Havergal Brian

Havergal Brian (born William Brian, 29 January 1876 – 28 November 1972), was a British classical composer.

Brian acquired a legendary status at the time of his rediscovery in the 1950s and 1960s for the many symphonies he had managed to write. By the end of his life he had completed 32, an unusually large number for any composer since Haydn or Mozart. More remarkably, he completed 14 of these symphonies in his 80s, and seven more in his early 90s.

He is also notable for his creative persistence in the face of almost total neglect during the greater part of his long life. Even now, none of his works can be said to be performed with any frequency, but few composers who have fallen into neglect after an early period of success have continued to produce so many ambitious works so long after any chance of performance would seem to have gone for good.