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All Music Guide:
Robert Farnon, a composer of light classical and "mood music," is a rival to figure such as Eric Coates, David Rose, and Percy Faith. He has also been notably successful in the field of film music since the 1940s. Robert Joseph Farnon was born into a musical family in Toronto, Canada in 1917. He showed a natural aptitude as a musician, and at age 19, was already being employed as an arranger with the Canadian Broadcasting Company Orchestra in Toronto, under the direction of Percy Faith. Farnon succeeded Faith as director of the orchestra when Faith departed Canada for America.
Farnon's main interest at the time lay in writing serious music, despite the fact that he enjoyed great success with his arrangements. At age 22, he composed his first symphony, which was performed by the Toronto Symphony in 1941, and later by the Philadelphia Orchestra. A second symphony followed a year later, and it, too, received performances in Canada, but Farnon discovered that he had little personal affinity for writing works of that depth and dimension, talented though he might have been.
It was during his service with the Canadian army during World War II, when he was assigned as a bandleader and sent to England, that Farnon discovered the light classical music of composers such as Charles Williams and Eric Coates. This was something of a revelation to him -- their brand of music was internally complex while not overly profound, inventive and expressive without being pretentious. Their work became something of the model upon which he chose to build his career as a composer, and that brand of light classical music led naturally, in turn, to film composition.
Farnon made his career in England after the war, writing mood music for Chappell Music, a task at which he was eminently successful, his music not only popular in the broadcasts for which it was intended, but also entering the repertory of numerous pops orchestras in England and around the world. Farnon soon entered the field of film music as well, writing his first score in 1948 for the upper-class romantic comedy Spring in Park Lane, produced by Herbert Wilcox, and the music for its direct sequel Maytime in Mayfair.
In 1951, Farnon was assigned to write the score for his first major international film, Captain Horatio Hornblower, based on the exploits of C.S. Forrester's naval hero of the Napoleonic era, starring Gregory Peck. A British Warner Bros. production directed by legendary action filmmaker Raoul Walsh, Hornblower was a hit around the world and remains one, as an oft-revived and telecast film; it is Farnon's best-known screen work as well, virtually his magnum opus. He subsequently had assignments for films such as Gentlemen Marry Brunettes and the screen adaptation of The Little Hut, which, as films, left relatively little impression on the public. In the '60s, his screen assignments included some slightly higher profile work, such as the music for the Hayley Mills film The Truth About Spring and also the all-star western adventure drama Shalako.
Farnon has remained a top composer in his field for 50 years. In addition to his film scores, his popular instruments include "How Beautiful Is Night," "Journey into Melody," "Pictures in the Fire," "Westminster Waltz," and "A Promise of Spring." In addition to its melodic content, Farnon's music is noted for its deceptively complex internal structure, which makes it as interesting as it is attractive. A quiet, self-effacing man, without the gift for self-promotion that rivals Percy Faith or David Rose showed, Farnon has never had a high-visibility creative role, preferring to work quietly and show himself through his work. In 1992, Reference Recordings issued a CD of Farnon conducting his own concert pieces, and a suite derived of the Captain Horatio Hornblower score.
Wikipedia:
Robert Joseph Farnon (July 24, 1917 – April 23, 2005) was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works (often in the light music genre, but also for film and television), he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation. In later life he composed a number of more serious orchestral works, including three symphonies, and was recognised with four Ivor Novello awards and the Order of Canada.
Life[edit]
Born in Toronto, Ontario, he was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force sent overseas during World War II, which was the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the SHAEF led by Major Glenn Miller. He was noted as a jazz trumpeter - his long time friend Dizzy Gillespie once stated that he was pleased that Farnon took up composing, arranging and conducting as Robert was the better jazz trumpeter.
He married Joanne Dallas, a singer from the SHAEF band, whom he later divorced. At the end of the war, Farnon decided to make England his home, and he later moved to Guernsey in the Channel Islands with his new wife Patricia Smith and his five children. His friend the composer Wally Stott composed "A Canadian in Mayfair" as a tribute.
He was considered by his peers the finest arranger in the world, and his talents influenced many composer-arrangers including Quincy Jones, all of whom acknowledge his contributions to their work. Conductor André Previn called him "the greatest writer for strings in the world."
He won four Ivor Novello Awards including one for "Outstanding Services to British Music" in 1991 and in 1996 he won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Lament" performed by J. J. Johnson & his Robert Farnon Orchestra. He was also awarded the Order of Canada early in 1998.
Robert Farnon died at the age of eighty-seven at a hospice near his home of forty years in Guernsey. He was survived by his wife Patricia and their five children, as well as two children from his previous marriage and his many grandchildren.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Works[edit]
Robert Farnon is probably best known for two famous pieces of light music, "Jumping Bean" and "Portrait of a Flirt", which were originally released as the A and B sides on the same 78. Also famous are his "Westminster Waltz", "Destiny Waltz" and "A Star is Born".
Farnon also wrote the music for more than forty motion pictures including Maytime in Mayfair (1949) and Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951). His music can also be heard in a number of television series and miniseries including The Prisoner, Secret Army, Colditz, and A Man Called Intrepid. His Canadian Impressions also netted a lovely memory for one of his most famous pieces (actually almost a national air for Canada), "A la Claire Fontaine". Those living in/near Cleveland, Ohio will remember this theme best as the theme that was used by "Barnaby" a local children's show host. His show was always introduced by this theme for more than 30 years.
In 1962 Farnon arranged and conducted Frank Sinatra's only album recorded outside of the United States, Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain.
He also completed three full-length classical symphonies, a concerto for piano and orchestra called Cascades to the Sea and a concerto for bassoon.
The last piece he composed was titled The Gaels: An American Wind Symphony, as a commission to the Roxbury High School band in honor of the school's mascot, the gael. The piece made its world debut in May 2006. It was performed by the Roxbury High School Honors Wind Symphony under the direction of Dr. Stanley Saunders, a close friend of Farnon.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
