Barrington Somers James Pheloung (10 May 1954 – 1 August 2019) was an Australian composer based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He composed several television theme tunes and music, particularly for ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'' and its follow-up series, ''

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

'', and prequel '' Endeavour''.

Early life and studies

Pheloung was born 10 May 1954 in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

, and grew up in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's northern beaches suburbs. He was born to father John Pheloung who was of Irish and English descent, and mother Adel (nee Reber) Pheloung who was of German and Spanish descent. He began playing R&B guitar in clubs, but his discovery of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

in his late teens drew him to the classical repertoire. In 1972, aged 18, Pheloung moved to London where he studied guitar, double bass, and composition at the Chiswick Music Centre, then part of Chiswick Polytechnic (now

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

), before proceeding to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

to study composition with John Lambert and guitar under

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

and

Julian Bream Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...

. There he also took instruction in conducting. In his second year, he received his first commission for a ballet score.

Composer

Pheloung is best known for the theme and incidental music to the ''

'' television series, for which he was nominated for Best Original Television Music at the

British Academy Television Awards The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards, are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in ...

in 1991; the sequel ''

'', and the prequel '' Endeavour''. He also composed for dance companies such as the

London Contemporary Dance Theatre The London Contemporary Dance Theatre (LCDT) was a contemporary dance company, based at The Place, founded by Robin Howard with Robert Cohan as its Artistic Director. Founded in 1967, and strongly influenced by the ideas of American modern and p ...

, and for events including the opening night of the

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millen ...

. Pheloung also wrote the theme music for the BBC television series ''

Dalziel and Pascoe Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill. Characterisation and style Dalziel is d ...

''. His film work included ''

Hilary and Jackie ''Hilary and Jackie'' is a 1998 British biographical film directed by Anand Tucker, starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as the British classical musician sisters Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and Hilary du Pré (flute). The film covers Jacq ...

'' (1998), based on the life of the

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Jacqueline du Pré Jacqueline may refer to: People * Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler Arts and entertainment * ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film) ...

, for which he was nominated for the

Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music The BAFTA Award for Best Original Music, formerly known as the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, is a film award that is presented to film composers by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It has been presented annually at the B ...

at the

52nd British Academy Film Awards The 52nd British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, took place on 11 April 1999 at the Business Design Centre in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 1998. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Te ...

. Other works include '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (1990), ''

Twin Dragons ''Twin Dragons'' is a 1992 Hong Kong action cinema, Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, and starring Jackie Chan in a double role as identical twin brothers separated at birth. The plot of the film is adapted from ...

'' (1992), ''

Shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A Retail#Shopper profiles, typology of shopper types ha ...

'' (1994), ''

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...

'' (1994), ''

The Mangler "The Mangler" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the December 1972 issue of ''Cavalier The term ''Cavalier'' () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of Charles I of Engla ...

'' (1995), ''Touching Wild Horses'' (2002), ''

Shopgirl ''Shopgirl'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Anand Tucker and starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes, and Jason Schwartzman. The screenplay by Martin is based on his 2000 novella of the same title. The film follows a ...

'' (2005), '' Little Fugitive'' (2006) and ''A Previous Engagement'' (2008). He also composed the scores to

Revolution Software Revolution Software Limited is a British video game developer based in York, founded in 1989 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody. Its most popular line of games is that of ''Broken Sword'', a series which began in ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

s ''

In Cold Blood ''In Cold Blood'' is a non-fiction novel by the American author Truman Capote, first published in 1966. It details the 1959 Clutter family murders in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote learned of the quadruple murder bef ...

'' and three ''

Broken Sword ''Broken Sword'' is a series of adventure games. The first game in the series, '' Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars'', was released and developed in 1996 by British developer Revolution Software. Its sequel, '' Broken Sword II: The Sm ...

'' video games. Pheloung's other work included music for the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

's Twentieth Birthday Celebrations and he contributed to the music for the film '' Truly, Madly, Deeply'', in which he also appeared. He composed the incidental music for the first series of '' Boon''. In 2009 he composed the music for ''1983'', the concluding episode of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

drama series ''

Red Riding ''Red Riding'' is a British crime drama limited series written by Tony Grisoni and based on the book series of the same name by David Peace. The series comprises the novels ''Nineteen Seventy-Four'' (1999), ''Nineteen Seventy-Seven'' (2000), ...

''.

Personal life and death

Pheloung married Anita Griffin in 1979. The couple had two children together before the marriage ended in divorce. He later married Heather Lovejoy, with whom he had two more children. He died in August of 2019 at the age of 65, survived by his second wife and his four children. The cause of death was

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a r ...

.The Times obituary
/ref>

Discography

* ''Red Riding'', 2009 * ''Lewis'', Music from Series 1 & 2, 2008 * ''And When Did You Last See Your Father?'' 2007 * ''Shopgirl'', 2006 * ''The Magic of Inspector Morse'', 2000 * ''Inspirations'', 2001 * ''Hilary and Jackie'', 1998 * ''The Passion of Morse'', 1997 * ''The Essential Inspector Morse Collection'', 1995 * ''Shopping'', 1994 * ''Nostradamus'', 1994 * ''Days of Majesty'', 1993 * ''Inspector Morse'' Vol. 3, 1992 * ''Inspector Morse'' Vol. 2, 1992 * ''Inspector Morse'' Vol. 1, 1991

Credits

*'' Endeavour'', 2012–19 *''

'', 2009 *'' Incendiary'', 2008 *''

And When Did You Last See Your Father? ''And When Did You Last See Your Father?'' is a 2007 drama film directed by Anand Tucker. The screenplay by David Nicholls is based on the 1993 memoir of the same title by Blake Morrison. Plot While Blake Morrison, his mother, and younger sis ...

'' 2007 *''

'', 2006–2015 *''

'', 2005 *''Touching Wild Horses'', 2002 *''

'', 1998 *''

'', 1996-98 *''

'', 1996 *'' Saint-Ex'', 1995 *''

'', 1994 *''

The Legends of Treasure Island ''The Legends of Treasure Island'' is a British animated television series. It had two series of 13 episodes each and each episode runs for 22–25 minutes. The series was loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson's original 1883 novel ''Treasure ...

'', 1993 *'' Truly, Madly, Deeply'', 1991 *''

Portrait of a Marriage ''Portrait of a Marriage: Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson'' is the 1973 biography of writer and gardener Vita Sackville-West compiled by her son Nigel Nicolson from her journals and letters. Synopsis The book relates to Sackville-West ...

'', 1990 *''Friendships’s Death'', 1987 *''

'', 1987–2000

Video games

* '' Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars'', 1996 ** '' Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars – The Director's Cut'' (2009) * '' Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror'', 1997 *''

'', 2000 * '' Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse'', 2013–2014

References

External links

* *
Barrington Pheloung
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pheloung, Barrington 1954 births 2019 deaths Australian composers Australian emigrants to England Australian male composers Australian video game composers Inspector Morse Musicians from Sydney People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney)