Sir John Tavener

Sir John Kenneth Tavener, was an English composer, renowned for his both profoundly religious and inspirational secular works including: The Whale, The Protecting Veil, Song for Athene and The Lamb.

God shows himself in everything that lives and this includes the sublime language of music.

My life has taught me that music has a primordial origin, I can’t really explain it. I wanted to produce music that was the sound of God. That’s what I have always tried to do.

The music is something outside myself that's also inside myself... Music and a sense of another presence always went hand in hand. Even when I was three, I would improvise music, and my maternal grandfather would act as an audience and used to applaud. I would imitate things like thunder and rain.

At the age of 12, Tavener was taken to Glyndebourne to hear Mozart's The Magic Flute, a work he loved for the rest of his life. That same year he heard Stravinsky's most recent work, Canticum Sacrum, which he later described as... 

the piece that woke me up and made me want to be a composer.

His first major composition, the iconoclastic and ground-breaking The Whale, was premiered at the Proms in 1969 and was recorded by Apple Records the following year. Interestingly, both John Lennon and Ringo Starr took an interest in John Tavener’s music.

The Whale was in the category of so-called serious music, and yet it brings together a wide series of musical styles. It was influenced by people such as The Beatles, the spirit of the times, and I think The Whale certainly had a pop element to it.

Then aged 24, he was described by The Guardian as the musical discovery of the year, while The Times said he was among the very best creative talents of his generation.

This was followed by the release of the extraordinary Celtic Requiem, a piece for orchestra and children’s choir, in 1971.

I used to think there was something dirty about being paid for something which is a sacred thing to do. I can't disconnect the act of writing music from the act of prayer. If anyone tries to stop me working, it feels like someone is trying to stop me from taking communion.

In a 1995 biography, he was described as having an obsession with charismatic older women - and a penchant for nubile ‘Muses’ in their 20s.

I've always been aware of mortality because I've always had ill health most of my life.

For Tavener, life was a spiritual journey. Though he never quite abandoned his love of opulent cars, French restaurants and red wine. He once quipped...

Every time I have a hit, I buy a Rolls.

Although operating in the world of classical music, Tavener’s compositions were acknowledged widely and he was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1992 and again in 1997. 

During his career he became one of the best known and popular composers of his generation, most particularly for The Protecting Veil, which as recorded by cellist Steven Isserlis became a bestselling album, and Song for Athene which was sung at the funeral of Princess Diana.

His composition The Lamb featured in the soundtrack for Paolo Sorrentino's film The Great Beauty.

A Greek friend once told me that if it's any good, you can sing it. And I think that's largely true. This is my problem with so much modernism, that you can't internalise it. And I somehow doubt that most composers can even play their scores at the piano. They haven't the talent. I can still play Mozart piano concertos - only for my own pleasure now - but I do think to be truly musical in that way is important.

In 2000, John Tavener was knighted by the Queen for his services to music.  For him, music is not merely artistic expression. Instead, his belief in God and his desire to articulate his relationship with the divine is paramount.

He won a Grammy in 2002 and counted Prince Charles among his biggest fans.

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