Arthur Benjamin

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arthur Leslie Benjamin (born September 18, 1893 in Sydney , † April 9, 1960 in London ) was an Australian pianist and composer . He created some significant musical works for the concert hall and British cinema of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Including compositions for films such as The Man Who Knew Too Much , The Weavers von Bankdam , Company Xarifa or The Game with Fire .

life and career

Benjamin attended school in Brisbane . From 1911 to 1914 he studied at the Royal College of Music in London with Charles Villiers Stanford , Thomas Dunhill and Frederic Cliffe . After military service, he taught at the Sydney Conservatory from 1919 to 1921. In 1921 he returned to London. From 1926 he was a teacher at the Royal College in London; Here Peggy Glanville-Hicks , Miriam Hyde , Joan Trimble , Stanley Bate , Bernard Stevens and Benjamin Britten belonged to his students (Benjamin also taught privately Alun Hoddinott ). Since the 1930s he also turned to composing film music. For example, he composed the " Storm Clouds Cantata " for Alfred Hitchcock's thriller " The Man Who Knew Too Much " from 1934 (The piece was used again in the remake " The Man Who Knew Too " made by Hitchcock himself in 1956). During the Second World War, Benjamin conducted an orchestra for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Vancouver . In 1946 he returned to England, where he again taught at the Royal College of Music.

Benjamin composed five operas , a symphony and two suites , several instrumental concerts (including a concert for harmonica and orchestra), string quartets , piano and choral works and songs .

Concert works

  • Three Pieces for Violin & Piano , 1919-1924
  • Three Impressions for voice and string quartet, 1919
  • Five Pieces for the Cello , 1923
  • Pastoral Fantasy , string quartet, 1924 Carnegie award
  • Sonatina , 1924
  • Rhapsody on Negro Themes
  • Concertino for piano and orchestra, 1926/27
  • Light Music Suite , 1928
  • The Devil Take Her! Comic Opera, 1931
  • Violin Concerto , 1932
  • Prima Donna , Opera, 1933
  • Overture to an Italian Comedy , 1937
  • Romantic Fantasy, 1937
  • Cotillon , 1938
  • Jamaican Rumba , 1938
  • Sonatina , 1940
  • Prelude to Holiday , 1941
  • Elegiac Mazurka , 1941
  • Elegy, Waltz and Toccata for viola and piano, 1942
  • Oboe Concerto on themes of Cimarosa ( oboe concerto for piano sonatas by Cimarosa ) 1942
  • 2 Jamaican Pieces , 1942
  • Ballad , 1944
  • Suite for flute and strings, 1945
  • Red River Jig , 1945
  • From San Domingo , 1945
  • Symphony , 1945
  • Brumas Tunes , 1945
  • Forest Peace , 1945
  • Caribbean Dance , 1946
  • Concerto quasi una Fantasia , piano concerto, 1949
  • Orlando's Silver Wedding , Ballet, 1951
  • Harmonica Concerto , 1953
  • A Tale of Two Cities romantic melodrama based on Charles Dickens , 1957
  • Tombeau de Ravel for clarinet and piano, 1959
  • String Quartet , 1959
  • Wind quintet , 1960
  • Tartuffe , opera after Molière , 1964 (completed by Allan Boustead)

Filmography (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ Arthur Benjamin in: Britten on Music , by Benjamin Britten, Paul Francis Kildea, Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 148.
personal data
SURNAME Benjamin, Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Benjamin, Arthur Leslie (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian-born British composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 18, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1960
Place of death London