Composers and Arrangers Corner
Find out about some of those composers and arrangers whose names we see but we don't know about:
Gordon Jacob
Born
in Norwood, South London in 1895 Gordon Jacob, the youngest of ten children,
enlisted at the age of 19 in the Field Artillery to serve in the First World
War, and was taken Prisoner of War in 1917, one of only 60 men in his battalion
of 800 to survive.
After being released he spent a year studying journalism, but left to study composition, theory, and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where he then taught from 1924 until his retirement in 1966. Amongst his students were Malcolm Arnold, Ruth Gipps and Imogen Holst.
Jacob's first major successful piece was composed during his student years: The William Byrd Suite for orchestra, based on a collection of pieces for the virginal. It is better-known in a later arrangement for the symphonic band. He became a Fellow of the Royal College in 1946, and throughout his career would often write pieces for particular students and faculty.
He also contributed a series of 'light music' pieces to a morale-booster comedy radio show during the Second World War which earned him the disdain of the musical elitists and the appreciation of the public, and provided music for several propaganda films. He was a skillful writer for winds, and a good deal of his regard today is for his embracing of the wind band (concert band), which had begun coming into its own as a concert-giving musical ensemble. Additionally, he published solo and chamber literature at various levels of difficulty for nearly all the wind instruments, many of which are now standard pedagogical and performing repertoire.
Jacob was at his peak during the 1950's, during which his Music for a Festival was used for the 1951 Festival of Britain and his trumpet-heavy fanfare arrangement of the National Anthem for the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After his retirement from the Royal College in 1966, he continued to support himself by composing, often on commission. He describes many of the works as "unpretentious little pieces", though some of his most adventurous works were published during this time, including his 1984 Concerto for Timpani and Wind Band.
Gordon Jacob died in 1984
Warren Barker
Born in Oakland, California, Warren Barker attended the
University of California at Los Angeles and later studied composition with Mario
Castelnuevo-Tedesco and Henri Pensis. At the age of 24 he was appointed chief
arranger for the National Broadcasting Company's prime musical program, “The
Railroad Hour,” a position he held
for six years.
Barker has been associated with 20th Century Fox, Columbia and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios as composer-arranger-conductor for motion pictures
and television. He has composed and conducted music for more than 30 different
television series, including seven years as composer - conductor of the highly
rated comedy series “Bewitched.” The National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences honored him in 1970 for his original music written for the award
winning series “My World and Welcome To It,” based on the life of James Thurber.
He was a member of the arranging staff for the Oscar winning motion picture
“Hello Dolly.” He also served as conductor-arranger and recording artist for
Warner Bros. and Capitol records. His compositions and arrangements have been
performed and recorded by a variety of musical artists from Frank Sinatra to the
Hollywood Bowl and Cincinnati Pops orchestras. He has received writing
commissions from many outstanding music organizations including the United
States Air Force Band, the Royal Australian Navy Band, the Northshore Concert
Band and the Norwegian Army Staff Band.
Born May 11, 1913,
Cleveland, Ohio
Died June 15, 1996, South Salem, New York
Clare Ewing Grundman was one of the most prolific and respected of American composers of works for band. Early in his career he taught in high schools and then taught arranging, woodwind, and band at Ohio State University. He left Ohio State to do freelance composing and arranging and to study with Paul Hindemith. Then, during World War II, he served as the Coast Guard’s chief musician. After the war, he concentrated on composition and has received many awards for his efforts in radio, television, motion pictures, ballet and Broadway.
Colonel Trevor Sharpe
In 1963 Captain Trevor Sharpe was transferred from the Junior Leaders Regiment, Royal Army Corps to the Band of the Coldstream Guards. As Band Master he arranged and composed many pieces which have become regular items in the repertoire of both military and concert bands. Apart from his numerous appearances at state functions, tattoos and massed bands, Captain Sharpe achieved a degree of fame when he successfully secured the contract for the band to play the signature tune for the popular television series Dad's Army, with his name appearing in the closing credits.
Major Sharpe was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1972 on his appointment as director of music at Kneller Hall. Retiring in 1978, he took up the position as Professor of Instrumentation, Kneller Hall.
Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon was born on 24 July 1917 in Toronto, Ontario. He occupied the lead trumpet chair in Percy Faith’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Orchestra, also contributing vocal arrangements for the show. As conductor of the Canadian Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, Farnon came to Britain in September 1944, working alongside Glenn Miller and George Melachrino, who fronted the American and British bands. At the end of the war Farnon took his discharge in Britain, finding the musical scene more suited to his talents, so that he could work in films, radio and the recording industry. For the first time he heard the music of Eric Coates, Haydn Wood, Charles Williams and the other exponents of Light Music ... and he realised just how closely his own ideas had, unknowingly, been moving in their direction. From the 1940s onwards Farnon has produced a steady stream of Light Music cameos, which have been used regularly by radio and television stations around the world - often as signature tunes (eg. "Colditz", "The Secret Army"). Pieces such as "Jumping Bean", "Portrait Of A Flirt", Journey Into Melody, "A Star Is Born" and "Westminster Waltz" have become standards, instantly recognisable, even if the title may sometimes elude the listener. His more serious works have included "A La Claire Fontaine", "Lake Of The Woods" and "Rhapsody For Violin and Orchestra". Over 40 films have benefited from a Farnon score, notably "Spring In Park Lane", "Maytime in Mayfair" and "Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.". For more information on Robert Farnon please use this link The Robert Farnon Society
Robert Farnon died in April 2005.