Jack Allan Westrup was the second of the three sons of George Westrup, insurance clerk, of Dulwich, and his wife, Harriet Sophia née Allan.[1] He was educated at Dulwich College, London 1917–22, and at Balliol College, Oxford. He first read classics in which he gained first class honours in moderations (1924) and second class honours in literae humaniores (1926). He gained his B.Mus. degree in 1926, and a Master of Arts in 1929.[1] He took an active part in music in the university as a keyboard and brass player.[1] With an Italian expatriate Arundel del Re, he co-founded the Oxford University Opera Club while still an undergraduate, and was later its conductor.[1] The club had a policy of producing works in English and used its funds to hire professional singers and conductors.[2] In 1925, with William Henry Harris, he staged the first complete performance in modern times of Claudio Monteverdi's opera L'Orfeo[3] (but only over certain obstacles presented by Sir Hugh Allen[4]), and in 1927 he produced the first British performance of Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea.[5] (In February 1975 he was present at a new production of Orfeo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the University Opera Club.)[6]
He was a music critic for The Daily Telegraph 1934–39, and also editor of the Monthly Musical Record 1933–45. From 1959 to 1976 he was editor of Music and Letters (Oxford University Press).[7]
Sir Jack Westrup died in 1975. His wife Solweig Maria née Rösell died in 1984.[1]
His appearance and dress has been described as "deceptively ramshackle". Peter Sculthorpe, on first encountering him at Wadham College, mistook him for a janitor.[14]
He wrote a Divertimento in three short movements, for tenor saxophone, cello and piano.[15] He also arranged a number of choralesbyJohann Sebastian Bach for two pianos.[16]
In 1946 Jack Westrup received an honorary degree of D.Mus. from Oxford University. He was knighted in 1961. His collection of 4,500 books on music history and musicology became the basis of the Westrup Library at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[17]
Music & Letters now awards a Jack Westrup Prize in Musicology.
^Monteverdi, Claudio Zuan Antonio (27 February 1986). Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo. Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521284776. Retrieved 22 August 2021 – via Google Books.
^g.a (1975). "JACK ALLAN WESTRUP (1904–1975)". Music and Letters. LVI (3–4). Oxford University Press (OUP): 255–256. doi:10.1093/ml/lvi.3-4.255. ISSN0027-4224.
