Frederic Curzon  page with free midi's to download

FREDERIC CURZON

4thSeptember 1899 --- 6thDecember 1973

Frederic Curzon was born on the 4th September 1899 and died on 6th December 1973. Although he was a generation, or at least a
half-generation, younger than such stalwarts  of the English light music scene as Arthur Wood, Albert Ketelbey,  Wilfrid Sanderson
Percy Fletcher,  Alfred Reynolds and Eric Coates,  Ernest Frederic Curzon,  born in London on 4 September 1899,  is to be reckoned
among their number  as a most attractive purveyor of tuneful,  beautifully  scored light music, primarily for orchestra.  As a boy he
studied  violin,  cello,  piano  and  organ,  his precocity  being indicated  by the  fact that  his settings  of the  Magnificat  and  Nunc
Dimittis  were performed before he was twelve.  At sixteen he was a pianist in a  London theatre orchestra  (what sources of talent
those orchestras were and at twenty he was  conducting and composing accompaniments  for silent films,  then 1920 approaching
their heyday as providers of live music.  Curzon was also Organist  at Shepherds Bush Pavilion  for many years  and at other places
and conducted for a time during the War of 1939-45  at Llandudno Pier. Surprisingly, I know of no organ music by him. He became
President of the Light Music Society and died in Bournemouth as recently as December 1973.

As a  composer he  was encouraged both  by Sir Dan  Godfrey  and by  Ralph Hawkes  of the music publishers  Boosey and  Hawkes
where Curzon was Head of  the Light Music Department.  Much of his output was for orchestra,  but there were songs of the  ballad
type like I Bring My Love,In a Little Lane and, published as late as 1951,Someone a Little Like You for piano, besides arrangements
of  popular  orchestral movements of his own,  like The Boulevardier,  the march  Ceremonial Occasion written in 1953,  Coronation
year the Overture Bouffe  for an 18th Century Comedy, the scherzo Mischief (derived from a children's ballet suite Charm of Youth)
and the very popular March of the Bowmen,  he published other piano  movements like a Square Dance Set (1951)  and two  pieces
dating  from 1948,  Valse Impromptu and Prelude: By the Lyn,  for which  I have  discovered no  orchestral counterparts.  Also from
1948 was a pleasant Elegiac Melody for cello and piano.

The most substantial items in Curzon's orchestral light music were the Spanish Suite, In Malaga, the Robin Hood Suite, which ends
with the rousing March  of the Bowmen already  mentioned and which was first performed on  the 18 October 1937  by the BBCSO
the quarter-hour long Salon Suite,  the third  of whose six movements  is a Period Piece in 18th  Century Manner  and the  fifth is a
brilliant Clarinetto con Moto. Curzon's music has a characteristic sparkle, apparent especially in his overtures Vanguard,  Chevalier
and Punchinello  (which has been recorded in the LP era),  all of which are  most delightfully scored.  One interesting  feature  of all
Curzon's orchestration is the presence of  three (or sometimes two or even four) saxophones in many of his scores,  apart from  the
more usual  woodwind instruments.  Examples are the march,  Bonaventure,  from the once  popular The Boulevardier,  Busybodies
(described as a duet for two trumpets or two xylophones!) and orchestra, the waltz, Cascade, the Dance of an Ostracised Imp,  very
frequently played at one time,  Pasquinade, Serenade of a Clown,  the serenade Simonetta, the march, Sons of the Soviet and Ring
-side, where the orchestra includes four saxes and a guitar.

Another interesting formation was in the Summer Souvenir of 1958, which had single woodwind, accordion, harp and strings, but
no brass.  Few works were  for strings  alone but one may point  to a Frolic  for strings and the Berceuse  of 1951 for  harp and for
strings.  His one concerted piece I know of,  apart from the clarinet movement  from the Salon Suite just  mentioned, is Saltarello
for piano and orchestra published in 1952.  Curzon appears to have been drawn frequently  to the exotic  rhythms of Spain and of
Hungary. One thinks of the Spanish caprice, Capriciati (yet another score with a trio of saxophones). The pasodobles Bravaha and
Sacramento,  the  Spanish serenade  La Peinta (1954),  later arranged  for mixed  chorus and orchestra by  Ernest  Tomlinson,  the
czardas La Gitana and  the Gipsy caprice,  Zingaresca.  I have  memories of  gentler pieces  too,  such as Valse  Joyeuse,  the valse
caprice,  Water  Nymph,   the  Rustic  Scherzo,   Over  the  Hills   and  Far Away,   March  of  the  Jesters,  the  serenade  intermezzo
Norina and The Capricious Ballerina. Several of these date from the 1950s when Curzon was in his prime. As many of the following
titles show,  he aimed at being witty as well as merely charming in his output and his success in this earned him a particular niche
in British light music. Let us not forget him.

I like to sincerely thank George Pollen for writting and donating the above bio.

Last Updated on 2017
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

Thanks to George Pollen for the music below. Link to his Website on my Bookmark Page

(2377)"Dance of the Ostracized Imp". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2376)"The Boulevardier". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2367)"Galavant". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2253)"In Sherwood (from The Robin Hood Suite)". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2267)"Maid Marion (from The Robin Hood Suite)". Sequenced by George Pollen

(2258)"March of the bowmen (from The Robin Hood Suite)". Sequenced by George Pollen

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