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Clifton Parker (5 February 1905 – 2 September 1989) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
composer, particularly noted for his film scores. During his career, he composed scores for over 50 feature films, as well as numerous documentary shorts, radio and television scores, over 100 songs and music for ballet and theatre.
Life
Edward John Clifton Parker was born on 5 February 1905 in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the youngest son of a bank manager. He was encouraged by his father to go into commerce but studied music privately and composed his first published work, ''Romance for violin and piano'', when aged sixteen. In 1924, he decided to divide his names—to use 'Edward John' for lighter compositions and 'Clifton Parker' for more serious compositions. However, he never used the former. He obtained an
ARCM diploma in piano teaching at the
Royal Academy of Music in 1926 and abandoned his career in commerce and became a music copyist.
By the mid-1930s he was living in
Folkestone and acting as organist and arranger to the local municipal orchestra.
[Lane, Philip. Notes to ''British Film Composers in Concert'', White Line WHL 2145 (2003)] He was also achieving success with some of his classical pieces and managed to get his work accepted for broadcast on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, work such as ''In a Twilight Dim with Rose''. He came to the attention of
Muir Mathieson
James Muir Mathieson, OBE (24 January 19112 August 1975) was a Scottish conductor and composer. Mathieson was almost always described as a "Musical Director" on many British films.
Career
Mathieson was born in Stirling, Scotland, in 1911. A ...
, one of the music pioneers of the
British film industry. His early film compositions were uncredited, including the 1942
Noël Coward film ''
In Which We Serve'' and it was only with his 1944 score for ''
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...
'' that his name finally attracted attention.
The 1950s were a prolific period, with Parker composing for many mediums, especially film. However, in 1963 he was one of three composers, the others being
William Alwyn
William Alwyn (born William Alwyn Smith; 7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.
Life and music
William Alwyn was born William Alwyn Smith in Northampton, the son of Ada Tyler (Tompkins ...
and
Franz Reizenstein
Franz Theodor Reizenstein (7 June 191115 October 1968) was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he succ ...
, who abandoned scoring film music in protest of the exorbitant percentage of royalties taken by the publishers.
Parker was married twice. His second wife, Yoma Sasburg, was principal dancer in a number of his ballet productions. He was the father of Julia Clifton Parker, better known as writer
Julia Stoneham. He was inactive for the final 13 years of his life owing to ulcers and
emphysema, and he died on 2 September 1989, aged 84, in
Marlow.
Works
Clifton Parker wrote the music for many feature films, and is much admired for his "lively
symphonic style". Although most of his scores are missing, presumed destroyed, several have been reconstructed by
Philip Lane and have been released on a Chandos Records CD, performed by the
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...
. Notable scores include:
* ''
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...
'' (1943)
* ''
This Happy Breed
''This Happy Breed'' is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, '' Present Laughter''. The ...
'' (1944)
* ''
Johnny Frenchman
''Johnny Frenchman'' is a 1945 British comedy-drama romance war film produced by Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Frend. The film was produced by Michael Balcon from a screenplay by T. E. B. Clarke, with cinematography by Roy Kellino.
...
'' (1945)
* ''
Blanche Fury
''Blanche Fury'' is a 1948 British Technicolor drama film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Valerie Hobson, Stewart Granger and Michael Gough. It was adapted from a 1939 novel of the same title by Joseph Shearing. In Victorian era Englan ...
'' (1948)
* ''
Poet's Pub
''Poet's Pub'' is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Frederick Wilson and starring Derek Bond, Rona Anderson and James Robertson Justice. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same title by Eric Linklater. The film was one of four of Dav ...
'' (1949)
* ''
The Blue Lagoon'' (1949)
* ''
Treasure Island
''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...
'' (1950)
* ''
The Wooden Horse
''The Wooden Horse'' is a 1950 British Second World War war film directed by Jack Lee and starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay.
The f ...
'' (1950) – finest scoring of credits
* ''
Life in Her Hands
''Life in Her Hands'' is a 1951 drama film sponsored by the British Ministry of Labour with the aim of recruiting women to the nursing profession. It was produced in response to addressing the short supply of qualified nurses in Britain after the ...
'' (1951)
* ''
The Story of Robin Hood'' (1951)
* ''
The Sword and the Rose
''The Sword and the Rose'' is a family/adventure film produced by Perce Pearce and Walt Disney and directed by Ken Annakin. The film features the story of Mary Tudor, a younger sister of Henry VIII of England.
Based on the 1898 novel '' When Kn ...
'' (1952)
* ''
Single Handed'' (1953)
* ''
Night of the Demon
''Night of the Demon'' (in the United States, released as ''Curse of the Demon'') is a 1957 British horror film, produced by Hal E. Chester and Frank Bevis, directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacG ...
'' (1957)
* ''
Campbell's Kingdom
''Campbell's Kingdom'' is a 1957 British adventure film directed by Ralph Thomas, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Hammond Innes. The film stars Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker, with Michael Craig, Barbara Murray, James Robertson Ju ...
'' (1957)
* ''
Sea of Sand'' (1958)
* ''
The 39 Steps'' (1959)
* ''
Sink the Bismarck!
''Sink the Bismarck!'' is a 1960 black-and-white CinemaScope British war film based on the 1959 book ''The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck'' by C. S. Forester. It stars Kenneth More and Dana Wynter and was directed by Lewis Gilbert.Weiler, A.H ...
'' (1960)
* ''
A Circle of Deception
''Circle of Deception'' is a 1960 CinemaScope British war film directed by Jack Lee and starring Bradford Dillman, Suzy Parker and Harry Andrews.
Plot
A Canadian officer is sent on a secret and dangerous mission during World War II. His sup ...
'' (1960)
* ''
The Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high-society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century. The name most commonly refers to Francis Dashwood's Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe. Such clubs, r ...
'' (1961)
* ''
Taste of Fear
''Taste of Fear'' is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Seth Holt. The film stars Susan Strasberg, Ronald Lewis, Ann Todd, and Christopher Lee in a supporting role. It was released in the United States as ''Scream of Fear''.
Plot
After ...
'' (1961)
* ''
The Treasure of Monte Cristo
''The Treasure of Monte Cristo'' is a 1961 British film directed by Monty Berman and Robert S. Baker.
The film features Rory Calhoun as an army captain in 1815 who goes off in search of a treasure on the island of Monte Cristo. It is a preq ...
'' (1961)
* ''
Girl on Approval
''Girl on Approval'' is a 1961 black and white British drama film directed by Charles Frend
Charles Herbert Frend (21 November 1909, Pulborough, Sussex – 8 January 1977, London) was an English film director and editor, best known for h ...
'' (1961)
* ''
H.M.S. Defiant'' (U.S. release: ''Damn the Defiant!'') (1962)
* ''
Mystery Submarine'' (1963)
* ''
The Informers
''The Informers'' is a collection of short stories, linked by the same continuity, written by American author Bret Easton Ellis. The collection was first published as a whole in 1994. Chapters 6 and 7, "Water from the Sun" and "Discovering Jap ...
'' (1963)
Parker also composed for documentaries, including four
British Transport Films; ''
Elizabethan Express
''Elizabethan Express'' is a 1954 British Transport Film that follows '' The Elizabethan'', a non-stop British Railways service from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley along the East Coast Main Line. Although originally intended as an ad ...
'' (1954), ''
Long Night Haul'' (1956), ''
Blue Pullman
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ob ...
'' (1960) and ''
Ocean Terminal (1952/1961)''. His work as war documentary composer was honoured at the
Imperial War Museum in 2003 with special screenings of ''
Battle Is Our Business'' (1942), ''
Towards the Offensive'' (1944) and ''
Western Approaches
The Western Approaches is an approximately rectangular area of the Atlantic Ocean lying immediately to the west of Ireland and parts of Great Britain. Its north and south boundaries are defined by the corresponding extremities of Britain. The c ...
'' (1943). He also scored the incidental music to an episode of the acclaimed BBC Documentary ''
War in the Air'' (1954).
Parker wrote prolifically for the stage, notably for the
Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Ma ...
theatre,
R.A.D.A. and the
Hampstead Theatre Club
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...
. His scores include
incidental music for a dramatic adaptation of
Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
''; ''The Glass Slipper'', based on ''
Cinderella
"Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
'' and ''The Silver Curlew'' based on ''
Rumplestiltskin
"Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; german: Rumpelstilzchen) is a German fairy tale. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about a little imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a ...
''. He co-wrote 103 songs during his career, mainly for stage revues. He also wrote an opera ''Pyatigorsk'' in 1973.
In
light music circles, Parker's overture to the play ''The Glass Slipper'' is now well known, although it was many years before it became available on a commercial recording.
Brian Kay's British Light Music Classics
', Royal Ballet Sinfonia, Gavin Sutherland. ASV CD WHL 2113 (1999) Much of Parker's concert music is now either lost or neglected, although some pieces are preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
A few orchestral pieces have been recorded, including the overture ''Thieves Carnival'' (1959) and the ''Two Choreographic Studies'' of 1940, written for his ballet dancer wife Yoma Sasburg to star in.
[ Parker also composed a number of choral works, particularly later in his life, including ''Nocturnes'' for the ]King's Singers
The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1 ...
and a ''Missa Brevis
Missa brevis (plural: Missae breves) is . The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relati ...
'' in 1976.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Clifton
English film score composers
English male film score composers
English musical theatre composers
English male composers
1905 births
1989 deaths
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century English composers
20th-century British male musicians
Associates of the Royal College of Music