Lutyens, (Agnes) Elizabeth 1906-83
English composer

Born in London, the daughter of Sir Edwin Lutyens, she studied in Paris and at the Royal College of Music, and had a setting of Keats's poem To Sleep (1819) performed while still attending the College. She was one of the first British composers to adopt the twelve-note technique, and the Chamber Concerto No 1 (1939), composed in her own interpretation of this style, was a highly original work. Her compositions were, in general, not immediately well received - the chamber opera Infidelio (1954) and cantata De Amore (1957) were not performed until 1973 - but she later became accepted as a leading British composer. Her work includes O Saisons, O ch�teaux (1946), the chamber opera The Pit (1947), Concertante (1950), Quincunx (1959), The Country of the Stars (1963), Vision of Youth (1970) and Echoi (1979). She published her autobiography, A Goldfish Bowl, in 1972.