John Locke was born in Walthamstow in September 1907 into a musical, literary, and Fabian Society-supporting family. After an early boyhood spent in Eastbourne, he moved in 1920 with his parents to Derby. His father, James, had been appointed to a directorship of the music shop, Foulds Music. James was an elegant pianist, favouring the music of Chopin, Schumann, and Grieg, and taught his son to play. It was to be the only musical training he would receive.
Inexplicably discouraged from undertaking further or higher education—perhaps because it threatened to break up the family—Locke left school to work with Messrs. Doulds & Sons, a textile manufacturer in Derby.
His extremely bright and somewhat eccentric younger sister, Mary, was awarded a scholarship to Oxford, but sadly she was not allowed to accept it. A consequent attempt to take her own life resulted in the paralysis and subsequent amputation of her right arm. The youngest brother, Donald, also won a scholarship to Oxford; this he accepted, but he died of an ear infection, aged twenty-one, while in his final year. Both these tragedies had a bearing on some of Locke’s early works as one resulted in the composition of a number of piano pieces for the left hand; the other in the loss of a talented violinist who appeared alongside him in concerts.
His obituary in the Derby Evening Telegraph (published in April 1980) notes that Locke began, ‘according to his own words’, composing from the age of eleven, ‘with singularly little success’. (However, the first known public reference to him appears in the Derby Daily Telegraph of February 1934, reporting that he began composing at fourteen or fifteen.) He began to gain meaningful recognition in the early 1930s, not just through an increasing number of local performances of his works, but also in Cambridge and London, and a couple of radio broadcasts. The first public reference to any of his compositions may be found in a local review—dating from February 1931—of a concert in Derby, which with Wadna Keil included a performance of a now lost Violin Sonata of 1928.
Locke’s proficiency as a pianist may be inferred by the complexity of his piano writing. There is a tendency towards fast-moving, contrapuntal textures the frequent use of octaves and thick chords, and more intricate, syncopated melodic lines. He frequently performed his own works in the 1930s and ’40s, whether at the Derby Diocesan Training College, The Queen’s Hall Assembly Rooms, the Becket Rooms, or the Municipal Art Gallery. The Derby Daily Telegraph records regular performances, describing him as a ‘brilliant pianist’. On occasion he also conducted. Locke’s name also appears several times in programmes and accounts of performances alongside composers such as Elisabeth Lutyens, Eugene Goossens, and Gordon Jacob, as well as the dancer and choreographer Penelope Spencer.
Ballet ‘Off the ground’ for 2 pianos, 4 hands (1949)
Caprice for piano solo (Undated)
Chaconne for 1 piano, 3 hands (1951)
Charivari: Six Pieces for piano solo (1937) (originally published by J. & W. Chester, 1937) – new edition in preparation
Concert Boogie for piano solo (1944)
Dance for piano solo (Undated)
The Fantastic Ballet for piano solo (1933) (originally published by J. & W. Chester, 1933) – new edition in preparation
Fugue (1941)
Music for Evening for piano solo (1952)
Prelude, Elegy and Carillon for piano solo (1944)
Prelude, Saraband, Jig for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (1943)
Prelude in D major for piano solo (Undated)
Prelude for piano solo (1978)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo left hand (Undated)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo (1951)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo (1956)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo (1976/77)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo left hand (1972)
Prelude and Fugue for piano solo (1977/78)
Seven Preludes and Fugues for piano solo (1976)
Sonata for piano solo (Undated)
Sonata for piano solo (1942)
Sonata for piano solo (1958)
Sonata for piano solo (1975)
Sonata for piano solo left hand (1962)
Sonatina for piano solo (1978)
Sonatina for piano solo (1950)
Sonatina for piano solo (1943)
Sonatina for M.J.L. for piano solo (Undated)
Suite ‘On my left’ for piano solo left hand (1956)
Symphony in D for piano solo (Undated)**
Theme and Variations for piano solo (1961)
Theme and Twelve Variations for piano solo (1975)
Twelve Pieces for piano solo (1940/1)
Two Preludes and Fugues (1977)
Variations on an American Ditty for piano solo (1940)
Variations on a Well-Known Tune for piano solo (1953)
Beethoven: Fugue for String Quartet, opus 137 for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (Undated)
Britten: String Quartet No. 2, opus 36 (1945) for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (1956)
Debussy: Sonata for Violin and Pianoforte (1917) for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (Undated)
Haydn: String Quartet—opus 54, no. 1 for 2 pianos, 4 hands (Undated)
Haydn: String Quartet—opus 76, no. 2. For piano duet (Undated)
Haydn: Symphony No. 80 in D minor, Hob. I:80 for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (1958)
‘La Follia’: Eighteen Variations and Fugue for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (1946)**
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 in A minor, opus 63 for piano duet (1 piano, 4 hands) (Undated)
Four Pieces for four recorders (1976) Peacock Press (PJT 205) -
peacockmagazines.com
Quintet for flute, oboe, clarinet, violin and violoncello (1932)**
Six Inventions for descant recorder and piano (1956)
Sonata for violoncello and piano (1956)
Suite for flute and tenor recorder (1960) Peacock Press (PJT 204) -
peacockmagazines.com
Sonata for violoncello and piano (1970)
Sonatina for solo violin (Undated)
Sonatina for tenor recorder and piano (1978)
Sonata for flute and piano (Undated)
Sonata in G major for violin and piano (1928)**
Sonata movement for viola and piano (Undated)
String Quartet in C minor (Undated)
String Quartet in C (1934)
Suite for flute, oboe and piano (1934)**
Variations on an American Ditty for recorders (1977) Peacock Press (PJT 206) -
peacockmagazines.com
The Maiden’s Ditty for unison girls’ voices (1944)
March for School Band (1968). Piano Score.
Antic Dance for descant, treble and tenor recorders, glockenspiel, xylophone, chiming bars, violins, percussion and piano (1968)
Concert Piece for two clarinets, four trumpets, three horns, two trombones, and bass trombone (1975)
March for violins, percussion and piano (1968)
Overture for string orchestra (1947)
Symphony in D (1952)
Come away, Death, with lute accompaniment (1975)
Music for The Alan Turner Ballet ‘Off the Ground’ (1949)**
‘Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred’, Merchant of Venice (1966)
Trumpet Music for Henry V (1969)
The Aeronauts. No. 397 in Musical Monologues; Reynolds & Co. (1936)
Bill’s Trombone. No. 407 in Musical Monologues; Reynolds & Co. (1938)
‘Fear no more the Heat o’ the Sun’, from Cymbeline. Scored for two sopranos and piano (1964)
Popular songs and monologues (words and music under the pseudonym Edwin John)
The Sufferer (words by L. E. Baggaley). No. 386 in a series of Musical Monologues; Reynolds & Co. (1934)
Who’d ride? Walsh, Holmes & Co. Ltd. (1935)
Radio Derby Fugue for voices (August 1979). Written using the pen name of John Probyn
**manuscript lost
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