View source for Peter Maxwell Davies

{{short description|English composer and conductor (1934–2016)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name             = Peter Maxwell Davies
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CH|CBE|size=100%}}
| image            = Peter Maxwell Davies.jpg
| alt              =
| caption          = Davies in 2012
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1934|9|8}}
| birth_place      = [[County Borough of Salford|Salford]], Lancashire, England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2016|3|14|1934|9|8}}
| death_place      = [[Sanday, Orkney]], Scotland
| occupation       = {{hlist|Composer|conductor}}
| list_of_works    = [[List of compositions by Peter Maxwell Davies|List of compositions]]
| module           = {{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| order            = 20th
| office           = Master of the Queen's Music
| monarch          = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start       = 2004
| term_end         = 2014
| predecessor      = [[Malcolm Williamson]]
| successor        = [[Judith Weir]]
}}
}}

'''Sir Peter Maxwell Davies''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|CBE}} (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made [[Master of the Queen's Music]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Roderic|last=Dunnett|url=http://www.maxopus.com/life_career.aspx|title=Life & Career – Sir Peter Maxwell Davies|website=Maxopus.com|date=August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719072846/http://www.maxopus.com/life_career.aspx|archive-date=19 July 2011}}</ref>

As a student at both the [[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchester]] and the [[Royal Manchester College of Music]], Davies formed a group dedicated to contemporary music called the [[New Music Manchester]] with fellow students [[Harrison Birtwistle]], [[Alexander Goehr]], [[Elgar Howarth]] and [[John Ogdon]]. Davies's compositions include eight works for the stage—from the [[monodrama]] ''[[Eight Songs for a Mad King]]'', which shocked the audience in 1969, to ''[[Kommilitonen!]]'', first performed in 2011—and ten [[symphonies]], written between 1973 and 2013.

As a conductor, Davies was artistic director of the [[Dartington International Summer School]] from 1979 to 1984 and associate conductor/composer with the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] from 1992 to 2002, holding the latter position with the [[BBC Philharmonic Orchestra]] as well.

==Early life and education==
Davies was born in Holly Street, Langworthy, [[County Borough of Salford|Salford]], Lancashire, and lived in Trafford Road before moving to Wyville Drive in [[Swinton, Greater Manchester|Swinton]]. He was the son of Thomas Davies, a manufacturer of optical instruments, and his wife Hilda, an amateur painter.<ref>"{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20071103014744/http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/music-theatre3.html Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CBE]}}", ''Manchester's Theatrical & Musical Celebrities: Papillon Graphics Virtual Encyclopedia of Greater Manchester'' (Accessed 9 April 2010).</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Maxwell Davies, Peter |url=https://www.classical-music.com/composers/peter-maxwell-davies-4/ |access-date=30 October 2022 |website=Classical Music |language=en}}</ref> At age four, after being taken to a performance of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[The Gondoliers]]'', he told his parents that he was going to be a composer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03vd8vp|title=BBC Radio 3 Live in Concert|publisher=BBC|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>

He took piano lessons and composed from an early age. As a 14-year-old, he submitted a composition called ''Blue Ice'' to the radio programme ''[[Children's Hour]]'' in Manchester. BBC producer [[Trevor Hill (producer)|Trevor Hill]] showed it to resident singer and entertainer [[Violet Carson]], who said, "He's either quite brilliant or mad". Conductor [[Charles Groves]] nodded his approval and said, "I'd get him in". Davies's rise to fame began under the careful mentorship of Hill, who made him the programme's resident composer and introduced him to various professional musicians both in the UK and Germany.<ref>The story is detailed in Trevor Hill's autobiography, ''Over the Airwaves'', published by Book Guild in 2005.</ref>

After attending [[Leigh Boys Grammar School]],<!-- I have deleted the reference to the school buying a piano for him. On Saturday, 13 December, the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral gave a world premiere of his latest work which we commissioned, Hymn to the Spirit of Fire. I had used an edited version of this biography in the programme notes (attributing it to Wikipedia.) At dinner afterwards, he emphatically denied the truth of this story. He said he had seen it many times, did not know its origin but could state absolutely that the school had never bought anything to support his music. --> Davies studied at the [[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchester]] and at the [[Royal Manchester College of Music]] (amalgamated into the [[Royal Northern College of Music]] in 1973), where one of his teachers was [[Hedwig Stein]]; his fellow students included [[Harrison Birtwistle]], [[Alexander Goehr]], [[Elgar Howarth]] and [[John Ogdon]]. Together they formed [[New Music Manchester]], a group committed to contemporary music. After graduating in 1956, he studied on an Italian government scholarship for a year with [[Goffredo Petrassi]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaster |first1=Adrian |title=International Who's Who in Music |date=1980 |publisher= Cambridge : Melrose Press |isbn= 978-0900332517 |page=164}}</ref>

In 1959, Davies became Director of Music at [[Cirencester Grammar School]].<ref>John Warnaby, "Davies, Peter Maxwell", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (professor of music)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).</ref> He left in 1962 after securing a [[Harkness Fellowship]] at [[Princeton University]] (with the help of [[Aaron Copland]] and [[Benjamin Britten]]);<ref>{{Cite web|date=19 June 2004|title=Profile: Peter Maxwell Davies|url=http://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/19/classicalmusicandopera.proms2004|access-date=20 January 2022|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> there he studied with [[Roger Sessions]], [[Milton Babbitt]] and [[Earl Kim]]. He then moved to Australia, where he was Composer in Residence at the [[Elder Conservatorium of Music]], [[University of Adelaide]], 1965–66.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gaster |first1=Adrian |title=International Who's Who in Music |date=1980 |publisher= Cambridge : Melrose Press |isbn= 978-0900332517 |page=164}}</ref>

==Career==
{{For LMST|Peter Maxwell|Davies}}
Davies was known as an ''enfant terrible'' of the 1960s, whose music frequently shocked audiences and critics. One of his overtly theatrical and shocking pieces was ''[[Eight Songs for a Mad King]]'' (1969), in which he used "musical parody" by taking a canonical piece of music – [[Handel]]'s ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' – and subverting it to explore the periods of madness of [[King George III]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=27 August 2004 |title=Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King; Miss Donnithorne's Maggot: Psappha |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/aug/27/classicalmusicandopera.shopping1 |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In 1966 Davies returned to the United Kingdom and moved to the [[Orkney]] Islands, initially to [[Hoy, Orkney|Hoy]] in 1971, and later to [[Sanday, Orkney|Sanday]]. Orkney (particularly its capital, [[Kirkwall]]) hosts the [[St Magnus Festival]], an arts festival founded by Davies in 1977. He frequently used the festival to premiere new works (often played by the local school orchestra).<ref>{{cite news |date=7 November 1988 |title=Orkney Music Festival Menu |work=Aberdeen Press and Journal |page=23}}</ref>

Davies was artistic director of the [[Dartington International Summer School]] from 1979 to 1984. From 1992 to 2002 he was associate conductor/composer with the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]], a position he also held with the [[BBC Philharmonic Orchestra]], and he has conducted a number of other prominent orchestras, including the [[Philharmonia]], the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]] and the [[Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra]]. In 2000 Davies was Artist in Residence at the Barossa Music Festival when he presented some of his [[music theatre]] works and worked with students from the Barossa Spring Academy. Davies was also Composer Laureate of the [[Scottish Chamber Orchestra]], for whom he wrote a series of ten ''Strathclyde Concertos''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?composerid=2695&ttype=BIOGRAPHY&ttitle=Biography/ |title=Peter Maxwell Davies Biography|publisher=Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.|access-date=14 August 2008}}</ref>

Davies was one of the first classical composers to open a [[music download]] website, ''MaxOpus'' (in 1996).

He was awarded a number of honorary doctorates, including [[Honorary degree|Honorary]] [[Doctor of Music]] from [[Oxford University]] in July 2005. He had been President of [[Making Music (National Federation of Music Societies)|Making Music]] (The National Federation of Music Societies) since 1989. Davies was made a [[CBE]] in 1981 and [[knight]]ed in 1987. He was appointed [[Master of the Queen's Music]] in March 2004 but, in a break from the tradition of lifetime tenure, his appointment was limited to ten years. He was made a Freeman of the City of Salford August 2004.  On 25 November 2006, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of [[Canterbury Christ Church University]] at a service in [[Canterbury Cathedral]]. He was visiting professor of composition at the [[Royal Academy of Music]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ram.ac.uk/staff-list|title=Staff list|publisher=Royal Academy of Music|access-date=15 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001125215/http://www.ram.ac.uk/staff-list|archive-date=1 October 2011}}</ref> and in 2009 became an [[Honorary title (academic)|Honorary]] [[Fellow]] of [[Homerton College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2009-10/weekly/6160/section15.shtml#heading2-52|title=College Notices – Cambridge University Reporter 6160|date=7 October 2009|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref> Davies received an Honorary Doctorate from [[Heriot-Watt University]] in 2002<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/annual-review/2002/people.htm#4|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh & Scottish Borders: Annual Review 2002|website=www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=30 March 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413145419/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/annual-review/2002/people.htm#4|archive-date=13 April 2016}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Davies was known by friends and colleagues as "Max", after his middle name "Maxwell", and was openly homosexual throughout his adult life.

Although he sometimes set sacred texts, Davies was an atheist.<ref>Interviewing Davies, Ivan Hewett wrote: "An avant-gardist who uses ancient Christian chants, an atheist who's written pieces entitled Antichrist and Revelation and Fall – clearly there are tensions beneath that carefully controlled surface." 'A Life on the Edge', ''The Daily Telegraph'', 7 April 2005, Features Pg. 015.</ref>

In 2005 his house on Sanday was raided by police, who removed parts of a [[whooper swan]] (a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act) which Davies had been planning to eat; he stated he had found the swan electrocuted beneath power lines.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 March 2005 |title=Sir Peter's taste for swan has him fall foul of law {{!}} The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/sir-peters-taste-swan-has-him-fall-foul-law-2473713 |access-date=28 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707170504/https://www.scotsman.com/news/sir-peters-taste-swan-has-him-fall-foul-law-2473713 |archive-date=7 July 2022 }}</ref>

In 2007, a controversy arose regarding an intended [[Civil partnership in the United Kingdom|civil partnership]] with Davies's partner of five years, builder Colin Parkinson. They were told that the ceremony could not take place on the [[Sanday Light Railway]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=8 January 2007|title=Orkney Council moves to quell civil partnerships row|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2007/01/08/orkney-council-moves-to-quell-civil-partnerships-row/|access-date=20 January 2022|website=PinkNews &#124; LGBT+ news|language=en-GB}}</ref> The couple later abandoned their plans<ref>{{Cite web|date=11 January 2007|title=Orkney composer cancels ceremony plans|url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2007/01/11/orkney-composer-cancels-ceremony-plans/|access-date=20 January 2022|website=PinkNews &#124; LGBT+ news|language=en-GB}}</ref> but remained together until a break-up in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|first=Ivan|last=Hewett|date=14 March 2016|title=Sir Peter Maxwell Davies obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/mar/14/sir-peter-maxwell-davies-obituary|website=The Guardian|access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref>

The same year, the composer's ''MaxOpus'' site became temporarily unavailable after the arrest in June 2007 of Michael Arnold (one of MaxOpus's directors) on fraud charges arising from money missing from Davies's business accounts.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6528.html|title=Husband of Peter Maxwell Davies's Manager Arrested in Connection with Disappearance of £500,000|date=22 May 2007|publisher=Playbillarts.com|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite book|title=For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker |publisher=Canongate|first=Victoria|last=Coren|year=2009}} page 336 in Kindle edition</ref> In October 2008 Arnold and his wife Judith (Davies's former agent) were charged with the theft of almost £450,000.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5033657.ece|work=The Times|location=London, UK|title=Former managers stole 450000 from Master of the Queens Music|first=David|last=Brown|date=29 October 2008|access-date=22 May 2010}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In November 2009, Michael Arnold was sentenced to 18 months in jail on a charge of false accounting. Charges of stealing against the couple, to which both had pleaded not guilty, were dropped when the prosecution offered no evidence.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0307-1235| last = Pierce| first = Andrew| title = Former manager of Queen's composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies admits Â£5000,000 false accounting| newspaper = The Daily Telegraph| access-date = 25 June 2019| date = 8 September 2009| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/6157120/Former-manager-of-Queens-composer-Sir-Peter-Maxwell-Davies-admits-5000000-false-accounting.html}}</ref><ref>Paul Cheston, "Agent Faces Jail for Stealing £1/2m from Queen's Composer", ''Evening Standard'' (Wednesday, 21 October 2009); Derek Watson, "Jail for Manager Who Stole from Royal Composer", ''Daily Express'' (Tuesday 3 November 2009); Mike Wade. 2009. "Accountant Made Me Feel Worthless, Says Sir Peter; 'He Is Beneath Contempt. That Man Tortured Me'", ''The Times'' (Monday 9 November 2009).</ref> MaxOpus was relaunched earlier in 2009.

Davies was appointed [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] (CH) in the [[2014 New Year Honours]] for "services to music".<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=60728 |supp=y|page=5|date=31 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25550751|work=BBC News|title=New Year's Honours: Lansbury and Keith become dames|date=31 December 2013}}</ref> He died from leukaemia on 14 March 2016, aged 81, at his home in Orkney.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir Peter Maxwell Davies CH CBE (1934–2016)|url=http://intermusica.co.uk/news/1613|website=Intermusica|access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref>

==Political views==
Davies was a life-long supporter of gay rights and a vice-president of the [[Campaign for Homosexual Equality]].

Davies had a keen interest in environmentalism. He wrote ''[[The Yellow Cake Revue]]'', a collection of [[cabaret]]-style pieces that he performed with actress [[Eleanor Bron]], in protest at plans to mine [[uranium]] ore in Orkney. It is from this suite of pieces that his famous [[instrumental]] ''chanson triste'' [[wikt:interlude|interlude]] ''Farewell to Stromness'' is taken. The slow, walking bass line that pervades the ''Farewell'' portrays the residents of the town of [[Stromness]] having to leave their homes as a result of uranium contamination. The ''Revue'' was first performed at the St Magnus Festival, in Orkney, by Bron, with the composer at the piano, in June 1980. Stromness, the second largest town in Orkney, would have been {{convert|2|mi|km|0|abbr=off|spell=on}} from the uranium mine's core, and the centre most threatened by pollution, had the proposed development been approved.

In the run-up to the [[Iraq War]] in 2003 he marched in protest, and he was an outspoken critic of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] governments of both [[Tony Blair]] and [[Gordon Brown]].<ref name="telegraph1">{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/7741318/Peter-Maxwell-Davies-says-Queen-has-converted-him-to-a-monarchist.html|title=Peter Maxwell Davies says Queen has converted him to a monarchist|date=19 May 2010|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>

Davies's appointment to the post of Master of the Queen's Music was initially controversial, as he had expressed [[republicanism|republican]] views. However, he confirmed in 2010 that contact with the Queen had converted him to [[monarchism]]. He told ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', "I have come to realise that there is a lot to be said for the monarchy. It represents continuity, tradition and stability."<ref name="telegraph1"/>

He was a member of the [[British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors]] (BASCA)<ref name="UBR">{{cite web|url=http://www.unsignedbandreview.com/british-academy-of-songwriters-composers-and-authors.html |publisher=The Unsigned band review |title=British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors |author=Founder of UBR |date=18 May 2009 |access-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520023122/http://www.unsignedbandreview.com/british-academy-of-songwriters-composers-and-authors.html |archive-date=20 May 2011 }}</ref> and the [[Incorporated Society of Musicians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ism.org|title=ISM Incorporated Society of Musicians – Incorporated Society of Musicians|author=Cog Design|work=ISM|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>

==Music==
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2016}}
Davies was a prolific composer who wrote in a variety of styles and idioms over his career, often combining disparate styles in one piece. Early works include the ''Trumpet Sonata'' (1955), written while he was at college, and his first orchestral work, ''Prolation'' (1958), written while under the tutelage of Petrassi. Early works often use [[serialism|serial]] techniques (for example ''Sinfonia'' for chamber orchestra, 1962), sometimes combined with Mediaeval and Renaissance compositional methods. Fragments of [[plainsong]] are often used as basic source material to be adapted and developed. His "O Magnum Mysterium" (1960)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Review|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/reviews/review|access-date=20 January 2022|website=Gramophone|language=en}}</ref> features on several YouTube clips, and was, for some time, his most talked-about work.

Pieces from the late 1960s take up these techniques and tend towards the [[Experimental music|experimental]] and to have a violent character. These include ''Revelation and Fall'' (based on a poem by [[Georg Trakl]]), the music theatre pieces ''[[Eight Songs for a Mad King]]'' and ''Vesalii Icones'', and the opera ''[[Taverner (opera)|Taverner]]''. ''Taverner'', again, shows an interest in Renaissance music, taking as its subject the composer [[John Taverner]], and consisting of parts resembling Renaissance forms. The orchestral piece ''St Thomas Wake'' (1969) shows this interest and is a particularly obvious example of Davies's polystylism. It combines a suite of [[foxtrot]]s (played by a twenties-style dance band), a [[pavane]] by [[John Bull (composer)|John Bull]] and Davies's "own" music (the work is described by Davies as a "Foxtrot for orchestra on a pavan by John Bull"). Many works from this period were performed by the Pierrot Players, which Davies founded with Harrison Birtwistle in 1967; they were reformed as the [[Fires of London]] in 1970, then disbanded in 1987.

After his move to Orkney, Davies often drew on Orcadian or more generally Scottish themes in his music, and has sometimes set the words of Orcadian writer [[George Mackay Brown]]. He has written a number of other operas, including ''[[The Martyrdom of St Magnus]]'' (1976), ''[[The Lighthouse (opera)|The Lighthouse]]'' (1980, his most popular opera), and ''[[The Doctor of Myddfai]]'' (1996). The ambitious, nihilistic parable ''[[Resurrection (opera)|Resurrection]]'' (1987), which includes parts for a rock band, was nearly twenty years in gestation.

Davies was interested in classical forms, completing his first [[symphony]] in 1976. He wrote ten numbered symphonies – a symphonic cycle of the Symphonies Nos.1–7 (1976–2000), a Symphony No. 8 titled the ''Antarctic'' (2000), a Ninth Symphony (premiered on 9 June 2012 by the Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra), a Tenth Symphony (see below), a Sinfonia Concertante (1982), as well as the series of ten ''[[Strathclyde Concertos]]'' for various instruments (pieces born out of his association with the [[Scottish Chamber Orchestra]], 1987–1996). In 2002, he began work on a series of [[string quartet]]s for the [[Maggini String Quartet]] to record on [[Naxos Records]] (the ''[[Naxos Quartets]]''). The whole series was completed in 2007, and was viewed by the composer as a "novel in ten chapters".<ref>[http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-humanities/Music/SirPeter/NaxosStringQuartets/Home.aspx Information on the Naxos Quartets from Canterbury Christ Church University, including detailed information on Nos. 1 and 8]{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Canterbury.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2010.</ref>

Davies's lighter orchestral works have included ''Mavis in Las Vegas'' (a title inspired by a Las Vegas hotelier's mishearing of "Maxwell Davies" and registering him as "Mavis"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/maxwell-davies-mavis-in-las-vegas|title=Gramophone review – Mavis in Las Vegas|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref>) and ''[[An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise]]'' (which features the [[bagpipes]]), as well as a number of theatre pieces for children and a good deal of music with educational purposes. Additionally he wrote the scores for [[Ken Russell]]'s films ''[[The Devils (film)|The Devils]]'' and ''[[The Boy Friend (1971 film)|The Boy Friend]]''. His Violin Concerto No. 2 received its UK premiere on 8 September 2009 (the composer's 75th birthday) in the [[Royal Albert Hall]], London, as part of the 2009 season of [[The Proms]].

On 13 October 2009, his string sextet ''The Last Island'' was first performed by the [[Nash Ensemble]] at [[Wigmore Hall]] in a 75th birthday concert for the composer. His Symphony No. 10 had its world premiere at the [[Barbican Hall]], London on 2 February 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lso.co.uk/sir-peter-maxwell-davies-world-premiere|title=Sir Peter Maxwell Davies World Premiere|work=London Symphony Orchestra|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>

''Throstle's Nest Junction'', opus 181 (1996), and ''A Spell for Green Corn – The MacDonald Dances'' both had their London premiere at the BBC's Maida Vale studios, broadcast live on Radio 3 with the composer's participation on 19 June 2014, in celebration of his 80th birthday. The music was played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and presented by [[Petroc Trelawny]].<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC SO – Peter Maxwell Davies Studio Concert|access-date=15 March 2016|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b046cryx}}</ref>
[[File:Companion of Honour.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Insignia of C.H.]]

* The last months of his life, as he struggled with terminal illness, showed continuing creative power and energy.  There was ''The Hogboon'' (op. 335, a children's opera), the epiphany carol ''A Torrent of Gold'', and the short choral work ''The Golden Solstice''.  He was working on a String Quartet (op.338) at the time of his death; only the first movement was completed.

===Career highlights===
* 1953–58 – studied in Manchester and Rome.
* 1967 – together with [[Harrison Birtwistle]], founded the contemporary music touring ensemble the [[Pierrot Players]] (later renamed The Fires of London).
* 1971 – moved to [[Hoy, Orkney|Hoy]] in the Orkney Islands.
* 1977 – founded the [[St Magnus Festival]].
* 1987 – knighted.
* 1987–96 – wrote the ten [[Strathclyde Concertos]] for the [[Scottish Chamber Orchestra]].
* 2001–07 – wrote a [[Naxos Quartets|cycle of ten string quartets]], commissioned by [[Naxos Records|Naxos]].
* 2004 – appointed [[Master of the Queen's Music]].
* 2005 – the Honorary Doctorate of Music conferred by the University of Oxford.
* 2008 – became Patron of the Manchester University Music Society (MUMS).
* 2009 – became an [[Honorary title (academic)|Honorary]] [[Fellow]] of [[Homerton College, Cambridge]].<ref>[http://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/pdf/homertonian.pdf The Homertonian] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625064110/http://www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/pdf/homertonian.pdf |date=25 June 2007 }}, Newsletter of Homerton College No 13, May 2009, p. 2</ref>
* 2014 – appointed to the Order of Companions of Honour.
* 2015 – awarded the Gold Medal of the [[Royal Philharmonic Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peter Maxwell Davies awarded RPS Gold Medal|url=https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/index.php/rps_today/news/peter_maxwell_davies_awarded_rps_gold_medal|access-date=20 January 2022|publisher=Royal Philharmonic Society|language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Selected compositions ==
{{Main|List of compositions by Peter Maxwell Davies}}
{{Div col|colwidth=20em|rules=yes}}
* ''First Taverner Fantasia'' (1962)
* ''Second Taverner Fantasia'' (1964)
* ''Revelation and Fall'' (1966)
* ''[[Worldes Blis]]'' (1966–69)
* ''St Thomas Wake'' (1969)
* ''[[Eight Songs for a Mad King]]'' (1968; for singer/narrator/actor and chamber ensemble)
* ''Missa super l'homme armé'' (1968, rev. 1971; for male or female speaker or singer and ensemble)
* ''Stone Litany'' (1973)
* ''Ave Maris Stella'' (1975; chamber ensemble)
* ''The Door of the Sun'' for Viola Solo, J.132 (1975)
* [[Symphony No. 1 (Davies)|Symphony No. 1]] (1973–76; orchestra)
* ''[[The Martyrdom of St Magnus]]'' (1977; [[chamber opera]])
* ''[[The Lighthouse (opera)|The Lighthouse]]'' (1979; chamber opera)
* ''Black Pentecost'' (1979; for mezzo-soprano, baritone, & orchestra)
* ''Cinderella'' (1980; children's opera)
* [[Symphony No. 2 (Davies)|Symphony No. 2]] (1980)
* ''[[The Yellow Cake Revue]]'' (1980), including ''Farewell to Stromness''
* ''Image, Reflection, Shadow'' (1982; ensemble)
* [[Symphony No. 3 (Davies)|Symphony No. 3]] (1984)
* ''[[An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise]]'' (1985; orchestra)
* Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1985; dedicated to [[Isaac Stern]] who gave the first performance on 21 June 1986 at the St. Magnus Festival in the Orkney Islands)
* [[Trumpet Concerto (Davies)|Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra]] (1988)
* [[Symphony No. 4 (Davies)|Symphony No. 4]] (1989)
* ''[[Caroline Mathilde (ballet)|Caroline Mathilde]]'' (1991; ballet)
* [[Strathclyde Concertos|''Strathclyde'' Concerto No. 3]] for horn, trumpet, and symphony orchestra, (German Premiere: Markus Wittgens, horn / Otto Sauter, trumpet / Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Bremen / Conductor: Peter Maxwell Davies – Bremen) (1994)
* [[Strathclyde Concertos|''Strathclyde'' Concerto No. 5]] for violin, viola, and string orchestra, J.245 (1991)
* ''A Spell for Green Corn: The MacDonald Dances'' (1993; violin, orchestra)
* [[Symphony No. 5 (Davies)|Symphony No. 5]] (1994)
* ''[[The Doctor of Myddfai]]'' (1996; opera)
* [[Symphony No. 6 (Davies)|Symphony No. 6]] (1996)
* Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra (1996, opus 182)
* ''Job'' (1997; singers, orchestra)
* ''[[Mr Emmet Takes a Walk]]'' (2000; chamber opera)
* [[Symphony No. 7 (Davies)|Symphony No. 7]] (2000)
* [[Symphony No. 8 (Davies)|Symphony No. 8]] (''Antarctic'' Symphony) (2001)
* ''[[Naxos Quartets]]'' (2001–2007; string quartet)
* ''Homerton'' (2010; for the choir of Homerton College, Cambridge)
* ''[[Kommilitonen!]]'' (2011; opera)
* [[Symphony No. 9 (Davies)|Symphony No. 9]] (2012)
* [[Symphony No. 10 (Davies)|Symphony No. 10]] (''Alla ricerca di Borromini'') (2013)
{{Div col end}}

==Recordings==
* ''Naxos Quartets'' – Maggini Quartet – Naxos 5-CD set 8.505225<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.505225|title=Naxos Quartets|publisher=Naxos.com|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>
* ''Mass; Missa parvula; two organ pieces; two motets'' – Hyperion CDA67454<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2441&State_2934=2&discId_2934=797|title=Missa parvula; two organ pieces; two motets|publisher=Chesternovello.com|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref>
* ''Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis'' and ''O Sacrum Convivium'' – Delphian DCD34037
* ''Symphonies 1–6'' – BBC Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic / composer – Collins Classics
* ''Ave Maris Stella; Image, Reflection, Shadow; Runes from a Holy Island'' – Fires of London / composer – [[Unicorn-Kanchana]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Andrew |year=2015 |title=Encounters with British Composers |publisher=[[Boydell & Brewer]] |location=Suffolk |doi= |isbn=978-1-78327-070-5 |jstor=10.7722/j.ctt1814gv6 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=4QU3CwAAQBAJ}} }}
* {{cite journal |last=Payne |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Payne |date=Spring 1965 |title=Peter Maxwell Davies's Five Motets |journal=[[Tempo (journal)|Tempo]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |issue=72 |pages=7–11 |doi=10.1017/S0040298200033337 |jstor=943722 |s2cid=145764346 }}

==External links==
* {{official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20031002030840/http://www.maxopus.com/}}
* {{YouTube|Vneq5u1TRlc|Peter Maxwell Davies: Miss Donnithorne's Maggot}}
* {{YouTube|id=oy5pByCySm4|time=18m17s|title=Peter Maxwell Davies: ''Farewell to Stromness'', arr. Timothy Walker}}: [[Sean Shibe]] (solo guitar)
* [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/19/classicalmusicandopera.proms2004 A portrait in words] of the composer by Stephen Moss in [[The Guardian]]
* [https://www.schott-music.com/en/person/sir-peter-maxwell-davies The Profile Page of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies at Schott Music ltd]
* [http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=1020 Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's homepage at Chester Music]
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/pmd.html Peter Maxwell Davies interview with Bruce Duffie]
* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main.asp?site-lang=en&composerid=2695&ttype=SNAPSHOT&ttitle=Snapshot Peter Maxwell Davies at Boosey & Hawkes]
* {{BrahmsOnline|1047}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}
* {{NPG name|name=Sir Peter Maxwell Davies}}
* [http://www.cdmc.asso.fr/en/ressources/compositeurs/biographies/maxwell-davies-peter-1934 Peter Maxwell Davies's biography] on [http://www.cdmc.asso.fr/en Cdmc] website
* Andrew Clements: [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/29/classicalmusicandopera.shopping4 Maxwell Davies: Revelation & Fall; Leopardi Fragments; Five Pieces Op 2; Birtwistle: Tragoedia, Ogdon/ Thomas/ Philips/Pierrot Players/ Melos Ensemble/ Carewe/ Davies/ Foster] [[The Guardian]], 29 October 2004

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{{Succession box|title=[[Master of the Queen's Music]]|before=[[Malcolm Williamson]]|after=[[Judith Weir]]|years=2004–2014}}
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{{Peter Maxwell Davies}}
{{New Music Manchester}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Subject bar
| portal1  = Biography
| portal2  = Classical music
| portal3  = LGBTQ
| portal4  = Music
| portal5  = Opera
| portal6  = United Kingdom
| commons  = y
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Peter Maxwell}}
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