Reginald Barrett-Ayres

Reginald Barrett-Ayres (1920 - 1981) was a graduate of Edinburgh University. He taught music at the Quaker School at Ackworth and at Glasgow Academy, before joining the University of Aberdeen Music Department as a lecturer in January 1951. He became acting Head of Department and remained in post until his death in 1981 (latterly, as Reader and Head of Department). His consuming research interest in the Haydn String Quartet brought international acclaim through his publication of Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet (London: Barrie&Jenkins, 1974). Throughout his working life he also wrote a wide range of musical compositions for operas, operettas, choral works, solos, duets, anthems, hymns, examples of which are preserved in this collection, and was actively involved in many of the University's most successful theatrical and musical productions. For further details see obituary in Aberdeen University Review , 49 (1981- 1982), 299 - 300.