Hubert Clifford

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Hubert Clifford (born May 31, 1904 in Bairnsdale , Victoria as Hubert John Clifford , † September 4, 1959 in Singapore ) was an Australian-born British composer and conductor . He created some significant musical works for the concert hall and British cinema of the 1950s. Including compositions for films such as A child was a witness , a duel at the wheel , someone came through or his head through the wall .

life and work

Hubert John Clifford was an Australian born British composer and conductor.

Born in Bairnsdale in rural Victoria, Clifford studied chemistry at Melbourne High School and Melbourne University before emigrating to England in 1930 to study music at the Royal College of Music in London . A series of classical concert works was thus created between 1935 and 1943.

From 1941 to 1944 he was Empire Music Supervisor for the British Broadcasting Corporation , followed by a post as musical advisor to the BBC Eastern Service . Since 1944 he was a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In the post-war period he became the musical director of Alexander Korda Film Productions . He started working there in 1946, but resigned from his post in 1950 to have more time for his own creative work. After that he also worked as a university lecturer , examiner and judge.

Hubert Clifford has also been writing film music since 1946. First for the two short documentaries General Election by Ronald H. Riley and for Bridge of Time 1950. Directed by Geoffrey Boothby and David Eady. He wrote his first composition for a feature film in 1951 for the crime film Der Mann in Schwarz by Jeffrey Dell . In 1952 the film drama A Child Witnessed Director Charles Crichton with Dirk Bogarde and Jon Whiteley in the lead roles. This was followed by two soundtracks for crime films for director Guy Green with The Hunt Began in the Harbor in 1954 and In the Claws of the Gangsters in 1956.

A year later in 1957, he composed the music for Cy Endfield's psychological drama Duel at the wheel with Stanley Baker , Herbert Lom and Patrick McGoohan . Then two more compositions for films were made with the German actor Hardy Krüger , who was also very popular in England at the time . 1957 with the war drama One Came Through and the film comedy With my head through the wall in 1958.

Hubert Clifford died on September 4, 1959 at the age of 55 during an examination stay for the Royal College of Music in Singapore .

Books

  • The School Orchestra: A Comprehensive Manual for Conductors , by Hubert Clifford, Boosey & Hawkes, Limited, London, 1939, 125 pages (for school conductors )

Concert works (selection)

  • 1935: String Orchestra A Kentish Suite
  • 1935: As you like it string orchestra (based on William Shakespeare )
  • 1940: symphony
  • 1941: Five English Nursery Tunes for orchestra
  • 1943: Serenade for string orchestra

Filmography (selection)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Huntley: British Film Music (=  Literature of cinema ). Arno Press, New York 1972, ISBN 0-405-03897-6 , pp. 200 (English, 247 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ The School Orchestra: A Comprehensive Manual for Conductors by Hubert Clifford, Boosey & Hawkes, Limited, London, 1939, 125 pages (for school conductors )
personal data
SURNAME Clifford, Hubert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clifford, Hubert John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Bairnsdale , Victoria, Australia
DATE OF DEATH 4th September 1959
Place of death Singapore