Cardew, Cornelius

(b Winchcombe, Glos., 7 May 1936; d London, 13 Dec 1981). English composer and performer. He received his musical education as a boy chorister at Canterbury Cathedral (1943–50) and at the RAM (1953–7), where his teachers included Howard Ferguson (composition) and Percy Waller (piano). In 1957 he went to Cologne to study with Stockhausen, who employed Cardew as his assistant (1958–60) specifically to collaborate with him in the composition of Carré. Cardew returned to London in 1961, where he took a course in graphic design; he worked intermittently in this field until his death. In 1964 he...

(b Winchcombe, Glos., 7 May 1936; d London, 13 Dec 1981). English composer and performer. He received his musical education as a boy chorister at Canterbury Cathedral (1943–50) and at the RAM (1953–7), where his teachers included Howard Ferguson (composition) and Percy Waller (piano). In 1957 he went to Cologne to study with Stockhausen, who employed Cardew as his assistant (1958–60) specifically to collaborate with him in the composition of Carré. Cardew returned to London in 1961, where he took a course in graphic design; he worked intermittently in this field until his death. In 1964 he received an Italian government scholarship to study with Petrassi in Rome. He was elected FRAM in 1966, and in 1967 was appointed professor of composition at the RAM. He was killed in suspicious circumstances near his home in Leyton, East London, by a hit-and-run driver.