Sidney Sager (17 May 1917 – 3 December 2002) was an English

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

trombonist The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

, best known for his music for television and radio.

Biography

Early life

Born into a

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish family in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's East End, he joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

at the age of 14 as a band boy, and as a result of his natural ability was sponsored by the Army to study 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 ...

. He is the younger brother of Terry Burns (born Mark Sager) the medical inventor and picture restorer. There is also a half-brother, Edward Tunnicliff (born Edward Sager), who now lives in North Norfolk. Sidney Sager's musical career was interrupted by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, during which he fought with the British Expeditionary Force in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and was evacuated from

Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

. Following a brief spell in England he was transferred to North Africa, where he served until the end of hostilities. He returned to civilian life as a musician, playing brass for some time for the Royal Opera at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

Conductor

During the 1950s he studied composition and conducting in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, and shortly after his return to the UK moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, where he conducted 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 ...

West of England Light Orchestra and founded the Paragon, the city's first symphony orchestra, which subsequently reformed as Bristol Sinfonia.

Composer

Sager was involved for many years with the BBC Wildlife Unit at Bristol, although he also wrote scores for drama on television and radio. He is perhaps best known for the music he wrote for children's drama while Director of Music at

HTV West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to broadcast by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named " ...

from 1976 to 1992.

Television work

* ''Expedition ins Unbekannte'' (1958) TV series by

Hans Hass Hans Hass (23 January 1919 – 16 June 2013) was an Austrian biologist and underwater diving pioneer. He was known mainly for being among the first scientists to popularise coral reefs, stingrays, octopuses and sharks. He pioneered the making o ...

(West Germany) *

Saturday Playhouse ''Saturday Playhouse'' was a 60-minute UK anthology television series produced by and airing on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 4 January 1958 until 1 April 1961. There were sixty-eight episodes, among them adaptations of the pla ...

(TV Series); Haul for the Shore (1959), Devonshire Cream (1960) *''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' TV series; The Fishing Party (1972), Shakespeare or Bust (1973), Three for the Fancy (1974) *''

Children of the Stones ''Children of the Stones'' was a British television fantasy drama serial for children, produced by HTV in 1976 and broadcast on the United Kingdom's ITV network in January and February 1977. The serial was produced by Peter Graham Scott, with ...

'' (1977) TV series *'' King of the Castle'' (1977) TV series *'' Into the Labyrinth'' (1981) TV series One of the most well-remembered programmes he scored was ''The Best of Friends'', starring

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

Wendy Hiller Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation ''Rating the Movie Stars'', describ ...

, and

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during t ...

Sydney Cockerell Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (16 July 1867 – 1 May 1962) was an English museum curator and collector. From 1908 to 1937, he was director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. He was knighted in 1934. Biography Sydney Cockerell m ...

Laurentia McLachlan Dame Laurentia McLachlan, OSB, ''née'' Margaret McLachlan, (11 January 1866 – 23 August 1953) was a Scottish Benedictine nun, Abbess of Stanbrook Abbey, and an authority on church music. She became posthumously known to a wide public when p ...

, and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

respectively. This work was scored for string quintet modelled after

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

. He also composed orchestral, band and choral works for festivals, often with children's themes (much like his television scores). In 1960 he wrote the score for Delilah The Sensitive Cow, a story written and narrated by his friend

Johnny Morris Johnny or Johnnie Morris may refer to: * Johnnie Morris (actor) (1887–1969), American comedian and actor *Johnny Morris (television presenter) (1916–1999), British television presenter * Johnny Morris (footballer) (1923–2011), English footbal ...

, the television presenter, which was released as a record by Decca.

Children of the Stones

For ''Children of the Stones'', Sager's combination of

A cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

vocalizations fixated on a single, repeated Icelandic word ("Hadave"), along with its dissonant wordless

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

, made this score unique among children's programming. The vocals were provided by the

Ambrosian Singers The Ambrosian Singers are an English choral group based in London. History They were founded after World War II in England. One of their co-founders was Denis Stevens (1922–2004), a British musicologist and viola player who joined the BBC Mu ...

, featuring Lynda Richardson on the solo soprano line. The vocals were supplemented by electric guitar, bass guitar and percussion. The main theme of ''Children of the Stones'' is written on the

acoustic scale In music, the acoustic scale, overtone scale, Lydian dominant scale (Lydian 7 scale), or the Mixolydian 4 scale is a seven-note synthetic scale. It is the fourth mode of the ascending melodic minor scale. : This differs from the major scal ...

, ambiguously fluctuating between a tonality of C and

D major D major is a major scale based on D (musical note), D, consisting of the pitches D, E (musical note), E, F♯ (musical note), F, G (musical note), G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, and C♯ (musical note), C. Its key signature has two S ...

. A signature two-chord harmonic progression, Em9 to G/C, is heard throughout the seven-part series at key dramatic points. A secondary theme is treated in canon and is

diegetic Diegesis (; , ) is a style of fiction storytelling in which a participating narrator offers an on-site, often interior, view of the scene to the reader, viewer, or listener by subjectively describing the actions and, in some cases, thoughts, o ...

music, representing a hymn sung by the spellbound villagers in the story. This theme is later echoed in the guitar and bass when the main child protagonist, Matt, uses his latent

psychometric Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally covers specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and rela ...

abilities. The secondary theme also concludes the series in a light jazz arrangement, establishing a lighter tone before the final twist is revealed. The musical texture was the suggestion of producer

Peter Graham Scott Peter Graham Scott (27 October 1923 – 5 August 2007) was an English television producer, television and film producer, television director, film director, Film editing, film editor and screenwriter. He was one of the producers and directors wh ...

, who, while driving to

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...

to begin filming, had heard music by

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

on the radio.

Marriage and children

Sidney Sager married Naomi Burgess, who he met while working at the BBC in 1964. They have one child, Daniel.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sager, Sidney 1917 births 2002 deaths English composers Alumni of the Royal College of Music Composers from London British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century British Army personnel