Vernon Pelling Elliott (27 July 1912 – 12 October 1996) was a British

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

ist, conductor and composer. Born into a musical family in 1912, Elliott took up the bassoon at a very early age. From then on he had an eventful, busy and very musical life, one which saw him as a founder member of the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

, a regular player at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Op ...

, a much-valued member of Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group orchestra, a conductor of the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable ...

, longtime professor at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

, London and occasional writer. In 1959 he was asked to help

Oliver Postgate Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008), generally known as Oliver Postgate, was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television progra ...

by writing a bassoon theme for ''

Ivor the Engine ''Ivor the Engine'' is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" a ...

''. He went on to compose the highly evocative music to the

Smallfilms Smallfilms is a British television production company that made animated TV programmes for children from 1959 until the 1980s. In 2014 the company began operating again, producing a new series of its most famous show, ''The Clangers'', however it ...

productions of ''

Noggin the Nog ''Noggin the Nog'' is a fictional character appearing in a TV series (of the same name, originally broadcast 1959–1965 and 1982) and a series of illustrated books (published 1965–1977), created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The TV seri ...

'', '' The Seal of Neptune'', ''

Pogles' Wood ''Pogles' Wood'' (in its first series it was entitled ''The Pogles'') is an animated British children's television show produced by Smallfilms between 1965 and 1967, first broadcast by the BBC between 1965 and 1968 (but repeated regularly until t ...

'', ''

Pingwings ''Pingwings'' was an animated black-and-white children's television series, comprising 18 ten-minute episodes, broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in three series of six programmes each, between 1961 and 1965. It first aired on Southern Telev ...

'' and ''

Clangers ''Clangers'' (usually referred to as ''The Clangers'') is a British stop motion, stop-motion children's television series, consisting of short films about a family of mouse, mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside, a small moon-like planet ...

''. A compilation album of his work for ''Clangers'' was released in 2001 and an album of his music for ''Ivor the Engine'' and ''Pogles' Wood'' followed in 2007. Elliott was a keen sailor, skier and bee-keeper.

References

External links

The Independent – ''Obituary: Vernon Elliott'' – (John Pilgrim) – 30 November 1996 – (Accessed: 21 September 2009)

1912 births 1996 deaths English classical bassoonists British male conductors (music) Contrabassoonists 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British composers 20th-century British male musicians {{UK-composer-stub