Paul Venn

There is little known about the composer and conductor Paul Venn. Therefore I would like to present also some information about his grandfather and father, that I could collect:

Paul Venn's grandfather Bernard Venn (born ca. 1890) was a professional violinist and over the years leader of several small ensembles that played at different locations in Birmingham and London, among them the Palais de Danse in Hammersmith, Maxim‘s at Piccadilly, the Empire Cinema in Dudley, the Alexandra Palace and the Grand Hotel in Birmingham. Bernard Venn went also on tour with Harry Day‘s revue „Three years“.

Wilfred Venn (born ca. 1920), the father of Paul Venn, was an amateur singer (bass, baritone) and violist. In 1925 he formed the Glentworth Quartet with Helen Chubb, Apriscilla Hall and Clifford Warren. He also composed and presented an own work at the Henleaze Choral Society in 1926. In 1942 and 1944 Wilfred Venn won twice awards in singing at the Birmingham Music Festivals.

Paul Venn was born on 20 September 1943 in Birmingham (Great Britain) into a highly musical family. He studied music at the Royal College of Music and was a student of conductor Adrian Boult. After his studies Paul Venn first worked as a pianist at the Sadler‘s Wells Opera Ballet and later made a living as a music teacher in Birmingham. 

Beside these activities he founded the New Music Chamber Orchestra in 1964. According to the announcement an ensemble of „amateur and student musicians, the object of which is to perform new works by young composers and neglected works from the classical repertoire“. This orchestra had a long and chequered history. Brian Ferneyhough conducted the orchestra in 1964 and there were some good reviewed concerts over the years. But often changing orchestra members (due to the amateur nature of the ensemble), too ambitious compositions with too little rehearsal time led to a continous series of harsh reviews in the local newspapers. Nevertheless the orchestra existed for more than 20 years and performed works by local composers like Trevor Denham, David Whitehouse, Anthony Pither, John Sankey, Richard Leigh Harris, or Robert Ramskill. And also rare international repertoire of Gunilla Lowenstein, Petrassi, Stockhausen, Walter Piston or Dallapiccola.

On 17 May 1987 Paul Venn conducted the first public performance of Havergal Brian‘s Symphony No.3. The orchestra was an ad hoc ensemble of free lance musicians and ran under the name „Symphony Orchestra of Composers‘ Platform“. Nowadays Paul Venn is only remembered for this achievement.

In the 1980s Paul Venn founded the Birmingham Composers Forum and served as their Music Director. The New Music Chamber Orchestra was renamed to Orchestra of the Composers Forum. It was again conducted by Paul Venn and continued to perform rare repertoire like works by Jonathan Harvey or John Joubert.

Paul Venn died on 29 December 2022 in Birmingham (Great Britain).

Beside his work as a conductor Paul Venn also composed his own works. These works include:

• Verses and Interludes for soprano and chamber orchestra (1964)
• Serenade for 9 instruments (1965)
• Music for orchestra (1966)
• Suite for strings (1975)
• Symphony (1974)

Many of these works were premiered by the New Music Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Paul Venn himself.

In my possession is a large part of the musical estate of Paul Venn. That means I own the autograph manuscripts of the following compositions by Paul Venn:

• Dialogue II, for 2 pianos
• Nocturne - A tone poem for chamber orchestra (1958)
• Symphony
• What thing is love, for women's voices (text by George Peele)
• Two piano pieces
• Clarinet concerto
• Music for strings and piano
• Suite in 3 parts, for orchestra
• Five studies for chamber orchestra
• Music for orchestra

For information purpose I would like to present a few of the compositions by Paul Venn:

1) Two piano pieces

2) Music for piano and strings