| Biography | Clarence Raybould (Robert Clarence Raybould) was born in Birmingham on 28 June 1886, to Robert J Raybould, a printer compositor, and Elen A Raybould , and died in Bideford on 27 March 1972. He was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan to the standard classical repertoire. He also championed works by contemporary, particularly British, composers.
He assisted Rutland Boughton at early Glastonbury festivals, working later with the Beecham Opera Company and the British National Opera Company. His opera The Sumida River (with a libretto by Marie Stopes adapted from the same Japanese Noh play as, and anticipating Benjamin Britten's Curlew River), was premiered in Birmingham on 25 September 1916.
Raybould toured Britain as a pianist and accompanist and was musical advisor for the Columbia Graphophone Company between 1927 and 1931.
He joined the BBC in 1936 and was assistant conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1939 to 1945. He conducted the first British concert performance of Hindemith's opera Cardillac in 1936 as well as that of Mathis der Maler in 1939. On 9 May 1951, Raybould conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in their first concert in the recently opened Royal Festival Hall.
Raybould became the first conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 1945, and was its principal conductor until 1966.
Raybould died in 1972 and was survived by his wife Evelyn (27 March 1907 - 10 August 1976). They are buried together in Northam, near Bideford in Devon.
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