Philip Sainton

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Philip Prosper Sainton (10 November 1891 – 2 September 1967) was a

violist.[1]

Biography

He was born in

Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby, but the family soon moved to Godalming, Surrey in the UK.[2] His father, Charles Prosper, was a painter and his mother, born Amy Foster, was a singer.[3]
He started his music studies learning the violin. In 1913 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition under Frederick Corder and viola under Lionel Tertis.[4]

Shortly after

London Quartet.[5] In 1930 he joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra
.

His composition activities had begun early. The premiere of his first orchestral work, Sea Pictures, took place at the

Guildhall School of Music.[4]

Today, he is perhaps most remembered as the composer of the score for John Huston's 1956 film Moby Dick. Martin Anderson described it as "a vast, alfresco ballet danced by the sea itself" which "points to what was lost when ill-health prevented the already deeply self-critical Sainton from tackling the symphony he had long planned." The score - restored and partially re-constructed by J. Morgan and W. Stromberg in the late 1990s[10] - shows the combined influence of Ravel, Delius and Vaughan Williams.[11]

Modern recordings on Marco Polo and Chandos of Moby Dick,[12] his tone poem The Island (1939), the symphonic elegy Nadir (first performed in 1949) as well as The Dream of a Marionette have helped the process of re-evaluating his music after years of neglect.[13] His daughter Barbara Clark holds many of the remaining scores.[10]

Sainton also orchestrated a number of scores by the amateur South African composer J.S. Gerber.

Petersfield, Hampshire in England
.

Works

Stage

  • The Dream of the Marionette, Ballet (1929)

Orchestral

The Clipper
  • Carnival

Chamber music

  • Crépuscule for Viola and Piano (1935)
  • Phantom Gavotte for Viola and Piano

Vocal

  • Even for Me for Voice and Piano
  • He Was My King for Voice and Piano; words by Helen Waddell
  • Jonah's Hymn from Moby Dick for Voice and Piano
  • Leaves, Shadows and Dreams for Voice and Piano; words by
    Fiona Macleod
  • A Night in Spring for Voice and Piano; words by Clifford Bax
  • Shieling Song for Voice and Piano; words by
    Fiona Macleod
  • The Song of the Wind Bell for Voice and Piano; words by Harold Acton
  • A Walk by the River at Night for Voice and Piano; words by Clifford Bax

Film music

Orchestrations of works by Jack Sydney Gerber (1902-1979)

  • Balaton Rhapsody
  • Fiesta
  • Prelude to Stonehenge
  • The Sea

References

  1. ^ Foreman, Lewis. Philip Sainton, in Grove Music Online, 2001
  2. ^ a b Leach, Gerald. British Composer Profiles, 3rd ed. (2012)
  3. ^ Archives of the Arques-la-Bataille Civil Registry
  4. ^ a b Clark, Barbara. Biography at MusicWeb International
  5. ^ This was short-lived, lasting until the completion of the Quartet's US tour. Sainton was then replaced by William Primrose in June 1930. See Tully Potter article 'Britain's early chamber ambassadors' Classical Recordings Quarterly, (London: Autumn 2010, p. 16
  6. ^ BBC Proms archive, Prom 21, 1923
  7. ^ BBC Proms archive, Prom 47, 1925
  8. ^ BBC Proms archive, Prom 3, 1929
  9. ^ BBC Proms archive, Prom 46, 1935
  10. ^ a b Notes to Naxos CD 8.573367 (1998)
  11. ^ Anderson, Martin. 'A British Music Roundup', in Tempo 215 (January 2001), p 58
  12. ^ Notes to Marco Polo CD MP 5050 (1998)
  13. ^ Benoliel, Bernard. Notes to Chandos CD 9181 (1993)
  14. ^ British Music Collection
  15. ^ The Times, 25 March 1915, p. 11
  16. ^ 'London Concerts' in The Musical Times, March 1921, p. 183

External links

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