Richard Arnell (1917-2009) was an English composer whose long career bridged British late Romanticism, wartime exile and post-war modernism. Born in London, he studied at the Royal College of Music before finding himself in the United States when the Second World War broke out.

During his American years Arnell developed a substantial reputation, writing symphonies, concertos, chamber music, film scores and ballet music. His orchestral works attracted notable champions, and his catalogue eventually grew into one of the more substantial British bodies of symphonic music from his generation.

Arnell’s music is strongly constructed, energetic and often dramatic, with a tonal centre but a distinctly twentieth-century edge. He combined rhythmic drive with long-breathed argument, particularly in his symphonies.

Although fashion later pushed much of his music to the margins, Arnell’s work has undergone renewed reassessment. He stands as one of those serious British composers whose achievement was hidden less by weakness than by the changing weather of musical taste.