Sir Malcolm Arnold
(born
Northampton
, 21 October 1921; died 23 September 2006) was an
English composer
. He is famous for writing
symphonies
,
concertos
and
movie music
. People disagree about whether he is one of the really great composers, or just a very skilled musician.
[1]
His music is often very tuneful, sometimes it is sentimental. He could write music very quickly. His famous music for the movie
The Bridge on the River Kwai
was composed in ten days.
[2]
In 1938 Malcolm Arnold went to the
Royal College of Music
to study
composition
with
Gordon Jacob
. He started his career as a
trumpeter
with the
London Philharmonic Orchestra
, later becoming principal trumpet. By the late 1940s he was concentrating on his composing career.
Arnold was composing at a time when many composers were writing music which was quite
atonal
which made it hard to understand, but Arnold’s music is
tonal
and there are many tunes which are easy to remember. He wrote nine
symphonies
and several
concertos
for different instruments, even unusual instruments like the
harmonica
. Some of his best orchestral works are the set of dances:
English Dances
,
Scottish Dances
and
Cornish Dances
. He also wrote 2
operas
, 7
ballets
and 2
string quartets
. His
overture
Tam O'Shanter
is very exciting. It tells in music the story in the
poem
by
Robert Burns
.
Arnold wrote music for 132
films
. The most famous is
The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957) for which he won an
Oscar
. He was the first
British
composer ever to have won this award. This movie includes the famous
Colonel Bogey March
. This
march
had been written many years earlier by
Kenneth J. Alford
, but Arnold composed a
countermelody
to it. His original music for the movie includes the famous River Kwai March (this is not the same as the
Colonel Bogey March
). Other movies for which he wrote music include
The Belles of St Trinian's
(1954),
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness
(1958) and
Whistle Down the Wind
(1961).
He was made a
CBE
in 1970 and was
knighted
in 1993.
Youth orchestras and amateur orchestras enjoy playing his works because they are an exciting mixture of
classical
,
jazz
,
popular
and
folk music
, and are not too difficult to play.
Arnold’s health was often very poor. At times he fought with
alcoholism
and
depression
, and in his later years with
dementia
. He had moved to
Dublin
in 1972, but moved back to England in 1984 and settled in
Attleborough
,
Norfolk
. His full-time carer Anthony Day helped him a lot during his final years.
Arnold died from a chest infection in September 2006.
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