George Butterworth

George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885-1916) was an English composer, best known for his settings of A.E. Housman's poems. Born on 12th July 1885, he studied at Trinity College, Oxford, with fellow composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, going on to become a music critic for The Times while composing and teaching at Radley College, a public school in Oxfordshire. Between 1911 and 1912, he composed two of the most enduring cycles of British song: Bredon Hill and Other Songs and Six Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", both settings of Housman poems. His career was tragically cut short, however; after enlisting with the British Army in World War I, he eventually became a company commander with the Durham Light Infantry. On 5th August 1916, while leading a raid at the Somme, he was killed by a sniper; he received a Military Cross during that battle, and was posthumously honoured at the Thiepval Memorial. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.