Walter Leigh
Encyclopedia
Walter Leigh was an English
composer
. Leigh is most famous for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture
Agincourt and The Frogs of Aristophanes for chorus and orchestra. He wrote music for documentary films and there is an unfinished sketch for a symphony
.
Walter Leigh was born in Wimbledon
. His first teacher was Harold Darke
, with whom he worked from the age of eight until he was seventeen. He went to Christ's College, Cambridge
graduating in 1926. For two years thereafter, he studied composition under Paul Hindemith
at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik.
In 1930, Leigh declined a teaching job and set about earning a living by accepting small commissions and becoming increasingly involved with the theatre. With V. C. Clinton-Baddeley he wrote a pantomime for the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and two comic operas, the second of which, Jolly Roger, ran for six months at the Savoy Theatre in London, with a cast headed by George Robey
. He composed an elaborate score for Basil Wright
's documentary film The Song of Ceylon and the concert overture Agincourt, commissioned by the BBC in celebration of King George V
's Silver Jubilee. The Harpsichord Concertino is one of a number of chamber works of the period: an elegant and concise work, more French than German in its spare-noted neo-classicism, the keyboard writing showing signs of Ravel
's influence.
For the Cambridge production of The Frogs in 1936, Leigh produced another score precision-made for the occasion. The music for A Midsummer Night's Dream
was written for open-air schools performance at Weimar in 1936; it is scored for flute, clarinet, trumpet , strings and harpsichord. Music for String Orchestra is a work written sympathetically for amateurs in four movements: Adagio - Vivo - Lento - Allegro. The only other major commission Leigh undertook before the outbreak of war was to produce the music for Farjeon's intimate revue, Nine Sharp (1938).
He was a composer who thrived on limitations and who needed the right external stimulus if he was to produce the best work that it was in him to do. He was a craftsman-composer of a sort commoner in the 18th century than the 20th century. Almost all his music was written for immediate use; like Haydn
, he would not have dreamed of fulfilling a commission without ascertaining the probable capabilities of his performers; he could turn to any number of different idioms according to the needs of the occasion.
The majority of the orchestral and chamber works have been recorded on the Lyrita
and Dutton Epoch labels. The piano music and some art songs were recorded on the Tremula label. The Harpsichord Concertino was recorded by Kathleen Long
in 1946 using a piano.
In 1941, during the Second World War
, he joined the British Army
and served as a trooper with the Royal Armoured Corps
, 4th Queen's Own Hussars
. He was killed in action near Tobruk
, Libya
in 1942, just before his 37th birthday, leaving a widow, Marion, and three children, Julian, Veronica and Andrew, who had been sent to Canada to escape the London Blitz
.
Incidental music
Orchestra
Concertante
Chamber music
Piano
Vocal
Film music
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. Leigh is most famous for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
Agincourt and The Frogs of Aristophanes for chorus and orchestra. He wrote music for documentary films and there is an unfinished sketch for a symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
.
Walter Leigh was born in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
. His first teacher was Harold Darke
Harold Darke
Dr Harold Edwin Darke was an English composer and organist.Darke was born in Highbury, London the youngest son of Samuel Darke & Arundel Bourne...
, with whom he worked from the age of eight until he was seventeen. He went to Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
graduating in 1926. For two years thereafter, he studied composition under Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik.
Berlin University of the Arts
The Universität der Künste Berlin, UdK is a public art school in Berlin, Germany, one of the four universities in the city...
In 1930, Leigh declined a teaching job and set about earning a living by accepting small commissions and becoming increasingly involved with the theatre. With V. C. Clinton-Baddeley he wrote a pantomime for the Festival Theatre at Cambridge, and two comic operas, the second of which, Jolly Roger, ran for six months at the Savoy Theatre in London, with a cast headed by George Robey
George Robey
Sir George Edward Wade , better known by his stage name, George Robey, was an English music hall comedian and star. He was marketed as the "Prime Minister of Mirth".-Early life:...
. He composed an elaborate score for Basil Wright
Basil Wright
Basil Wright, , was a documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.-Biography:...
's documentary film The Song of Ceylon and the concert overture Agincourt, commissioned by the BBC in celebration of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
's Silver Jubilee. The Harpsichord Concertino is one of a number of chamber works of the period: an elegant and concise work, more French than German in its spare-noted neo-classicism, the keyboard writing showing signs of Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's influence.
For the Cambridge production of The Frogs in 1936, Leigh produced another score precision-made for the occasion. The music for A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
was written for open-air schools performance at Weimar in 1936; it is scored for flute, clarinet, trumpet , strings and harpsichord. Music for String Orchestra is a work written sympathetically for amateurs in four movements: Adagio - Vivo - Lento - Allegro. The only other major commission Leigh undertook before the outbreak of war was to produce the music for Farjeon's intimate revue, Nine Sharp (1938).
He was a composer who thrived on limitations and who needed the right external stimulus if he was to produce the best work that it was in him to do. He was a craftsman-composer of a sort commoner in the 18th century than the 20th century. Almost all his music was written for immediate use; like Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, he would not have dreamed of fulfilling a commission without ascertaining the probable capabilities of his performers; he could turn to any number of different idioms according to the needs of the occasion.
The majority of the orchestral and chamber works have been recorded on the Lyrita
Lyrita
Lyrita is a classical music record label, specializing in the works of British composers.Lyrita began releasing LPs in October 1959 as Lyrita Recorded Edition for sale by mail order subscription. The founder of the company, Richard Itter of Burnham, Buckinghamshire, was a businessman and record...
and Dutton Epoch labels. The piano music and some art songs were recorded on the Tremula label. The Harpsichord Concertino was recorded by Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long
Kathleen Long CBE was a British pianist and teacher. She was an awarded soloist, but was also a much appreciated chamber music player and recitalist. Her tours included Europe, North America and South Africa....
in 1946 using a piano.
In 1941, during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he joined the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and served as a trooper with the Royal Armoured Corps
Royal Armoured Corps
The Royal Armoured Corps is currently a collection of ten regular regiments, mostly converted from old horse cavalry regiments, and four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army...
, 4th Queen's Own Hussars
4th Queen's Own Hussars
The 4th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958....
. He was killed in action near Tobruk
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
in 1942, just before his 37th birthday, leaving a widow, Marion, and three children, Julian, Veronica and Andrew, who had been sent to Canada to escape the London Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
.
Compositions
Stage- Aladdin, or Love Will Find Out the Way (1931); pantomime
- The Pride of the Regiment, or Cashiered for His Country (1932); comic operetta; book by Scobie Mackenzie and V.C. Clinton-Baddeley
- Jolly Roger, or The Admiral's Daughter (1933); comic opera in 3 Acts; book by Scobie Mackenzie and V.C. Clinton-Baddeley; premièred at the Savoy TheatreSavoy TheatreThe Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
- Victoria Regina (1935); premièred at the Broadhurst TheatreBroadhurst TheatreThe Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...
on BroadwayMusical theatreMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an... - Nine Sharp (1938); musical revue
- The Little Revue (1939)
Incidental music
- Charlemagne (1935); music for the radio play
- The Frogs (1936); incidental musicIncidental musicIncidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for the play by AristophanesAristophanesAristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
; Oxford University Press - A Midsummer Night's Dream (1936); incidental music for the William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
comedy
Orchestra
- Music for String Orchestra (1931); Wilhelm Hansen Verlag; Kalmus Music
- Suite for Amateur Orchestra (1931)
- Three Pieces for Amateur Orchestra (1929)
- Agincourt, "Jubilee Overture" for Orchestra (1935); Oxford University Press
Concertante
- Concertino for Harpsichord (or Piano) and String Orchestra (1934); Oxford University Press; Kalmus Music
Chamber music
- Reverie for Violin and Piano (1922)
- Romance for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello and Piano
- Student String Quartet (1929)
- Three Movements for String Quartet (1929); Wilhelm Hansen Verlag
- Sonatina for Viola and Piano (1930); Comus Edition
- Trio for Flute, Oboe and Piano (1935); Oxford University Press
- Sonatina for Treble Recorder (or Flute) and Piano (1939); Edition Schott
- Air for Treble Recorder and Piano; Forsyth Brothers Ltd.
Piano
- Music for Three Pianos (1932)
- Eclogue for Piano (1940); Oxford University Press
- Three Waltzes for 2 Pianos
- Polka for Piano
- Five Playtime Pieces for Piano
- Piano Album for Piano
Vocal
- Peculiar Noises for Voice and Piano (1938); words by Herbert Farjeon
Film music
- His Lordship (1932)
- The Song of Ceylon (1934)
- Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs (1934)
- The Face of Scotland (1938)
- Man of the Alps (1939)
- Squadron 992 (1939)
- Table d'Hote (1939); for television
- The Fourth Estate: A Film of a British NewspaperThe Fourth Estate (film)The Fourth Estate: A Film of a British Newspaper is a 1940 documentary film directed by Paul Rotha. The film was sponsored by the owners of The Times, and depicts the preparation and production of a day's edition of the newspaper....
(1940)
External links
- Walter Leigh: directory of manuscripts
- Oxford University Press: Walter Leigh
- http://www.scope.nottingham.ac.uk/article.php?issue=may2004&id=249§ion=articleArticle on Basil Wright & Walter Leigh's use of sound in the film Song of CeylonSong of CeylonThe Song of Ceylon is a 1934 British documentary film directed by Basil Wright and produced by John Grierson for the Ceylon Tea Propaganda Board....
.]