Harold Fraser-Simson (15 August 1872 – 19 January 1944), was an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
composer of light music, including songs and the scores to musical comedies. His most famous musical was the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
hit,
The Maid of the MountainsThe Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, and he later set numerous children's poems to music, especially those of
A. A. MilneAlan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Life:A. A...
.
Fraser-Simson was born in London, the second child and eldest son of an East Indies merchant, Arthur Theodore Simson and his wife, Jane Anne Catherine née Fraser, of Reelig, Scotland.
Harold Fraser-Simson (15 August 1872 – 19 January 1944), was an
EnglishThe English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
composer of light music, including songs and the scores to musical comedies. His most famous musical was the
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
hit,
The Maid of the MountainsThe Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, and he later set numerous children's poems to music, especially those of
A. A. MilneAlan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Life:A. A...
.
Life and career
Fraser-Simson was born in London, the second child and eldest son of an East Indies merchant, Arthur Theodore Simson and his wife, Jane Anne Catherine née Fraser, of Reelig, Scotland. He was educated at
Charterhouse SchoolCharterhouse, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse, is a collegiate independent boarding school between Hurtmore and Godalming in Surrey, England....
, then at
Dulwich CollegeDulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, south-east London, United Kingdom. The College was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1600...
, then at King's College, London and in France. As a young man he joined a ship-owning firm in London before turning to music as a full-time occupation in his early forties.
Musical comedies
Fraser-Simson published his first song, "My Sweet Sweeting", in 1907. His first theatre score was for the 1911 musical
Bonita, with a libretto by Walter Wadham Peacock, which played at
Queen's TheatreThe Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 with a comedy called The Sugar Bowl by Madeleine Lucette Ryley. It was designed by W.G.R...
.
Fraser-Simson's biggest success was the score for the
operettaOperetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Operetta in French:...
The Maid of the MountainsThe Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
, which played at
Daly's TheatreDaly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
in London in 1917 and finally closed after 1,352 performances. This was, at the time, a phenomenal run second only to that of
Chu Chin ChowChu Chin Chow is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves...
. Several songs from this work (not all of them by Fraser-Simson) have remained "standards" ever since. Fraser-Simson's best-known songs for this show included "Love will Find a Way", "Farewell" and "Husbands and Wives".
The Maid of the Mountains has been frequently revived by both professional and amateur groups and was filmed in 1932. It was one of the three most important musical hits of the London stage during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
(the other two being a
revueA revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th-century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from ca. 1916-32...
,
The Bing Boys Are HereThe Bing Boys Are Here, styled "A Picture of London Life, in a Prologue and Six Panels," is the first of a series of revues which played at the Alhambra Theatre, London during the last two years of World War I. The series included The Bing Boys on Broadway and The Bing Boys are There. The music...
and the musical
Chu Chin Chow. Music or scenes from all of these have been included as background in many films set in this period, and they remain intensely evocative of the "Great War" years. Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it.
After
The Maid of the Mountains, Fraser-Simson wrote music for more operettas and musicals, including
A Southern MaidA Southern Maid is an operetta in three acts composed by Harold Fraser-Simson, with a book by Dion Clayton Calthrop and Harry Graham and lyrics by Harry Graham and Harry Miller. Additional music was provided by Ivor Novello and G. H. Clutsam, with additional lyrics by Adrian Ross and Douglas Furber...
(premiered in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
in 1917 and produced at Daly's in London after
Maid closed in 1920);
Our Peg (1919, with a libretto by Harry Graham and Edward Knoblock at Prince's Theatre);
Missy Jo (1921 touring);
Head over Heels (
Adelphi TheatreThe Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
, 1923);
Our Nell (1924,
Lyric TheatreThe Lyric Theatre is a West End theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster.Designed by architect C. J. Phipps, it was built by producer Henry Leslie with profits from the Alfred Cellier and B. C. Stephenson hit, Dorothy, which he transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to open...
– a rewrite of
Our Peg for the star Nell Gwynne),
The Street SingerThe Street Singer was a 1912 short silent film drama. The film starred Earle Foxe and Alice Joyce. It was Foxe's first film, aged seventeen....
(1924, 360 performances at the Lyric, starring
Phyllis DarePhyllis Dare was an English singer and actress who was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century.-Life and career:...
); and
Betty in Mayfair (1925,
Adelphi TheatreThe Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
).
Fraser's music tended towards the old-fashioned European romantic songs, in contrast to the
ragtimeRagtime is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged", rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being...
,
jazzJazz is a musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
and other American dance music that began to be used in musicals during World War I. His other stage works include a ballet,
Venetian Wedding (1926) and incidental music for
The Nightingale and the Rose (1927).
Children's songs and later years
Fraser-Simson is also known for his many settings of children's verse by
A. A. MilneAlan Alexander Milne was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children's poems. Milne was a noted writer, primarily as a playwright, before the huge success of Pooh overshadowed all his previous work.-Life:A. A...
and
Kenneth GrahameKenneth Grahame was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature...
, including the music for a children's play based on the latter's
The Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
entitled
Toad of Toad HallToad of Toad Hall is the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. It was written by A. A. Milne, with incidental music by Harold Fraser-Simson....
(1929), which was successful and enjoyed many revivals. His settings of Milne's verse include a children's song cycle
The Hums of Pooh, based on verses from
Winnie-the-PoohWinnie-the-Pooh is the first volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne. It is followed by The House at Pooh Corner. The book focuses on the adventures of a teddy bear called Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Piglet, a small toy pig; Eeyore, a toy donkey; Owl, a live owl; and Rabbit, a...
and
The House at Pooh CornerThe House at Pooh Corner is the second volume of stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. It is notable for the introduction of the character Tigger, who went on to become a prominent figure in the Disney Winnie the Pooh franchise.The title comes from...
. This was included in
Julian SladeJulian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best-known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in the 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....
's 1970 adaptation of
Winnie the Pooh. He published six volumes of songs setting verses from Milne's
When We Were Very YoungWhen We Were Very Young is a book by A. A. Milne containing forty-four poems. It was first published in 1924, and was illustrated by E. H. Shepard. Several of the verses were set to music by Harold Fraser-Simson...
. They were first recorded for the gramophone by
George BakerGeorge Baker was an English singer. He is remembered for singing on thousands of gramophone records in a career that spanned 53 years, beginning in 1909...
accompanied by
Gerald MooreGerald Moore CBE was an English pianist best known for his career as one of the most in-demand accompanists of his day, accompanying many of the world's most famous musicians...
in 1930. His other songs included the collection
Teddy Bear and Other Songs and songs from
Alice in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures. The tale is filled with...
which were published in 1932 and recorded by Baker and Moore the same year. Baker later recalled the composer as "a very polite, retiring man, looking more like a businessman than a composer of successful musicals."
In later years, Fraser-Simson lived the life of a country squire at Dalcross Castle, a home that he bought in Scotland. He married Cicely Devenish. He was an avid sportsman, enjoying golf, tennis, shooting and fishing.
Fraser-Simson died at a nursing home in
InvernessInverness is a city in northern Scotland. The city is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is promoted as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, Scotland, following a fall on a stone staircase at his home in nearby
Croy, HighlandCroy is a Highland village near Inverness and Nairn. The area has a small primary school and a shop. Kilravock Castle about a mile from the village....
, at the age of 71.
External links