Joyce Howard Barrell

---

title: "Joyce Howard Barrell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1917-births", "1989-deaths", "20th-century-english-classical-composers", "british-music-educators", "english-women-classical-composers", "musicians-from-salisbury", "english-women-music-educators", "20th-century-english-women-composers"] description: "English composer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Howard_Barrell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English composer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Joyce Howard Barrell
birth_name	Joyce Howard Gedye
birth_date	26 November 1917
birth_place	Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
death_date	6 December 1989
death_place	Ipswich, England
education	University of Leicester
occupation	Composer, teacher, accompanist
years_active	1939–1985
notable_works	Children's music, chamber music
spouse	Bernard Barrell
::

| name = Joyce Howard Barrell | birth_name = Joyce Howard Gedye | birth_date = 26 November 1917 | birth_place = Salisbury, Wiltshire, England | death_date = 6 December 1989 | death_place = Ipswich, England | education = University of Leicester | occupation = Composer, teacher, accompanist | years_active = 1939–1985 | notable_works = Children's music, chamber music | spouse = Bernard Barrell

Joyce Howard Barrell (née Gedye; 26 November 19176 December 1989) was an English composer. She studied with Benjamin Burrows and Harold Craxton for piano and Grace Burrows for violin, and then worked as composer, as a guitar teacher and as a piano accompanist. She married composer Bernard Clements Barrell in 1945. She composed about ninety works, specialising in works for children and chamber music.

Life

Barrell was born Joyce Howard Gedye, on Bouverie Avenue in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England in 1917. Her father was a bank manager for Lloyds Bank, and the family moved around to Bridgwater, Somerset in 1920, then Exeter in 1926 and lastly settled in Leicester. Barrell was educated at Leicester University, studying with Benjamin Burrows and Harold Craxton for piano and Grace Burrows for violin. After completing her studies, Barrell worked as composer and as a guitar teacher and piano accompanist until 1985. She married composer Bernard Clements Barrell in 1945, and they lived in Suffolk. From 1939 until her death she composed about ninety works. Barrell also worked to promote music, singing and music teaching throughout East Anglia with her husband. The couple were friends with Imogen Holst, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears.

Barrell died in Ipswich, England on 6 December 1989. Her music was published by Anglian, MSM, Occumuse, and Schauer and May, among others. Her archives are held at Britten Pears Arts Archive.

Selected works

Barrell composed mainly chamber music and music for children, but also include works for string quartet, and for soprano, clarinet and piano. Selected works include:

• Dialogues for flute and viola da gamba
• Three Fours for viola and piano, Op.45 (1986)
• The Hacheston Quintet for 2 violins, viola, cello and piano, Op.67a (1988)
• What am I?, 6 Songs for children's chorus and piano, Op.68
• Serenade for saxophones, Op.92
• Nightmare for soprano, clarinet and piano, Op.93; words by Stephen Coates

References

References

1. Evans, Barbara. (2021-10-03). "Joyce Howard Barrell".
2. Fitzpatrick, Marie. (1994). "The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers". MacMillan.
3. "Bernard and Joyce Barrell papers".
4. Dees, Pamela Youngdahl. (2004). "A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers: Women born after 1900".
5. "CCM :: Barrell, Joyce Barrell".
6. "Joyce Barrell {{!}} British Music Collection".
7. "Music manuscripts of composer Joyce Barrell - Archives Hub".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::