Reginald Barrett-Ayres, 1920-1981

Reginald Barrett-Ayres (1920 - 1981) was a graduate of Edinburgh University, where he studied under Reid Professors of Music, Sir Donald Francis Tovey and Sydney Newman. 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 in 1956, on the death of William Swanson, and remained in post until his death in 1981 (latterly, as Reader and Head of Department). During this time the department's reputation grew; and his interest in developing new courses and research interests prompted increases in both staff and student numbers.

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.

From the guide to the Papers of Reginald Barrett -Ayres, c 1940 - 1988, (University of Aberdeen)