| Biography | Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 31 October 1995) was a British composer and pianist. He was a committed socialist, and politics sometimes provided central themes in his music.
He was known as an outspoken advocate of Marxism, holding posts as conductor of the London Labour Choral Union and in 1936 was co-founder of the Workers' Music Association, and later its President. Bush composed the music for and conducted the choir at the Pageant of Labour at the Crystal Palace on 1520 October 1934.[5] This influence can also be seen in many of his works, including the operas Wat Tyler (194850) and Men of Blackmoor (195455), and his piano concerto which has a communist text declaimed by a male chorus in the last movement. A broadcast embargo on signatories to the People's Convention in 1941 that included Bush led to Ralph Vaughan Williams refusing broadcast rights for a new work in protest, even though he did not share the group's political views. |