Clifford Bevan
{{Short description|English tubist and musicologist}}
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Clifford James "Cliff" Bevan {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FLCM|LRAM|size=85%}} (1934 – 26 December 2024) was an English tubist, trombonist, organologist, music historian, composer and publisher.{{cite journal |title=In Memoriam: Clifford James Bevan |journal=Serpent Newsletter |date=2025 |first=Paul |last=Schmidt |issue=April 2025 |pages=4-5 }}{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=23–24|loc=Bevan, Clifford James "Cliff"}} He specialised in historically informed performance, including historical low brass instruments such as the ophicleide, cimbasso and serpent.
Career
His writing includes nine books, musical compositions, many scholarly articles, and significant contributions to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments and the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments.{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=65|loc=Bevan, Clifford (James) ‘Cliff’}} He co-edited with Craig Kridel the historical instruments section of the ITEA Journal, and his book The Tuba Family, first published in 1978 and expanded in a second edition published in 2000, is considered a standard text about the instrument and its history.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|p=154|loc=tuba}}
Bevan's performance career included pianist and arranger for The Temperance Seven in the early 1960s, principal tuba of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic 1964–1972, freelancing with London orchestras and West End theatre musicals and shows, and later moving into publishing and arts administration.{{sfn|Herbert|Myers|Wallace|2019|p=65|loc=Bevan, Clifford (James) ‘Cliff’}} He was instrumental in the 20th century rediscovery of the serpent and ophicleide, playing with Christopher Monk's London Serpent Trio, and performing an ophicleide recital at the London Horniman Museum in 1990 which was likely the first full-length recital in the instrument's modern revival.{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=23-24|loc=Bevan, Clifford James "Cliff"}}
In 2008, the International Tuba Euphonium Association honoured Bevan's contributions by establishing its annual Clifford Bevan Award, for "Meritorious work in low brass scholarship."{{sfn|Yeo|2021|pp=23-24|loc=Bevan, Clifford James "Cliff"}}
Awards
- Historic Brass Society: Christopher Monk Award, 2008
- ITEA: Lifetime Achievement Award, 2010
- Galpin Society: Anthony Baines Prize, 2021
Publications
- The Tuba Family; London: Faber & Faber, 1978;{{Cite Q|Q111046191|last=Bevan |first=Clifford |date=1978}} Second edition, Winchester: Piccolo Press, 2000{{Cite Q|Q111040769|last=Bevan |first=Clifford |date=2000}}
- Musical Instrument Collections in the British Isles, Winchester: Piccolo Press, 1990
References
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= Bibliography =
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| {{Cite Q|Q114571908|editor1-last=Herbert |editor1-first=Trevor |editor2-last=Myers |editor2-first=Arnold |editor3-last=Wallace |editor3-first=John |date=2019 |url=unset |publication-place=unset }}
| {{Cite Q|Q111040546|last=Yeo |first=Douglas |date=2021 |others=Peterson, Lennie (illustrator) |url=unset}}
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Category:English musicologists
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