Editing Alan Bush (section)

===Post-war: struggle for recognition and performance===
==== Persona non grata ====
[[File:Lidice - pietni akt.jpg|thumb|left|A memorial service in 1947 at the site of the destroyed Czech village of Lidice]]
Bush's return to composing after the war led to what Richard Stoker, in the  ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', calls "his best period".<ref name= ODNB/> However, Bush's attempts to secure a place in the concert repertoire were frustrated. A contributory factor may have been what the critic Dominic Daula calls Bush's  "intriguingly unique compositional voice" that challenged critics and audiences alike.<ref name= Daula>{{cite journal|last= Daula|first= Dominic|title= Alan Bush (CD reviews)|journal=  Tempo|volume= 69|issue= 271|date= January 2015|page= 93|id= {{ProQuest|1641518130}}|doi= 10.1017/S0040298214000813|s2cid= 233359945}} {{subscription required}}</ref> But the composer's refusal to modify his pro-Soviet stance following the onset of the [[Cold War]] alienated both the public and the music establishment, a factor which Bush acknowledged 20 years later: "People who were in a position to promote my works were afraid to do so. They were afraid of being labelled".<ref name= Ford>{{cite news|last= Ford|title= Burning Bush: Christopher Ford meets Alan Bush, neglected British master of grand opera|newspaper= The Guardian|date= 8 June 1974|id= {{ProQuest|185747511}}}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Stoker comments that "in a less tolerant country he would certainly have been imprisoned, or worse. But he was merely ignored, both politically, and, which is a pity, as a composer".<ref name= ODNB/> Nancy Bush writes that the BBC considered him ''persona non grata'', and imposed an almost complete though unofficial broadcast ban that lasted for some 15 years after the war.<ref name= NB40/>{{refn|Nancy Bush states that, between 1947 and 1960, none of Bush's major works were broadcast except for two concert performances of the opera ''Wat Tyler'', the cantata ''The Winter Journey'', and the first and second symphonies.<ref name= NB40>N. Bush, pp. 40–41</ref>|group= n}}

As well as resuming his teaching routines, Bush embarked on a busy schedule of travel, mainly in Eastern Europe with the WMA choir.  While in [[Czechoslovakia]] in August 1947, he and the WMA performed his unaccompanied chorus ''Lidice'' at the site of the [[Lidice|village of that name]],<ref>Craggs, p. 68</ref><ref>''Tribute to Alan Bush on his Fiftieth Birthday'', p. 7 (image)</ref> which had been destroyed by the Nazis in 1942 in a reprisal for the assassination of [[Reinhard Heydrich]].<ref>Kershaw, p. 391</ref>

Among Bush's earliest postwar works was the ''English Suite'', performed by the revived London String Orchestra at the [[Wigmore Hall]] on 9 February 1946.<ref name= Foreman155>Foreman, p. 155</ref> The orchestra had suspended its operations in 1941; after the war, Bush's failure to secure funding for it led to its closure, despite considerable artistic success.<ref>Foreman, p. 116</ref> Critics noted in the work a change of idiom, away from the European avant-garde character of much of his prewar music and towards a simpler popular style.{{refn|Bush wrote: "I believe that music should reflect the national musical and cultural traditions of the composer's country [comprising] both the folk music and the previously composed music of [the] country".<ref>Foreman, pp. 115, 117, quoting Bush</ref> |group= n}} This change was acknowledged by Bush as he responded to the 1948 decree issued by [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s director of cultural policy, [[Andrei Zhdanov]], against [[Formalism (music)|formalism]] and [[Consonance and dissonance#Dissonance|dissonance]] in modern music – although the process of simplification had probably begun during the war years.<ref name= OMO/>

In 1948 Bush accepted a commission from the Nottingham Co-operative Society to write a symphony as part of the city's quincentennial celebrations in 1949.<ref name= OMO/> According to Foreman, "by any standards this is one of Bush's most approachable scores",<ref name= F119>Foreman, p. 119</ref> yet since its Nottingham premiere on 27 June 1949 and its London debut on 11 December 1952 under Boult and the London Philharmonic,<ref name= Foreman155/> the work has been rarely heard in Britain.<ref name= F119/> His Violin Concerto, Op. 32, received its premiere on 25 August 1949, with [[Max Rostal]] as soloist. In this work Bush explained that "the soloist represents the individual, the orchestra world society, and the work [represents] the individual's struggles and of his final absorption into society". ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''{{'}}s critic observed that "it was the orchestra, i.e. society, that after a strenuous opening gave up the struggle".<ref>F. Bonavia, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 26 August 1949, quoted in Foreman, p. 118</ref>

In 1947 Bush became chairman of the [[British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors|Composers' Guild of Great Britain]] for 1947–48.<ref name= ODNB/> He also produced a full-length textbook, ''Strict Counterpoint in the Palestrina Style'' (Joseph Williams, London, 1948).<ref name= OMO/> On 15 December 1950 the WMA marked Bush's 50th birthday with a special concert of his music at the [[Conway Hall Ethical Society#Conway Hall|Conway Hall]].<ref>Craggs, p. 20</ref>

====Opera ventures====
[[File:DeathWatTyler.jpg|thumb|The death of Wat Tyler: a 14th-century depiction]]
Since his youthful ''Last Days of Pompeii'', Bush had not attempted to write opera, but he took up the genre in 1946 with a short operetta for children, ''The Press Gang (or the Escap'd Apprentice)'', for which Nancy supplied the libretto. This was performed by pupils at [[St Christopher School]], [[Letchworth]], on 7 March 1947.<ref name= Children>{{cite web|title= Compositions: Children's Operetta|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/compositions/CO.asp?room=Music|publisher= The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> The following year he began a more ambitious venture, a full-length grand opera recounting the story of [[Wat Tyler]], who led the [[Peasants' Revolt]] of 1381.  ''Wat Tyler'', again to Nancy's libretto, was submitted in 1950 to the Arts Council's [[Festival of Britain]] opera competition, and was one of four prizewinners – Bush received £400.<ref>N. Bush, pp. 61–62</ref>{{refn| £400 has a purchasing power equivalent to about £12,500 in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title= Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1270 to Present|url= https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/|publisher= Measuring Worth|access-date= 6 June 2017}}</ref> |group= n}} The opera was not taken up by any of the British opera houses, and was first staged at [[Leipzig Opera]] in 1953. It was well received, retained for the season and ran again in the following year; there was a further performance in Rostock in 1955.<ref name= OMO/>   ''Wat Tyler'' did not receive its full British premiere until 19 June 1974, when it was produced at [[Sadler's Wells]]; as of 2017, this remains the only professional staging of a Bush opera in Britain.<ref name= OMO/>

Bush's second opera, ''Men of Blackmoor'', composed in 1954–55 to Nancy's libretto, is a story of [[Northumberland|Northumbrian]] miners in the early 19th century; Bush went down a mine as part of his research.<ref name= Ford/> It received its premiere at the German National Theatre, Weimar on 18 November 1956. Like ''Wat Tyler'' in Leipzig, the opera was successful; after the Weimar season there were further East German productions in [[Jena]] (1957), Leipzig (1959) and [[Zwickau]] (1960).   In Britain there were student performances at Oxford in 1960, and Bristol in 1974.<ref>{{cite web|title= Background to the Opera Men of Blackmoor|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/blackmoor.asp?room=Music|publisher=  The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> In December 1960 David Drew in the ''New Statesman'' wrote: "The chief virtue of ''Men of Blackmoor'', and the reason why it particularly deserves a [professional] performance at this historical point, is its unfailing honesty ... it is never cheap, and at its best achieves a genuine dignity."<ref>{{cite web|last= Drew|first= David|title= Opinions and Commentary on Men of Blackmoor|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/blackmoor.asp?room=Music|via= The Alan Bush Music Trust|work=New Statesman|date=18 December 1960|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref>

For his third opera, Bush chose a contemporary theme – the struggle against colonial rule. He intended to collect appropriate musical material from [[Guyana|British Guiana]], but an attempt to visit the colony in 1957 was thwarted when its government refused him entry.<ref>Craggs, p. 21</ref> The ban was rescinded the following year,<ref>{{cite news|title= Mr Alan Bush|newspaper= The Manchester Guardian|date= 22 May 1958|page= 5|id= {{ProQuest|480265630}}}} {{subscription required}}</ref> and in 1959 Bush was able to gather and record a great deal of authentic music from the local African and Indian populations.<ref name= Jones/> The eventual result was ''The Sugar Reapers'', premiered at Leipzig on 11 December 1966. ''The Times'' correspondent, praising the performance, wrote: "One can only hope that London will soon see a production of its own".<ref>{{cite web| title= The Sugar Reapers|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/reapers.asp?room=Music|via= The Alan Bush Music Trust|work=The Times|date=17 December 1966|access-date= 21 June 2017}}</ref> With Nancy, Bush wrote two more operettas for children: ''The Spell Unbound'' (1953) and ''The Ferryman's  Daughter'' (1961).<ref name= Children/> His final opera, written in 1965–67, was ''[[Joe Hill (opera)|Joe Hill]]'', based on the  life story of [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]], an American union activist and songwriter who was controversially convicted of murder and executed in 1915. The opera, to a libretto by Barrie Stavis, was premiered at the German [[Berlin State Opera]] on 29 September 1970, and in 1979 was broadcast by the BBC.<ref>{{cite web|title= Background to the Opera Joe Hill|url= http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/jhill.asp?room=Music|publisher= The Alan Bush Music Trust|access-date= 21 June 2017|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160412140116/http://www.alanbushtrust.org.uk/music/operas/jhill.asp?room=Music|archive-date= 12 April 2016|df= dmy-all}}</ref>