. There are interesting and serious problems in the classical music profession which will be discussed in this book. There are also lessons from the composer’s lifetime experiences that are both related to and unrelated to composition. In some ways, the evolution of those experiences logically led to composition, as there seemed no alternative. The initial costs in composing a symphony and writing a book are similarly not expensive. For many reasons, I had the time for both. One needs a calling to accomplish either one and a calling is very serious business. It is something one cannot ignore. Throughout the years of my lifetime, I heard the calling to compose symphony and when the time and opportunity presented itself, I knew I had no alternative but to proceed. The reader will be glad to know the book is not entirely about
music. Most famous composers grew up in a musical family with early
teachings, which prepared them for their life Hopefully, readers will probably enjoy reading about the composer’s early introduction to classical music; his first childhood recollections which much later led to the composition of his second symphony (The Winterland Symphonic Suite); living his early childhood after losing his mother at the age of one; caring for his father who was ill for several years and died when the composer was merely sixteen; his brief stint in politics as a candidate for several national public offices; his seventeen year unsuccessful endeavor to play on the P.G.A. Senior Golf Tour (which continues to this day); his return to college at the age of thirty-three only to run headlong into the Kent State riots and financial disaster; or the shear delight of his editorial writing career for several newspapers after having studied editorial writing and journalism at Ohio State University. A newspaper writer in Newark, Ohio began her story about the composer saying, “Richard Englefield has nearly done it all!” At my present age of sixty-six one hopes the story never ends. That was, of course, the purpose of my first of many symphonic compositions. My symphonies were to be an enduring legacy. It can be said that life with intellectual meaning and personal enjoyment began with those first few triad chords that began a long though late career in music. One does not labor fifteen or sixteen hours a day without great purpose, dedication and enjoyment at the task. The early loss of a mother probably slowed my emotional development, though as I grew older, to others, it was quite obvious that a wealth of talent lurked below the surface. I would never have guessed what my accomplishments would be. Nor did I have sufficient efficacy until I heard my first symphony performed in the Czech Republic. It changed my entire life. (The story begins in the wee hours of a cold winter night in Springfield, Ohio. The year was 1940 and Richard Hastings Englefield was not yet three years old.) Purchase Englefield's Enchanted Encore Site Designed & Developed by DesignExtensions.com |
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Who would enjoy the autobiography? Composers, Musicians & Conductors
CD Producers, Publishers & Record Label Executives Englefield C.E.O New Classics ProductionsSenior Citizens & Retirees Englefield Retires & Composes Twelve SymphoniesSchools of: Law, Conservatories (Music), Journalism, Business Englefield’s private study of Law & taking cases through to the Supreme Court of the United States,private study of Composition, studies in Journalism, Investigative Reporting, Theories of Persuasion & Editorial Writing suggest the autobiography would make excellent broadly educational required reading in any of the above Curriculum.
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ahead.
Several very successful composers came from other professions before
starting their composition careers. This composer started his working
career at the age of 19, in New York working for the largest paper
company in the world. I went on to join my older brother in a fledgling
oil business in Ohio, then later learning the construction trades
by owning and renovating multi-unit apartments and finally returning
to my civil engineering background as a surveyor and field engineer
in high-rise construction in Atlanta working on forty and fifty story
office buildings. Recessions and necessity seemed to dictate the
changes in professions and careers. I was in poor health at the age
of 55 and began my first composition believing it to be my last and
a legacy for my adult children. 
