Patrick Hadley

English composer. After war service in France during which he lost a leg, he went to Cambridge ( 1919 – 22 ), then to the RCM ( 1922 – 5 ), where he studied composition with Vaughan Williams and conducting with Boult . From 1925 to 1938 he taught at the RCM before returning to Cambridge, first as lecturer and later ( 1946 – 62 ) as professor. His most effective works, assimilating folksong and the music of Delius, are the symphonic ballad The Trees So High ( 1931 ) based on a Somerset folk tune, an exquisite setting of the carol I sing of a maiden ( 1936 ), the anthem My beloved spake ( 1938 ), and the deeply personal cantata The Hills ( 1944 ).