Lost music by 'A Clockwork Orange' writer Anthony Burgess to make its world premiere

A lost string quartet by Anthony Burgess will be performed next month.

A previously unknown string quartet by the writer Anthony Burgess has been retrieved from archives and will be performed for the first time, 30 years on from Burgess’s death.

Best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange in 1962, Manchester-born Burgess was a prolific amateur composer whose work as a musician is only now being recognised.

The musical score was discovered amongst uncatalogued papers in the archive of the Anthony Burgess Foundation, of which Manchester Met Professor of Modern Literature Andrew Biswell, world-renowned Burgess scholar, is director.

The music is part of a large collection of manuscripts donated by the late Liana Burgess, Anthony’s widow, and will be performed for the first time by members of the Halle Orchestra at educational charity the Burgess Foundation in Burgess’s home city of Manchester on Friday December 1.

Burgess wrote music throughout his life, including a violin concerto for Yehudi Menuhin and harmonica pieces for Larry Adler. His Symphony in C (1975) was performed by the BBC Philharmonic and broadcast on Radio 3 as part of the Manchester International Festival in 2017.

Throughout his life Burgess’s musical talents weren’t widely acknowledged, and he died at the age of 76 on 22 November 1993 before finding fame as a composer. The string concert commemorates the 30th anniversary of his death, and will include Man Who Has Come Through, a song cycle based on four late poems by D.H. Lawrence, set by Burgess for tenor and chamber ensemble in 1985.

Andrew Biswell, Manchester Met’s Professor of Modern Literature and Director of the Burgess Foundation, said: “This performance of Anthony Burgess’s string quartet, along with the D.H. Lawrence song cycle, will bring his musical work more clearly into focus. I’m sure that audiences will be surprised and delighted by the opportunity to discover these unfamiliar works.”

An unfinished 200-page manuscript penned by Burgess, lost sequel to A Clockwork Orange, was discovered in archives by Professor Biswell in 2019, and cast new light on the classic original novel.

This latest discovery of Burgess’s music is part of a wider revival of interest in Burgess as a novelist who had a dual career as a prolific and accomplished musician.

The Prophecy of a Clockwork Orange, a major new documentary about Anthony Burgess, produced by CPB Films and directed by Elisa Mantin and Benoit Felici, was released in France, Germany and Italy by Arte on 15 November 2023, and features substantial interviews with Professor Biswell.

Tickets for the concert on Friday 1 December at the Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, priced at £5, are available via Eventbrite.