Stanford Robinson
Encyclopedia
Stanford Robinson OBE
(5 July 1904 – 25 October 1984) was an English conductor and composer, known for his work with the BBC
. He remained a member of the BBC's staff until his retirement in 1966, founding or building up the organisation's choral groups, both amateur and professional.
Between 1947 and 1950, Robinson was Assistant Conductor of the Proms
, the summer and autumn concert series founded by Henry Wood
and run by the BBC. Away from his BBC work, Robinson conducted at Covent Garden
and in Australia.
, to a musical family. His father and grandfather were both organists and choirmasters, and his mother was a singer. He was educated at the Stationers' Company School, leaving at the age of 15 and earning his living as a pianist at cinemas and restaurants. At the age of 18 he went to the Royal College of Music
, where he studied under Adrian Boult
, and conducted his first opera performances. While still at the College he took part in a BBC
broadcast with the Wireless Orchestra, the forerunner of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
.
From 1924 to 1966, Robinson was on the staff of the BBC
. Until 1932 he was the BBC's first chorus master, in which capacity he set up the BBC Singers
, the BBC Choral Society and the BBC Chorus
. He first appeared at the Proms
in 1929, conducting the combined BBC choral groups in in Delius's
On Craig Dhu. He conducted at the Proms for the next two seasons and not again until 1947. In addition to conducting for the BBC, Robinson also broadcast as a pianist.
From 1932 to 1946 Robinson was conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra, and Director of Music Productions from 1936 to 1946. Away from his BBC work, he made his Covent Garden
début in 1937, conducting Die Fledermaus
. The Times
commented, that if Robinson "did not always get the true Viennese swing of the waltz rhythms" he "kept the music gaily moving." The following year he returned to the Royal Opera House to conduct Faust
with Heddle Nash
, Lisa Perli
and Harold Williams.
From 1946 to 1949, Robinson was the BBC's Opera Director and Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1947, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Proms
, and conducted them regularly from then until 1950. He worked with the English Opera Group
, introducing Britten
's The Rape of Lucretia to London in 1947.
From 1949, Robinson was conductor of the BBC Opera Orchestra until 1953, and a BBC staff conductor from 1952 until his retirement from the BBC's staff in 1966. In 1951 he conducted the first London production of Alessandro Scarlatti
's Il trionfo dell'onore
. After 1950, Robinson was not favoured by the BBC officials who ran the Proms, and from then to 1970 he conducted only two Proms, the first in 1960, and the second in 1964 (Stravinsky's Pulcinella
with Geraint Evans
).
After retiring from the BBC, Robinson was Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
in Brisbane
, Australia in 1968 and 1969. In 1970 he was invited to conduct the Proms' Gilbert and Sullivan
Night, instituted and popularised by Sir Malcolm Sargent
. Robinson was invited back for the Gilbert and Sullivan Nights of 1971 and 1972, programming rarely-heard numbers from Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke
in addition to established favourites.
, and original ballads including To You Eternally: A Prairie Lullaby and Love Me Not for Comely Grace, choral works like The Three Crows (for soloist, chorus and orchestra), a Rondo in C for two pianos, some short partsongs and a Valse Serenade for orchestra, which became the signature tune of his radio programme "Tuesday Serenade." He wrote a Suite de danse moderne, broadcast in 1924, and church works including settings of the Magnificat
and the Nunc Dimittis
.
's 1928 recording of "In questa reggia" from Puccini
’s Turandot
, on which Robinson conducts an unnamed orchestra. For Decca
he recorded a series of discs of popular classics, which were highly praised by The Gramophone. With BBC forces Robinson made the first gramophone recording of Mendelssohn's
Elijah
in 1930. In 2007, Alan Blyth
, the critic of Gramophone magazine, wrote that it remained "one of the most convincing" and that Robinson "gives the work the dramatic verve that it calls for". Robinson's LP recording of his Savoy Dances was reissued on CD.
In 1972 Robinson was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire
.
Robinson died in Brighton, aged 80.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(5 July 1904 – 25 October 1984) was an English conductor and composer, known for his work with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. He remained a member of the BBC's staff until his retirement in 1966, founding or building up the organisation's choral groups, both amateur and professional.
Between 1947 and 1950, Robinson was Assistant Conductor of the Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
, the summer and autumn concert series founded by Henry Wood
Henry Wood
Henry Wood was a British conductor.Henry Wood may also refer to:* Henry C. Wood , American Civil War Medal of Honor recipient* Henry Wood , English cricketer...
and run by the BBC. Away from his BBC work, Robinson conducted at Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
and in Australia.
Biography
Robinson was born in LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, to a musical family. His father and grandfather were both organists and choirmasters, and his mother was a singer. He was educated at the Stationers' Company School, leaving at the age of 15 and earning his living as a pianist at cinemas and restaurants. At the age of 18 he went to the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
, where he studied under Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
, and conducted his first opera performances. While still at the College he took part in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
broadcast with the Wireless Orchestra, the forerunner of the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
.
From 1924 to 1966, Robinson was on the staff of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. Until 1932 he was the BBC's first chorus master, in which capacity he set up the BBC Singers
BBC Singers
The BBC Singers are the professional chamber choir of the BBC. As one of six BBC Performing Groups, the 24-voiced choir has been in existence for more than 80 years. The BBC Singers have commissioned and premiered works by the leading composers of the past century, including Benjamin Britten, Sir...
, the BBC Choral Society and the BBC Chorus
BBC Symphony Chorus
The BBC Symphony Chorus is a British amateur chorus based in London. It is the dedicated chorus for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though it performs with other national and international orchestras....
. He first appeared at the Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in 1929, conducting the combined BBC choral groups in in Delius's
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
On Craig Dhu. He conducted at the Proms for the next two seasons and not again until 1947. In addition to conducting for the BBC, Robinson also broadcast as a pianist.
From 1932 to 1946 Robinson was conductor of the BBC Theatre Orchestra, and Director of Music Productions from 1936 to 1946. Away from his BBC work, he made his Covent Garden
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
début in 1937, conducting Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
commented, that if Robinson "did not always get the true Viennese swing of the waltz rhythms" he "kept the music gaily moving." The following year he returned to the Royal Opera House to conduct Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
with Heddle Nash
Heddle Nash
William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He also made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues....
, Lisa Perli
Dora Labbette
Dora Labbette was an English soprano. Her career spanned the concert hall and the opera house. She conspired with Sir Thomas Beecham to appear at the Royal Opera House masquerading as an Italian singer by the name of Lisa Perli...
and Harold Williams.
From 1946 to 1949, Robinson was the BBC's Opera Director and Associate Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1947, he was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
, and conducted them regularly from then until 1950. He worked with the English Opera Group
English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operatic works. The group later expanded in order to present larger-scale works, and was renamed the English...
, introducing Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's The Rape of Lucretia to London in 1947.
From 1949, Robinson was conductor of the BBC Opera Orchestra until 1953, and a BBC staff conductor from 1952 until his retirement from the BBC's staff in 1966. In 1951 he conducted the first London production of Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
's Il trionfo dell'onore
Il trionfo dell'onore
Il trionfo dell'onore is an operatic 'commedia' in three acts by the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti, with a libretto by Francesco Antonio Tullio. It was first performed at the Teatro dei Fiorentini, Naples on 26 November 1718...
. After 1950, Robinson was not favoured by the BBC officials who ran the Proms, and from then to 1970 he conducted only two Proms, the first in 1960, and the second in 1964 (Stravinsky's Pulcinella
Pulcinella (ballet)
Pulcinella is a ballet by Igor Stravinsky based on an 18th-century play — Pulcinella is a character originating from Commedia dell'arte. The ballet premiered at the Paris Opera on 15 May 1920 under the baton of Ernest Ansermet. The dancer Léonide Massine created both the libretto and choreography,...
with Geraint Evans
Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans was a Welsh baritone or bass-baritone noted for operatic roles including Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck...
).
After retiring from the BBC, Robinson was Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
The Queensland Symphony Orchestra is an Australian orchestra, based principally in Brisbane in the state of Queensland.The QSO played its first concert on 26 March 1947, with the orchestra consisting of 45 musicians, conducted by Percy Code. John Farnsworth Hall was recruited from the Sydney...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia in 1968 and 1969. In 1970 he was invited to conduct the Proms' Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
Night, instituted and popularised by Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
. Robinson was invited back for the Gilbert and Sullivan Nights of 1971 and 1972, programming rarely-heard numbers from Utopia Limited and The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
in addition to established favourites.
Compositions
As composer or arranger, Robinson's works included the Savoy Dances arranged from Savoy operasSavoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
, and original ballads including To You Eternally: A Prairie Lullaby and Love Me Not for Comely Grace, choral works like The Three Crows (for soloist, chorus and orchestra), a Rondo in C for two pianos, some short partsongs and a Valse Serenade for orchestra, which became the signature tune of his radio programme "Tuesday Serenade." He wrote a Suite de danse moderne, broadcast in 1924, and church works including settings of the Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
and the Nunc Dimittis
Nunc dimittis
The Nunc dimittis is a canticle from a text in the second chapter of Luke named after its first words in Latin, meaning 'Now dismiss...'....
.
Recordings
Robinson made many recordings, of which probably the best known is Eva TurnerEva Turner
Dame Eva Turner DBE was an English dramatic soprano with an international reputation. Her strong, steady and well-trained voice was renowned for its clarion power in Italian and German operatic roles.-Career:...
's 1928 recording of "In questa reggia" from Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
’s Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
, on which Robinson conducts an unnamed orchestra. For Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
he recorded a series of discs of popular classics, which were highly praised by The Gramophone. With BBC forces Robinson made the first gramophone recording of Mendelssohn's
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
Elijah
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
in 1930. In 2007, Alan Blyth
Alan Blyth
Geoffrey Alan Blyth was an English music critic, author, and musicologist who was particularly known for his writings within the field of opera. He graduated from the Rugby School before attending the University of Oxford where he studied with Jack Westrup...
, the critic of Gramophone magazine, wrote that it remained "one of the most convincing" and that Robinson "gives the work the dramatic verve that it calls for". Robinson's LP recording of his Savoy Dances was reissued on CD.
Personal life
In 1926, Robinson married the singer Mavis Bennett; the marriage was unhappy, and by 1931 they were separated. Robinson later married the soprano Lorely Dyer; they had one daughter. Robinson's younger brother Eric (1908–74) was a popular conductor and broadcaster.In 1972 Robinson was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
.
Robinson died in Brighton, aged 80.