Frank Spedding (1929-2001): A Thumbnail Sketch

It is always a difficult and dangerous thing to write about a composer whose music remains a largely unknown quantity. I can claim to have heard none of Spedding’s concert works, except for his Bellini Studies for piano duo, which I heard on record some 35 years ago. However, I do remember his attractive Christmas Carol settings made for the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) carol concerts. I still have the programme for the 1975 bash. I am on a surer footing with several of his film scores, including Glasgow Belongs to Me, The Heart of Scotland, Loch Lomond and the evocative Songs of Scotland. I understand that there was a record made of his Cello Concerto: this does not appear to have made it onto CD or download. 

There is no entry for Frank Spedding in Grove’s Dictionary or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. John Purser in his essential book Scotland’s Music devotes a single paragraph to this “brilliant and witty” composer. The Conservatoire does not seem to have a tribute page to him on their website. The main source of information is the obituary published in the Glasgow Herald on 5 November 2001 written by Robert Inglis. I rely heavily on it for this short post.

Frank Spedding was born in Crosby, Liverpool 21 August 1929. However, the family home was in Nottingham. He studied at the Royal College of Music with William Lloyd Webber, Bernard Stevens and R.O. Morris.  He also had private tuition from Ralph Vaughan Williams. During his National Service, Spedding was seemingly a cook in the Royal Air Force although Inglis feels that this is “unlikely”.  

Much of Spedding’s career was at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His first position there, beginning in 1958, was “teacher of harmony and counterpoint”.  Two years later, he became the principal of those subjects. Spedding’s pupils included John Purser, John Maxwell Geddes, Wilma Paterson, Shaun Dillon, William Sweeney and Rory Boyle. In 1981, he was appointed Director of the School of Music.  He remained in this post until his early retirement in 1985, due to ill health. Frank Spedding died in Glasgow on 11 October 2001.

The catalogue of music is not inconsiderable. Spedding’s op.1, a Piano Quartet was completed in 1951. Major compositions include a Piano Concerto, the Bellini Studies for piano duo, the Piano Quintet (1971). Robert Inglis mentions a 41-minute Symphony dating from 1959. There is a set of Variations on an Albanian Tune (1973) devised for the National Youth String Orchestra of Scotland. Another major composition was the Cello Concerto written for Joan Dickson. There are also many arrangements of Scottish songs and Christmas carols.

Sadly, Spedding’s orchestral and chamber music seem to be ignored by Scottish orchestras and chamber ensembles. The Glasgow Herald notes a live performance of his Piano Quintet on 27 January 2010. And that’s that.

Finally, the Herald provides a little anecdote. The writer and film producer Laurence Henson recalled that when he was seeking someone to compose the music for his 1961 film The Heart of Scotland, fellow producer Bob Black suggested that “I consider a man down at the RSAMD, some teacher fellow called Spedding. I met Frank, we talked it over, laughed at the same jokes, and agreed to give it a try. Before parting, Frank said with a grin: ''I think it's only fair to warn you that one of my tutors, the great Vaughan Williams, described my first composition as 'utter tripe'.'' (Glasgow Herald 16 November 2001)