So Written to After-Times

So Written to After-Times

So Written to After-Times, subtitled A Life in Letters, has just been published by Forsyth, price £15.99, also available from Presto. Compiled and edited by Monica McCabe, it consists of letters, or extracts from letters, postcards, and later faxes and emails, between John McCabe and eminent composers and performers from Britain and across the world.

So Written to After-Times. John McCabe - A Life in Letters. Compiled and edited by Monica McCabe. Forsyth Music, 2024

While there is material of scholastic interest, the focus is more on the nuances of everyday life, illuminating the private, as opposed to the public and formal personas of creative artists. There are colourful descriptions of various tours, including from the Middle East in 1979, and from various trips to Australia and the USA. The letters date from 1948, a kindly reply from a leading organist to the 8-year-old aspiring composer, and end with a poignant last letter addressed to his friends, as the aggressive tumour took hold of the communication side of his brain (though not the music side).

The BASCA Annual Ivor Novello Award ceremony where John McCabe
received the Classical Lifetime Achievement award in 2014. Photo: Mark Allan