Hamilton, Iain Ellis (1922–2000)

Scottish composer. His intensely emotional and harmonically rich works include the ballet Clerk Saunders (1951), the operas Pharsalia (1968) and The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1967–69), which renounced melody for inventive chordal formations; and symphonies. He was one of the first British composers to exploit the serial method.

Born in Glasgow, he worked as an aircraft engineer from 1939 to 1946, and from 1947 to 1951 studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where various works of his were introduced. He won the Royal Philharmonic Society prize for his clarinet concerto and the Koussevitsky Award for his second symphony. He was professor at Duke University, North Carolina, USA, 1961–81.

Works Opera Agamemnon (1969), The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1967–69; produced 1977), The Catiline Conspiracy (after Jonson, 1974), Tamburlaine (1977), Anna Karenina (1981), Lancelot (1984), The Tragedy of Macbeth (1990), London's Fair (1992).

Ballet Clerk Saunders (1951).

Orchestral four symphonies (1950–81), two violin concertos (1952, 1971), two piano concertos (1949, 1967), Variations for strings, Aurora for orchestra (1975).

Choral Requiem (1979), Mass in A (1980), St Mark Passion (1982).

Chamber octet for strings (1984), clarinet quintet, string quartet, flute quartet; variations for solo violin; viola and piano sonata; pieces for wind instruments and piano; piano sonata; violin concerto.