A 266th GARLAND OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC COMPOSERS
This latest collection is a collection of snippet references
- first, and mainly to people known (if at all) for their orchestral
compositions: Terence Roper for Autumn Rhapsody; J.M.
Hutchings for his Cavalry Call March of 1947; L. Sturdy
for the suite Old Kensington in four movements entitled In
Old Victorian Days, Peter Pan, Boats on the Pond and A Morning's
Walk. Barrs Partridge for his pizzicato miniature Thistledown
and A Comedy Overture, the latter one of literally hundreds
of a typically British light, or lightish, form; George Asch for
the marches British Patrol and the descriptive Oriental March
Le Caravane; George L. Cobb (1886-1942) for another piece
of oriental exotica, his suite A Night in India whose five movements
were titled Twilight in Benares, The Fakirs, Dance
of the Flower Girls, The Temple of Siva and March of the
Brahmin Priests; and J.W. Cole for the genre movement Bisley
and the xylophone solo (with orchestra La Pluie (The Rain).
These were mainly around the mid-20th century or before.
One more Victorian dance music composer to add to the
dozens already noted is C. Howard Cole whose Chinese Quadrille
and other similar numbers achieved publication. Mary Nightingale's
popular ballad-type songs included An Old-Time Mother Song and
Wait There Rosanne!
Finally mentions for Ivan C. Phillips for his
inventive arrangements for French horn, for Frank Aston for his
brass band items, especially Bedale Hunt (1968), a posthorn solo,
and for Bob Peacock, who lives in Cleveland and has written quantities
of jazz-related educational music and incidental music for radio plays.
Philip L Scowcroft
May 2002
Philip's book 'British Light Music Composers' (ISBN 0903413 88 4) is
currently out of print.
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