Composer Robert Farnon Dead at 87

[Ralph]

Composer Robert Farnon dies at 87
4/23/2005, 8:00 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Robert Farnon, the Canadian-born composer and arranger, has died at the age of 87, his former manager said Saturday.

Farnon, who was regarded as one of the greatest composers of light orchestral music of his era, died at a hospice near his home on the Channel Island of Guernsey on Friday night, Derek Boulton said. He did not give a cause of death.

Also an accomplished trumpeter, Farnon wrote the music for more than 40 films, including "Spring In Park Lane," "Maytime in Mayfair" and "Captain Horatio Hornblower RN."

He won four Ivor Novello music awards, including one for Outstanding Services to British Music in 1991, and garnered a Grammy award for achievement in 1995.

Farnon first came to England as conductor of the Canadian Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in 1944 and made the country his home at the end of World War II. He has lived in Guernsey for 40 years.

Farnon is survived by his wife, Pat, and four children. Funeral details were not immediately available.

[Fafner]

I'm saddened by this news, for I love all of Farnon's music. His music is a major part of my rather extensive "Light British Music" collection. I even have a tape of Farnon playing piano and leading a Canadian swing band during World War II. He arranged the music in the manner or Tommy Dorsey or Glenn Miller at the time. There are wonderful pictures of him in his Canadian Army uniform and leading the army band. It was recorded live at a armed forces' canteen in London.

He stayed in London after the war, and many people consider him British.

I'd loved to get a hold of his "serious" music which, I understand, includes a Symphony in F# minor, a rather strange key for a first symphony perhaps. Does anyone know of this symphony or any recordings of Farnon's "serious" concert hall music?

[Corlyss_D]

Sounds interesting if he's in the British "light music" vein. I wish I'd heard of him before he kicked the bucket.

[Fafner]

Run right out and buy the moderately priced NAXOS CD of Farnon's most popular music. The CD contains such great tunes as
Portrait of a Flirt, Melody Fair, The Peanut Polka, Jumping Bean, Little Miss Molly, The Westminster Waltz, Manhattan Playboy, Lake in the Woods, and
Derby Day. It is played expertly by the Czecho-Slovak Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leaper. The CD contains an essay about the music.

Farnon has thousands of tunes copyrighted in Washington, some of which are twenty seconds in duration (for TV programs or movies). For example, you can purchase the music for fifty seconds of "Stage Coach Music" or twenty seconds of of "Times Square Music." or "Storm Music". Music of this sort.

You may recognize some of the tunes on the Naxos CD as British TV "theme songs."

[Corlyss_D]

Thanks for the tip, Fafner. I will do as you suggested.