Kenneth Leighton 1929 - 1988

Abstract

Kenneth Leighton's compositional output numbers more than 150 major items, of which over one third are choral. Religion played a significant part in his life, and there is a spiritual quality about much of his work. His time as a chorister in Wakefield sparked off his lifelong love of sacred music. Yet despite the size and importance of his contribution to the church music repertoire, only a negligible amount has been written about it.

This dissertation aims to assess his contribution by analysing representative choral works from each period of his composing life; the intention is to provide a sequence, not of note-for-note 'dissections', but of general overviews, pointing out important features and characteristics of style. Where relevant, musical examples are included in the text, though for full appreciation the reader should have scores of the works discussed in detail to hand. The works are discussed chronologically, and are divided into three main chapters, covering the three 'sections' of Leighton's composing life. Each chapter has its own introduction, and a general conclusion follows chapter three.