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The Dancing Master (opera)
''The Dancing Master'', Op. 34, is a one-act 1952 English-language opera by Malcolm Arnold to a libretto by Joe Mendoza after William Wycherley's 1671 play ''The Gentleman Dancing Master''. Written in 1951-1952 for a BBC commission, it was rejected by the BBC as "too bawdy for family audiences". Composition and performance Joe Mendoza, formerly an assistant with the GPO/Crown Film Unit, had already prepared Wycherly's play as a potential film script for Margaret Lockwood when the commission for Arnold at the BBC came up and returned the libretto to Arnold quickly. Ten years after the BBC's rejection of the opera, a first concert performance was given by Arnold's friends at the Barnes music club at Kitson Hall, Barnes, London, Barnes, 1 March 1962. The first full semi-staged performance was at the 2012 Malcolm Arnold Festival at the Royal and Derngate in Arnold's birthplace Northampton given by the Ealing Symphony Orchestra under John Gibbons paired with Strauss' ''Die Fledermaus'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' (1957), for which he won an Oscar. Early life Malcolm Arnold was born in Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, the youngest of five children from a prosperous Northampton family of shoemakers. Although shoemakers, his family was full of musicians; both of his parents were pianists, and his aunt was a violinist. His great great grandfather was the composer William Hawes, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |