Harry Rabinowitz MBE (26 March 1916 – 22 June 2016) was a South African-British conductor and composer of film and television music. Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, South Africa, he was the son of Israel and Eva Rabinowitz. He was educated at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

and at London's

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

Career

Rabinowitz's musical career began as a six-week stint playing sheet music for potential customers in a Johannesburg department store. His first job conducting an orchestra was for a show called ''Strike a New Note'' in 1945, using a rolled-up newspaper as a baton. Rabinowitz left Johannesburg for England in 1946 to study conducting. He was conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra (1953–60), music director for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

Light Entertainment (1960–68), and head of music for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(1968–77). He conducted at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

(1983–84) and the Boston Pops Orchestra (1985–92) and with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

. He was the conductor at the Orchestra of St. Luke's

Ismail Merchant Ismail Merchant (born Ismail Noor Muhammad Abdul Rahman (25 December 1936 – 25 May 2005)) was an Indian film producer, director and screenwriter. He worked for many years in collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions which included Direct ...

and

James Ivory James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with scree ...

35th anniversary celebration at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

on 17 September 1996. Rabinowitz conducted the film scores for numerous films including '' Hanover Street'' (1979), '' Chariots of Fire'' (1981), '' Heat and Dust'' (1983), '' The Bostonians'' (1984), ''

Return to Oz ''Return to Oz'' is a 1985 dark fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures, co-written and directed by Walter Murch. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. The film ...

'' (1985), '' Lady Jane'' (1986), '' Maurice'' (1987), '' The Remains of the Day'' (1993), ''

The English Patient ''The English Patient'' is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters are: an unrecognisably burn ...

'' (1996), '' The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (1999), and '' Cold Mountain'' (2003). Additionally he has an uncredited cue in the science fiction/horror movie ''

Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' (1986) during the combat drop sequence that replaced James Horner's cue "Combat Drop" which he had recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. Rabinowitz also composed music for television including '' The Frost Report'' (1966), ''

I, Claudius ''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...

'' (1976) and ''The Agatha Christie Hour'' (1982). Although he was credited for ''

Reilly, Ace of Spies ''Reilly, Ace of Spies'' is a 1983 British television programme dramatizing the life of Sidney Reilly, a Russian-born adventurer who became one of the greatest spies ever to work for the United Kingdom and the British Empire. Among his exploits ...

'' (1983), Rabinowitz was not the composer of the opening score, which was the ‘’Romance’’ composed by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

for the movie ''The Gadfly''. In June 2015, Rabinowitz was the guest castaway on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

''.

Personal life

Rabinowitz was married twice. On 15 December 1944; his first wife was Lorna Thurlow Anderson. The couple divorced in 2000. On 18 March 2001, he wed Mary (Mitzi) C. Scott. He has three children: daughters Karen Lesley (born 1947) and Lisa Gabrielle (born 1960) and son Simon Oliver (born 1951). He lived in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, from November through March and the rest of the year in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

. Rabinowitz reached 100 years of age on 26 March 2016. He died on 22 June 2016 at his home in

Lacoste, Vaucluse Lacoste (; oc, La Còsta) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Its population doubles in size during the height of the summer tourist season. Geography Lacoste is a pictur ...

, France. Rabinowitz continued to play the piano every day until his death.

References

Other sources

* ''Debrett's People of Today''. Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 2008. * ''Marquis Who's Who'', 2008. * Strauss, Neil, "Lush Odes to the Art of Two Film Makers", in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 19 September 1996, p. C16.

External links

*
Q&A with Harry RabinowitzMBE ListingsObituary – BBC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabinowitz, Harry 1916 births 2016 deaths British centenarians Members of the Order of the British Empire Eurovision Song Contest conductors British film score composers British male film score composers British Jews People from Johannesburg Musicians from Portland, Oregon Jingle composers Men centenarians South African emigrants to the United Kingdom