Robert Augustine Irving, DFC*, (28 August 191313 September 1991) was a British conductor whose reputation was mainly as a ballet conductor. Born in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, England, the son of mountaineer and author R. L. G. Irving, he was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, graduating with a degree in music. He studied with

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

and

Constant Lambert Leonard Constant Lambert (23 August 190521 August 1951) was a British composer, conductor, and author. He was the founding music director of the Royal Ballet, and (alongside Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Frederick Ashton) he was a major figu ...

at 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 ...

from 1934 to 1936. During World War II, he served with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

for two tours as a navigator in anti-shipping strike squadrons. He was the first Captain-Navigator in the Royal Air Force, opening the way for navigators to captain aircraft. An attempt by Dickie Richardson to recruit him to the post-war RAF was turned down in favour of conducting. He left with the rank of Squadron Leader. He then became assistant conductor with the

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

, and was conductor and musical director of

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

from 1949 to 1958, working closely with Sir

Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositio ...

on several ballets. Having assisted Ashton in choosing music for his ''Picnic at Tintagel'' for

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

in 1952, Irving helped the choreographer to surmount musical problems in the last act of his '' Sylvia'' in September the same year, by interpolating passages from the same composer's '' La source''. In 1956, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Vic-Wells, now the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

, Irving arranged music by

Alexander Glazunov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov ( – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 1905 and 1928 and was instrumental i ...

for a "grand pas de quatorze" by Ashton, ''

Birthday Offering ''Birthday Offering'' is a pièce d'occasion in one scene choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Alexander Glazunov, arranged by Robert Irving (conductor), Robert Irving. The ballet was created in 1956, to celebrate the Royal Ballet's 25t ...

''. In 1954 he introduced and conducted music from Act II of ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

'' with

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

and

Michael Somes Michael George Somes CBE (28 September 191718 November 1994), was an English ballet dancer. He was a principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, London, and the frequent partner of Margot Fonteyn. Early years Somes was born in Horsley, Gloucestersh ...

for television, and in 1958 for BBC television he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in ''

Les Sylphides () is a short, non-narrative '' ballet blanc'' to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie","Ballet Theater", until 1955. A compact disk of ABT's product ...

'' with

Nadia Nerina Nadia Nerina (21 October 1927 – 6 October 2008) was a South African dancer who was "one of the most gifted, versatile, and inspiring ballerinas of The Royal Ballet" during the 1950s and 1960s. She was known "for her technical virtuosity, ...

and Philip Chatfield. He conducted the 1957 telecast of Ashton's ''

Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in the series Producer's Showcase. From 1958 to 1989, he served as music director of the

, where he worked extensively with choreographer

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

. For many years he conducted the New York City Ballet's annual production of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'', a task he repeated in the 1958 US telecast of the ballet. In 1960 and 1963, he conducted in the

Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...

, in the

Naumburg Bandshell The Central Park Mall is a pedestrian esplanade in Central Park, in Manhattan, New York City. The mall, leading to Bethesda Fountain, provides the only purely formal feature in the naturalistic original plan of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calv ...

, Central Park, in the summer series. He died in his birthplace in 1991, aged 78. A small memorial plaque to him may be found on the north-east wall of Winchester College chapel cloisters.

Discography

Irving's many recordings of ballet music include: *Massenet ''

Le Cid ''Le Cid'' is a five-act French tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille, first performed in December 1636 at the Théâtre du Marais in Paris and published the same year. It is based on Guillén de Castro's play ''Las Mocedades del Cid''. Cast ...

'' (ballet music) and Meyerbeer (arr Lambert) '' Les Patineurs'', London Symphony Orchestra, for Decca 1952Philip Stuart. Decca Classical, 1929–2009 (Discography). AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music. Retrieved 20 December 2016. *Ballet music from '' La Boutique fantasque'' and Gounod's ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'' with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

in 1952 for HMV *Walton's ''

Façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

'' suites 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 ...

, for Decca 1953 *Arnold's ''Homage to the Queen'' Suite, Op.42 and his Eight English Dances, Opp.27 & 33 with the Philharmonia Orchestra for HMV in 1953 *The five-movement suite from Ashton and Lambert's ballet ''

Horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

'' with the London Symphony Orchestra for Decca in 1953. *Tchaikovsky's ''Swan Lake'' (excerpts) with the Philharmonia in 1953, and ''The Sleeping Beauty'' with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1955 both for HMV *A near complete '' Sylvia'' with the Philharmonia Orchestra for HMV in 1954 *The Gluck- Mottl ''Ballet Suite'' and ballet music from Grétry's '' Céphale et Procris'' with the

New Symphony Orchestra New Symphony Orchestra may refer to * New Symphony Orchestra (London) – British ensemble founded in 1905 and later called the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra * New Symphony Orchestra (Sofia) – Bulgarian ensemble founded in 1991 *NHK Symphony Orche ...

of London for Decca in 1955 *His own arrangement of the Glazunov music for ballet ''

'', with the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

in 1956 for HMV. *An abridged ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' ( , ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (; ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

'' with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1961 for HMV. *Suites from Shostakovich '' The Golden Age'' Op.22a and Bartók ''

The Miraculous Mandarin ''The Miraculous Mandarin'' (, ; ) Op. 19, Sz. 73 (BB 82), is a one act pantomime ballet composed by Béla Bartók between 1918 and 1924, and based on the 1916 story by Melchior Lengyel. Premiered on 27 November 1926 conducted by Eugen Szenka ...

'', Sz73 with the Philharmonia Orchestra for EMI in 1961 Non-dance music recorded by him includes: *Grieg ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'' Suite No. 2, Op. 55 with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1952 for HMV.Stuart, Philip. The LSO Discography. 2009
Available at CHARM website
Retrieved 2 January 2019. * Dohnányi Suite in F-sharp minor, Op. 19, coupled with Tchaikovsky's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'', Op. 67, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, for HMV in 1954 *Turina's ''La procesión del Rocio'', Op. 9, and ''

Danzas fantásticas ''Danzas fantásticas'', Op. 22, is the best known work by the Spanish composer Joaquín Turina. It was written in 1919 (11-29 August), originally for solo piano, and later orchestrated. However, the orchestral version was the first to be perform ...

'', Op. 22, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, HMV *Arnold's Four Scottish Dances, Op. 59, along with Britten's '' Matinées musicales'', Op. 24 and '' Soirées musicales'', Op. 9, for HMV in 1957 *Irving contributed six tracks to the 1961 EMI LP 'Musical Merry-Go-Round' which attempted to recreate the effect of a revolving sound, using left and right stereo channels.Anonymous note for LP EMI CSD 1333 Musical Merry-Go-Round. The Sinfonia of London conducted by Robert Irving and Douglas Gamley.

Awards

Capezio Capezio is the trade name of Capezio Ballet Makers Inc., an American manufacturer of dance shoes, apparel and accessories. History In 1887, Salvatore Capezio, an Italian cobbler emigrated to the United States, opened a shoe repair shop near th ...

Dance Award, 1975 * ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...

'' Award, 1984

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irving, Robert 1913 births 1991 deaths Musicians from Winchester British male conductors (music) Alumni of the Royal College of Music Alumni of New College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians