Hubert Charles Bath (6 November 188324 April 1945) was a British film composer, music director, and conductor. His credits include the music to the Oscar-winning documentary '' Wings Over Everest'' (1934), as well as to the films ''

Tudor Rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists of ...

'' (1936), ''

A Yank at Oxford ''A Yank at Oxford'' is a 1938 comedy-drama film directed by Jack Conway and starring Robert Taylor, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Vivien Leigh and Edmund Gwenn. The screenplay was written by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. The f ...

'' (1938) and ''

Love Story Love Story or A Love Story may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres * Romance (love) ** Romance film ** Romance novel Films * ''Love Story'' (1925 film), German silent film * ''Love Story'' (1942 film), Italian drama film * ''Love ...

'' (1944).

Biography

Bath was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, but ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in 1883. He sang in the local church choir and in 1899 attended the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

, studying piano with Oscar Beringer and composition with

Frederick Corder Frederick Corder (26 January 1852 – 21 August 1932) was an English composer and music teacher. Life Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and start ...

. In 1913-14 he conducted Thomas Quinlan's opera troupe on its world tour, also acting as chorus master. He conducted "Madame Butterfly" at the London Opera House in July 1915, in a performance that starred Tamaki Miura. After that he established himself as a composer of light operas, including ''Young England'' (Birmingham, 1915) and '' Bubbole'' (Milan, 1920), extending the genre towards grand opera with ''Trilby''. He went on to compose many film scores (including part of the soundtrack of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

's ''

Blackmail Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to f ...

'' in 1929), marches for brass bands, orchestral suites, theatre music and choral works. His composition ''Out of the Blue'' has been used as the theme music of '' Sports Report'' since the programme started in 1948. Also well-known is his ''Cornish Rhapsody'', written for, and essential to the plot of, the 1944 film ''

''. Humorous cantatas such as ''The Wedding of Shon Maclean'' (1909), ''Look at the Clock'' (1910) and ''The Wake of O'Connor'' (1914) were popular with choral societies in their day. There are also many suites of character pieces for piano, including ''Shakespeare Pieces'' (1916), ''My Lady'' (1923), the ''Italian Suite'' (1924), the ''Gaelic Suite'' (five Irish sketches for piano), published in 1927, and the ''Sonnet Suite'' (1933). In 1924, Bath was named as

co-respondent In English law, a co-respondent is, in general, a respondent to a petition, or other legal proceeding, along with another or others, or a person called upon to answer in some other way. 7.4.19 Divorce More particularly, since the Matrimonial Ca ...

in the divorce case between Colonel Alfred Rawlinson and the actress Jean Aylwin. Bath died in

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Ha ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbourin ...

in 1945, aged 61. His son John Bath (1915–2004) was also a film composer.

Selected filmography

* ''

Under the Greenwood Tree ''Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School'' is a novel by the English writer Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his series of Wessex n ...

'' (1929) * '' The Informer'' (1929) * '' The Plaything'' (1929) * '' Tell England'' (1931) * ''

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which becam ...

'' (1934 - uncredited) * '' Wings Over Everest'' (1934) * '' His Lordship'' (1936) * '' The Luck of the Irish'' (1936) *''

'' (1936) * ''

Non-Stop New York ''Non-Stop New York'' (also known as ''Lisbon Clipper Mystery'') is a 1937 British science fiction crime film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring John Loder, Anna Lee and Francis L. Sullivan. It is based on the 1936 novel ''Sky Stewar ...

'' (1937) * '' The Great Barrier'' (1937) *''

'' (1938) *'' Dear Octopus'' (1943) * ''

'' (1944)

Notes

External links

* * * * 1883 births 1945 deaths English film score composers English male film score composers Musicians from Barnstaple 20th-century British male musicians {{UK-composer-stub