Life
Julian Bream was born on 15 July 1933 in Battersea, London, and died on 14 August 2020 in Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire. An English classical guitarist and lutenist, he studied piano and composition at the Royal College of Music before devoting himself to guitar and lute, largely self-taught on the latter. He made his Wigmore Hall debut in 1951 and formed the Julian Bream Consort, a period-instrument ensemble, in 1960. Over a career spanning five decades he recorded extensively for RCA Victor and EMI, winning four Grammy Awards, and inspired numerous composers, including Benjamin Britten, to write for guitar and lute. He was appointed CBE in 1985.
Impact
Julian Bream did more than any other twentieth-century performer to restore the lute to concert life after centuries of neglect, pairing virtuosic technique with scholarly seriousness. His Julian Bream Consort revived Elizabethan chamber repertoire for modern audiences, and his RCA recordings of Dowland and Bach introduced millions of listeners to the instrument’s sound. By commissioning new works alongside popularizing early repertoire, he helped establish the lute as legitimate concert fare rather than a museum curiosity.
Repertoire
Lachrimae Antiquae (Pavan) by John Dowland
Julian Bream, lute: “LACHRIMAE ANTIQUAE” (John Dowland)
The Frog Galliard by John Dowland
Julian Bream, lute: “THE FROG GALLIARD” (John Dowland)
Lute Suite in E minor, BWV 996 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Bach Lute Suite in E minor BWV 996 (Julian Bream 1965) — 1965