We start once again in the Victorian age with an apparently
occasional ballad composer connected with South Yorkshire (Sheffield's
music shops carried his compositions). GEORGE BURTON, who in 1897 brought
out a song, Vive La Reine, to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee;
other songs he had published or performed at around that time were The
Recording Angel Knows, The Queen of Song, described as a "vocal
waltz", and a music hall song, Smoking. It would be interesting
to discover if he ever made a living from composition, but so far I
have come across only the one reference to him in a Doncaster Chronicle
of 1897.
Now for a few more dance composers, or in most cases
strictly arrangers from the late Victorian period, all of whom, among
other work, adapted Gilbert & Sullivan, or other Savoy associated
music, for the ballroom. Among those we have previously alluded to Charles
Coote, Frank Musgrave, Charles Godfrey, Dan Godfrey the younger (i.e.
the Bournemouth one), Charles d'Albert, Warwick Williams and Procida
Bucalossi. Here are a few more names: F.R. KINKEE (responsible for example,
for the Utopia Limited Lancers and The Chieftain Lancers);
Frank Leslie (Utopia Limited Quadrille); ARTHUR GREVILLE (Billee
Taylor Lancers); BERNARD WILCOCKSON (The Happy Land Waltz);
HENRY WATSON (The Sultan of Mocha Quadrille); EDWARD BELVILLE
(Vicar of Bray Lancers and His Majesty's Waltz); BOYTON
SMITH and WILLIAM SMALLWOOD. SMALLWOOD's original compositions, published
for piano solo, included Introduction and March and the Rosebud
Waltz.
Not all film music is necessarily "light" music as
we understand the term, though it is often, indeed usually, lighter
than a serious composer's concert music. One example we may cite is
SALLY BEAMISH, born in 1956 and now domiciled in Scotland, who can set
against more serious works like her concertos for viola - an instrument
she once played professionally - and cello, a considerable corpus of
music for film and, especially, television.
Among others now writing music for TV productions,
we can mention the name of ROB LANE, which I had not encountered until
I had his (very attractive and apposite) incidental music to David
Copperfield, as broadcast by the BBC at Christmas 1999.
© Philip L. Scowcroft
December 1999
Philip's book 'British Light Music Composers' (ISBN 0903413 88 4) is
currently out of print.
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