Donald Ibrahim Swann (30 September 1923 – 23 March 1994) was a British composer, musician, singer and entertainer. He was one half of Flanders and Swann, writing and performing

comic songs A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of Comedy music, humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on ...

with Michael Flanders.

Life

Donald Swann was born in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carma ...

, Carmarthenshire, Wales. His father, Herbert Alfredovich Swann, was a Russian doctor of English descent, from the expatriate community that started out as the

Muscovy Company The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...

. His mother, Naguimé Sultán Swann (born Piszóva), was a Turkmen-Russian nurse from

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, now part of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the s ...

. They were refugees from the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. Swann's great-grandfather, Alfred Trout Swan, a draper from

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, emigrated to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

in 1840 and married the daughter of the horologer to the tsars. Some time later the family added a second 'n' to their surname. His uncle

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

wrote the first biography of

Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...

in English. The family moved to London, where Swann attended

Dulwich College Preparatory School Dulwich Prep London (DPL), formerly known as Dulwich College Preparatory School, is an independent preparatory school in Dulwich, south London, England for boys aged 3–13 years. The current Head Master is Louise Davidson. In 1938 headmas ...

and

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

. It was at the latter that he first met Michael Flanders, a fellow pupil. In July and August 1940 they staged a revue called ''Go To It''. The pair then went their separate ways during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, but were later to establish a musical partnership writing songs and

light opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

, Flanders providing the words and Swann composing the music. In 1941 Swann was awarded an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibitio ...

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, to read modern languages. In 1942 he registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objec ...

and served with the Friends' Ambulance Unit (a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

relief organisation) in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, Palestine and

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. After the war, Swann returned to Oxford to read Russian and

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

. In the 1970s, Swann became a Sponsor of the Peace Pledge Union. Donald Swann was married twice; he married Janet Oxborrow in 1955 and they were divorced in 1983; his second wife was the art historian Alison Smith. In 1992 he was diagnosed with cancer. He died at

Trinity Hospice Royal Trinity Hospice is the oldest hospice in the United Kingdom, founded in 1891 by a member of the Hoare banking family. It is located in Clapham Common, London, England, and provides specialist palliative care. In 2019 Royal Trinity Hosp ...

in South London on 23 March 1994.

Career

When by chance Swann and Flanders met again in 1948 it led to the start of their professional partnership. They began writing songs and light opera, Swann writing the music and Flanders writing the words. Their songs were performed by artists such as Ian Wallace and Joyce Grenfell. They subsequently wrote two two-man revues, ''

At the Drop of a Hat ''At the Drop of a Hat'' is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, described by them as "an after-dinner farrago". In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. The songs were linked by contemporary socia ...

'' and '' At the Drop of Another Hat'', which they performed all over the world until their partnership ended in 1967. At the same time, Swann was maintaining a prolific musical output, writing the music for several operas and operettas, including a full-length version of

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univer ...

's '' Perelandra'', and a setting of J. R. R. Tolkien's poems from ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'' to music in ''

The Road Goes Ever On ''The Road Goes Ever On'' is a 1967 song cycle that has been published as a book of sheet music and as an audio recording. The music was written by Donald Swann, and the words are taken from poems in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, ...

'' song cycle. In 1953–59 Swann provided music for seven plays by Henry Reed on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...

, generally known as the Hilda Tablet plays for one of the fictional characters, a lady composer of avant-garde "musique concrète renforcée". Besides incidental music, Swann composed for this character an opera, "Emily Butter" and several other complete works. A lifelong friendship with

Sydney Carter Sydney Bertram Carter (6 May 1915 – 13 March 2004) was an English poet, songwriter, and folk musician who was born in Camden Town, London. He is best known for the song " Lord of the Dance" (1967), whose music is based on the " Shaker Allegro ...

resulted in scores of songs, the best known being "The Youth of the Heart" which reappeared in ''At the Drop of A Hat'', and a musical ''Lucy & the Hunter''. After his partnership with Flanders ended, Swann continued to give solo concerts and to write for other singers. He also formed the ''Swann Singers'' and toured with them in the 1970s. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he continued performing in various combinations with singers and colleagues and as a solo artist. In the later years of his life he 'discovered' Victorian poetry and composed some of his most profound and moving music to the words of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

, Christina Rossetti,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

and others. He wrote a number of

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrai ...

s which appear in modern standard hymn books. It is estimated that Swann wrote or set to music nearly 2,000 songs during his career.

Discography

Flanders and Swann

* 1957 – ''Excerpts from at the Drop of a Hat'' ( EP) * 1957 – ''More Excerpts from at the Drop of a Hat'' (EP) * 1957 – ''More out of the Hat!'' (EP) * 1959 – ''Little Drummer Boy/The Storke Carol'' (EP) * 1960 – ''At The Drop of a Hat'' (produced by

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

) * 1961 – ''The Bestiary of Flanders & Swann'' (EP) * 1964 – ''At The Drop of Another Hat'' (produced by George Martin) * 1964 – ''Favourites from at the Drop of Another Hat'' (EP) * 1964 – ''More out of the New Hat'' (EP) * 1966 – ''EMI Comedy Classics'' (''Hat'' and ''Another Hat'' on two cassettes) * 1967 – ''The Bestiary of Flanders & Swann'' (produced by George Martin) * 1975 – ''And Then We Wrote...'' * 1977 – ''Tried by the Centre Court'' * 1994 – ''The Complete Flanders & Swann'' (first three albums in a boxed set) * 1994 – ''A Transport of Delight: The Best of Flanders & Swann'' * 1997 – ''More out of the Drop of a Hat – Again!'' (double cassette) * 1999 – ''The Flanders and Swann Collection'' * 2000 – ''A Drop of Hilarity from Flanders & Swann'' * 2007 – ''Hat Trick: Flanders & Swann Collector's Edition''

Other works

* 1951 – ''The Youth of the Heart'' (

78 rpm A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

) * 1958 – ''London Sketches'' (Donald Swann & Sebastian Shaw) * 1963 – ''Festival Matins'' (EP) * 1964 – ''Songs of Faith & Doubt'' (EP) * 1965 – ''For The Love of Betjeman'' (Donald Swann & Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture ...

, EP) * 1966 – ''Donald Swann & the Choir of the Friends' School, Saffron Walden'' (EP) * 1967 – '' Poems and Songs of Middle Earth'' (J. R. R. Tolkien, Donald Swann, and William Elvin) * 1968 – ''Sing Round The Year'' (Boys of Westminster School and Girls of Mayfield Putney) * 1970 – ''An Evening in Crete'' (Donald Swann & Lilli Malandraki) * 1971 – ''The Song of Caedmon'' (Donald Swann & Arthur Scholey, EP) * 1973 – ''A Crack in Time'' (The Swann Singers) * 1973 – ''Wacky & His Fuddlejig'' (Donald Swann & Arthur Scholey, narrated by

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

, EP) * 1973 – ''The Rope of Love'' (The Swann Singers) * 1975 – ''The Five Scrolls'' or "The Five Seasons of God" (Donald Swann & Rabbi

Albert Friedlander Albert Hoschander Friedlander OBE (10 May 1927 – 8 July 2004) was a rabbi and teacher. Early life and education Albert Friedlander was born on 10 May 1927 in Berlin, the son of a textile broker, Alex Friedlander (d. 1956) and Sali Friedlan ...

) * 1975 – ''The Parable of the Lost Sons'' (Donald Swann & The

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ...

Youth Choir, EP) * 1980 – ''Radio Orwell'' (The Olive Quantrill Singers) * 1981 – ''Swann with Topping'' (Donald Swann & Frank Topping) * 1984 – ''Requiem for the Living'' (Donald Swann &

Cecil Day-Lewis Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis; 27 April 1904 – 22 May 1972), often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Irish-born British poet and Poet Laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Bla ...

) * 1989 – ''Alphabetaphon'' (Donald Swann, 3 cassettes) * 1992 – ''Amiscellany'' (Donald Swann &

John Amis John Preston Amis (17 June 1922 – 1 August 2013) was a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He was a frequent contributor for '' The Guardian'' and to BBC radio and television music programming. Life ...

) * 1994 – ''Swann in Jazz'' * 1999 – ''The Isles of Greece''

Books

* * * *

Father's autobiography

Song collections

* * * * * *

References

Other sources

"Milestones Apr. 4, 1994"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

''. 4 April 1994. 143 (14): p. 19. (obituary)

External links

Official website
* *

at Llanelli Community Heritage * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swann, Donald 1923 births 1994 deaths People from Llanelli People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford 20th-century classical composers English Anglicans English classical composers English Christian pacifists British conscientious objectors People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit English Quakers English comedy musicians English opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from London Deaths from cancer in England 20th-century English composers English male classical composers Light music composers 20th-century British comedians 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century Quakers