Hubert Charles Bath (6 November 188324 April 1945) was an English 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'' (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. ...

'' (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). His composition "Out of the Blue" has been used as the theme music of BBC Radio's ''

Sports Report ''Sports Report'' is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on 3 January 1948, and has always been broadcast from 17:00 on Saturday evenings during the foo ...

'' since the programme started in 1948.

Biography

Bath was born in

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. 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 one of the oldest music schools 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 firs ...

, studying piano with

Oscar Beringer Oscar Beringer (14 July 1844 – 21 February 1922) was an English pianist and teacher of German descent. Beringer was born in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Furtwangen in the Black Forest, but by 1849 he had moved to London when his father becam ...

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 ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lut ...

'' at the

London Opera House London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thame ...

in July 1915, in a performance that starred

Tamaki Miura , was a Japanese opera singer who performed as Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly''. Early life Miura was born the first daughter of Shibata Mōho and Shibata Towa () on February 22, 1884, in Tokyo, Japan. Shibata, a music lover had h ...

. 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 film director. 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 featu ...

's ''

Blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

'' 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 the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

'', the world's longest-running sports radio programme, since the show 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). ''Freedom'', a 12 minute symphonic piece first used for the National Championships in 1922, is said to be the first brass band symphony, though it’s really a suite. 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 Cau ...

in the divorce case between Colonel Alfred Rawlinson and the actress

Jean Aylwin Jean Aylwin (10 October 18851964), also known as Jean Isabella Griffin Aitkin, was a Scottish actress and singer, often billed as "The Lady Harry Lauder". Aylwin was best known for creating character roles in successful Edwardian musical comed ...

. 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. Har ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

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 the second published novel by English author Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, and the first of what was to become his seri ...

'' (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. It is loosely based on the canonical hours of vespers and compline. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which ...

'' (1934 - uncredited) * '' Wings Over Everest'' (1934) *'' Breakers Ahead'' (1935) * '' His Lordship'' (1936) * '' The Luck of the Irish'' (1936) *'' Tudor Rose'' (1936) * '' Non-Stop New York'' (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