A 205th GARLAND OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC COMPOSERS
We start with two ballad composers from between the
wars and two contributors to the light musical theatre from the post
Second War period. Kathleen Lockhart Manning composed Shoes,
The Street Fair and the five Sketches of London (the individual
songs had the titles The Thames Fog, Windsor Castle, Toys
and June in London); her Four Songs of Bilitis were
probably more serious. Geoffrey Cavendish was probably less prolific
but Captains Three, the only title of his that I know of, was
sung by Walter Widdop. The theatre composers were Harry Jacobson,
who contributed to the musical Evangeline (1946), not successfully,
with only 32 performances at the Cambridge Theatre, and Bill
Solly, a theatre director and the composer of Sweet William,
also unsuccessful when it was staged at the Irving Theatre in 1956.
Our TV/film composer is Christian Vassie, Yorkshire
born (he was once Head Chorister at York Minster) who has provided the
music for about 50 films, mainly documentaries, most recently the TV
pilot The Gentleman Thief, about Raffles (BBC, 2001).
Finally for another "light music" organist,
Thomas William Harforth (1867-1948), who began his career in
York, including being Assistant to John Naylor at the Minster; then
he moved to Sheffield in 1892, where he succeeded Edwin Lemare,
a better known writer of light music for the organ, as Organist of the
Parish Church, now the Cathedral, staying there until his retirement
in 1947. In addition he was City Organist in Sheffield 1932-48. His
published compositions included two marches, a Melody in C and
a Berceuse. The March in D and the Berceuse have
been recorded recently, and on the Sheffield City Hall organ he know
well.
Philip L Scowcroft
June 2001
Philip's book 'British Light Music Composers' (ISBN 0903413 88 4) is
currently out of print.
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