Peter Pope was born in London in 1917 and was educated at Uppingham School and at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with John Ireland and R.O.
In 1939 he won the Octavia Traveling Scholarship to study composition with Nadia Boulanger at the American Conservatoire in Fontainebleau, Paris and it was clear from subsequent documentation that he was one of her inner circle of favoured students.
[1] His studies were, however, cut short by the German invasion of Paris in 1940 and, when Nadia Boulanger emigrated to the United States, he had to flee across France, returning to England on a Spanish trawler.
After the war he composed several chamber works and his major break came in April 1948 when a piano quartet of his was performed at Wigmore Hall.
He did however continue to compose prolifically and to this period belong several exquisite song cycles, a Communion Service dedicated to the choir of Liverpool Cathedral, several piano sonatas and works for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and saxophone.