Robert Orledge
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Robert Orledge is a leading scholar of early twentieth century French music.
He was born in Bath, Somerset on 5 January 1948 and educated at the City of Bath Boys' School (1958-65) and at Clare College, Cambridge (1965-71) where he gained a BA (Hons) Music degree in 1968 and an MA in 1972. He was awarded a Ph.D. for his thesis: A Study of the Composer Charles Koechlin (1867-1950) in May 1973.
In 1964 he was awarded the diploma of Associate of the Royal College of Organists (ARCO). In 1971 he was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Music at The University of Liverpool, being promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1980, to Reader in 1986, and to a Personal Chair in April 1991.
He has completed articles on
- Satie's Sarabandes (1887) for Music and Letters, and on Vexations (1893) (published by Music and Letters in 1998).
- A chapter on "Debussy and Satie" in Debussy Studies (ed. Richard Langham Smith) is since April 1997 available through Cambridge University Press.
Several editions of unknown Satie "discoveries" are now available through Editions Salabert, Paris, and the edition of his 6e Nocturne appeared with Eschig, Paris, in 1994. His latest project is the orchestral full score of Satie's additional music for Gounod's opera Le médecin malgré lui (commissioned by Diaghilev in 1923) from the surviving parts in the Library of Congress, Washington, and the vocal score used in Diaghilev's 1924 production (supplied by Ornella Volta).
His research interests focus also on other French composers of 1860-1950:
His main interest lies in composers' working methods, and his musicological "detective" work often seeks to trace the genesis of compositions from different versions and sketches, placing them in their historical perspective and evaluating them critically. He also has a special interest in theatre music. In addition he is writing entries on Satie, Koechlin, Caplet, Emmanuel and Charpentier for the revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Macmillan).
Professor Orledge's involvement in the Department of Music in Liverpool includes History Project Work (especially Haydn, Purcell, Debussy and Satie), Aural Training, Style Composition, Orchestration, Analysis and Dissertation supervision (especially postgraduate).
