George Anthony Thomas Weldon (5 June 1908, in

Chichester Chichester () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publi ...

, England – 17 August 1963, in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

) was an English conductor.

Biography

Weldon was the son of Major F H Weldon of the

Sherwood Foresters The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to ...

."Mr. George Weldon", ''The Times'', 9 August 1963, p. 2 He was educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

. He studied conducting with

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

and

Aylmer Buesst Aylmer Buesst (28 January 18833 January 1970) was an Australian conductor, teacher and scholar, who spent his career in the United Kingdom. He was mainly associated with opera and vocal music. He also wrote a work on the leitmotifs in Richard Wa ...

. In 1943, at 36 years of age, he became the conductor of the

City of Birmingham Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall: a B:Music Venue in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its a ...

in succession to

Leslie Heward Leslie Hays Heward (8 December 1897 – 3 May 1943) was an English conductor and composer. Between 1930 and 1942 he was the Music Director of the City of Birmingham Orchestra. Heward was born in Liversedge, Yorkshire, the son of a railway p ...

. He was dismissed in 1950, following unsubstantiated rumours that he was having an affair with

Ruth Gipps Ruth Dorothy Louisa ("Wid") Gipps (20 February 1921 – 23 February 1999) was an English composer, oboist, pianist, conductor, and educator. She composed music in a wide range of genres, including five symphonies, seven concertos, and nu ...

, choirmaster of the Birmingham orchestra's chorus. It was announced that Weldon would be replaced by Rudolf Schwarz; according to Gipps, Weldon resigned before he could be dismissed. In 1952 Weldon became assistant to

Sir John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...

at the Hallé Orchestra and remained in that position until his death. In 1955 and 1956 he also conducted the

Sadler's Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded i ...

. He became well known for his love of sports cars. While in Manchester, Weldon took charge of the Hallé summer seasons of promenade concerts, and many industrial concerts around the north of England. He frequently conducted in London and abroad, made broadcasts and many records.

Recordings

Weldon made a series of recordings for

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

. His

stereophonic Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

recording of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

's '' The Sleeping Beauty'' with the Philharmonia Orchestra has been reissued on CD. Numerous other recordings by Weldon were also available on CD as of 2008.Amazon

Notes

References

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External links

George Weldon – A Life of Music and Very Fast Cars (2007)- Margery Law & Jean Powrie

Portrait of George Weldon
by

Juliet Pannett Juliet Kathleen Pannett ( née Somers; 15 July 1911 – 22 August 2005) was an English portrait painter. Background Born in Hove, East Sussex, Pannett started painting at three, and wanted to be a professional artist by seventeen. She trained ...

(1956), Royal Academy of Music
Royal Tunbridge Wells Choral Society archive. 1942-3
1908 births 1963 deaths English conductors (music) British male conductors (music) People from Chichester People educated at Sherborne School Alumni of the Royal College of Music 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians {{UK-conductor-stub