George Frederic Norton (11 October 186915 December 1946) was a British composer, most associated with the record breaking ''

Chu Chin Chow ''Chu Chin Chow'' is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based (with minor embellishments) on the story of '' Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves''. Gänzl, Kurt"''Chu Chin Chow'' Musical Tal ...

'', which opened in 1916.

Biography

Norton was born in Broughton,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

, England. He studied with Sir

Paolo Tosti Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti KCVO (9 April 1846, Ortona, Abruzzo2 December 1916, Rome) was an Italian composer and music teacher. Life Francesco Paolo Tosti received most of his music education in his native Ortona, Italy, as well as the cons ...

and appeared on stage in variety theatre. Some of these acts included the delivery of monologues. These led Norton to compose songs, many of them humorous. His published songs included 1908's "Rosemary" with words by Graham Robertson, and "Maid of the Morning", "When a Pullet is Plump" and "The Elephant and the Portmanteau". In turn, these songs resulted in Norton composing music for stage shows, starting with ''The Water Maidens'' in 1901. In 1911, Norton provided additional music for a production of ''

Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Thé� ...

'' at His Majesty's Theatre, which was based on the Offenbach opera of the same name. In 1916, he wrote the music to

Oscar Asche John Stange(r) Heiss Oscar Asche (24 January 1871 – 23 March 1936), better known as Oscar Asche, was an Australian actor, director, and writer, best known for having written, directed, and acted in the record-breaking musical ''Chu Chin C ...

's ''

'', which achieved a then world-record theatrical run of over five years. Norton was never again to achieve the same degree of success that he earned with ''Chu Chin Chow''. He died in

Holford Holford is a village and civil parish in West Somerset within the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is located about west of Bridgwater and east of Williton, with a population of 392. The village is on the Quantock Greenway ...

in 1946, aged 77.

References

1869 births 1946 deaths English composers People from Broughton, Greater Manchester {{musical-theat-stub