In 1916 at the age of 31 George Butterworth , one of Britain s most promising composers, was killed at the Battle of the Somme, while ' defending a trench.'
His interest in music started at school and continued at Oxford. He was a perfectionist. Before he went away to war he destroyed most of his manuscripts. In this account of his early life. his search for the enduring folk music of England, and his premature and tragic death, we hear again his elegiac ' A Shropshire Lad Rhapsody '; also several of A. E. HOUSMAN 'S poems which Butterworth set to the most enchanting melodies.
Script by MARY-JEAN BASLER Producer ALAN BURGESS