Hugo Rignold

Hugo Henry Rignold (15 May 1905 – 30 May 1976) was an English conductor and violinist, who is best remembered as musical director of the Royal Ballet (1957–1960) and conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1960–1968).

After playing the violin and recording with many jazz and dance bands, and leading his own London Casino Orchestra, in the 1920s and 1930s, during World War II, Rignold began to conduct classical orchestras. Thereafter, he conducted opera at Covent Garden and then the Liverpool Philharmonic, beginning in the late 1940s, followed by the Royal Ballet and his long tenure with Birmingham.

Biography

Born in Kingston upon Thames, England, the son of conductor Hugo Charles Rignold and opera singer Agnes Mann, Rignold was taken to Canada when his parents emigrated to Winnipeg in 1910. He began studying the violin as a child with John Waterhouse in Winnipeg and played in the orchestra of the Winnipeg Theatre. After returning to England in 1921, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music''The Times'' Obituary, 1 June 1976, p. 14. That he was "progressing famously" at the Royal Academy, and that he had received notice from ''The Times'', ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Weekly Era'' was noted in the 1924 ''Manitoba Free Press'' article referenced above. and then worked as a blacksmith for a time.

Early career

In the 1920s and 1930s, Rignold played violin with many jazz and dance bands of the day, including those of Mantovani, Jack Hylton, Jack Harris, Fred Hartley, Ambrose, Lew Stone and Jay Wilbur. Rignold was highly regarded as a jazz player. In 1936 ''The Gramophone'' magazine said of him, "With the possible exception of the Negro artist, Eddie South, and our own Eric Siday, who is abroad, there have been only two violinists who have hitherto meant anything to jazz – Venuti, of course, and more recently the French musician Stephane Grappelly (''sic''). To my mind Hugo Rignold is a greater artist than any of them." Rignold went on to lead his own London Casino Orchestra.

He made many recordings with these musicians, a good number of which have been reissued on modern CDs. Other classical musicians such as Leon and Sidonie Goossens, did likewise, but these early jazz and dance records caused some snobbish condescension towards Rignold later in his career (as later happened to André Previn).Mountain
p. 134
/ref> 1920s recordings in which Rignold played with the Jack Hylton Orchestra include George Gershwin's " Oh, Lady Be Good" recorded on 29 March 1926, and Irving Berlin's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" recorded on 17 August 1926. Both were for HMV at the company's studios in Hayes, Middlesex. Later, with Hylton as his mentor, he founded and led his own band, which was playing up to the beginning of the Second World War.

Rignold married three times: in 1934 to Rita Mary Gaylor (the actress Molly Gay); in 1941 to Phyllis Stanley; and in 1948 to Patricia Horton. There was a daughter by each of the first two marriages."Rignold, Hugo Henry"
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2009 The elder was Jennifer Gay, who became the first on-screen schoolgirl continuity announcer for '' Children's Hour'' on the BBC
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