The
FSAOF, with thousands of other admirers, was saddened to learn this evening of
the Promotion to Glory of Lt. Col. Ray Steadman-Allen (OF)* who passed away
suddenly at his home in Rainham, Kent.
Please uphold in your prayers Lt. Col. Joy Steadman-Allen, daughters
Barbara and Rosemary and all other family members at this very sad time.
(
Further details will follow)
*
Order of the Founder
Lieutenant
Colonel (Dr)Ray Steadman-Allen (born 18 September 1922) is a composer of choral
and brass band music for the Salvation Army and for band competition.[1]
He
was born in the Salvation Army 'Mother's Hospital', Clapton, while his
Salvation Army Officer parents were living in the Horfield area of Bristol.
When they were appointed to London in 1937, he obtained a job at International
Headquarters as office boy to General Evangeline Booth, daughter of The
Salvation Army's founder.
In
1942 he enlisted in the Royal Navy. He was examined for a music diploma by Sir
Granville Bantock who invited him to apply for a job in music after the war. In
the event, Bantock died, and Steadman-Allen joined the Music Editorial
Department of The Salvation Army. Following a short post-war period as a
trombonist with The International Staff Band, he developed his conducting
skills and became Bandmaster of the
He
became a Salvation Army officer himself in 1949, from the Harrow Corps., and in
1951 he married Joyce Foster, who had become a Salvation Army officer from the
Hastings Citadel in 1949.
Much
of his music was ahead of its time, to the point that it was sometimes
considered unacceptable to the listener. Lord of the Sea created a furore. His
creativity has been given totally to God and has been instrumental in guiding
Salvation Army music into uncharted territory, particularly when the
International Music Editorial Department was under his leadership between 1967
and 1980.
Steadman-Allen
regularly took part as Bandmaster in the popular radio programme Sounding Brass
which was presented by Gloria Hunniford and Owen Spencer-Thomas on Radio 2 and
Radio London in the 1970s. He wrote a book called Colour and Texture in the
Brass Band Score which was published by The Salvation Army. First published in
1980, this volume has been reprinted due to continued demand from composers,
arrangers and university music departments alike.
Besides
well over 200 brass band works published by The Salvation Army, Steadman-Allen
has written numerous choral works with a large number of compositions and
arrangements in manuscript form, often completed for recordings or special
concert presentations.
As
well as completing his Doctorate in Music, Steadman-Allen holds several
honorary fellowships, is the President of the National College of Music, Vice
President of the National Association of Brass Band Conductors and patron of
the London Musicological Research Society.
Steadman-Allen
has also been a tremendous encourager of new compositional talent. Many leading
brass band and choral composers will give testimony to his positive help and
professional guidance. In
recent years, Ray Steadman-Allen has become affectionately known as 'RSA'.
In
2003, the Royal School of Church Music awarded him its ARSCM (Associate of the
RSCM). In 2005, The Salvation Army admitted 'RSA' to The Order of the Founder,
the highest honour that The Salvation Army can bestow on a member.
In
2012, a suite of articles about his life and works was published by Shield
Books under the title of 'History, Harmony and Humanity'.
References
Newsome,
Roy (2006). The modern brass band: from the 1930s to the new millennium.
Ashgate Publishing. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-7546-0717-5.
Gariepy,
Henry (2009). Christianity in action: the international history of the
Salvation Army. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 27.
ISBN 978-0-8028-4841-3.
RAY STEADMAN-ALLEN is one of the most
gifted, admired and productive composers of the Salvation Army and brass band
world. And Eric Ball, OBE, and dean of brass band music named RSA the
first and only SA music genius in 1963 in a interview at the Central Music
Institute, 1963 and confirmed his opinion again in 1994.
THE HOLY WAR had its premiere 1965
in the Royal Albert Hall at the 100 Year Centenary festival of the SA.
Sven-Erik
Ljungholm
THE HOLY WAR 1965 ISB
ROYAL ALBERT HALL
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