Philip Prosper Sainton (10 November 1891 – 2 September 1967) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

–

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, conductor, and violist.

Biography

He was born in

Arques-la-Bataille Arques-la-Bataille () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France. The zoologist Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville (1777–1850) was born in Arques. Geography Arques is situated near the conflue ...

, in

Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, grandson to

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist

Prosper Sainton Prosper Philippe Catherine Sainton (5 June 1813 – 17 October 1890) was a French violinist. Life Sainton was the son of a merchant at Toulouse, where he was born. He entered the Paris Conservatoire under François Antoine Habeneck in 1831 ...

and

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby (17 May 182118 February 1885), was an English contralto, singing teacher and composer. Life Charlotte Helen Dolby was born in London to Samuel Dolby and Charlotte Niven. Her father died when she was 10 years old. S ...

, but the family soon moved to

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settlement ...

, Surrey in the UK.Leach, Gerald. ''British Composer Profiles'', 3rd ed. (2012) He started his music studies learning the

. In 1913 he entered the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he studied composition under

Frederick Corder Frederick Corder (26 January 1852 – 21 August 1932) was an English composer and music teacher. Life Corder was born in Hackney, the son of Micah Corder and his wife Charlotte Hill. He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School and start ...

and

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

under

Lionel Tertis Lionel Tertis, CBE (29 December 187622 February 1975) was an English violist. He was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and a noted teacher. Career Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigra ...

.Clark, Barbara. Biography at ''MusicWeb International''
/ref> Shortly after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

(during which he was a cipher officer in Cairo) he joined the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

orchestra, and in 1925 he was also appointed principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Society's orchestra. These positions were relinquished in 1929 when he was asked to replace Harry Waldo Warner in the

London Quartet The London String Quartet was a string quartet founded in London in 1908 which remained one of the leading English chamber groups into the 1930s, and made several well-known recordings. Personnel The personnel of the London String Quartet was: ...

. In 1930 he joined the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

. His composition activities had begun early. The premiere of his first orchestral work, ''Sea Pictures'', took place at the

Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

on 4 September 1923 with the composer conducting. It was repeated the following year. Other Proms premieres included ''Harlequin and Columbine'' on 1 October 1925 and the ballet ''The Dream of a Marionette'' on 13 August 1929. In 1935, Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

conducted the premiere of his ''Serenade Fantastique'' with

Bernard Shore Bernard Shore (17 March 1896 – 2 April 1985) was an English viola player and author. Early life Shore studied at the Royal College of Music from 1912, with Sir Walter Alcock (organ) and Thomas Dunhill (composition), but his time there was inte ...

playing the viola. During the 1940s he was a professor of Ensemble at the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and ja ...

. Today, he is perhaps most remembered as the composer of the score for

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

's 1956 film ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

''. Martin Anderson described it as "a vast, alfresco ballet danced by the sea itself" which "points to what was lost when ill-health prevented the already deeply self-critical Sainton from tackling the symphony he had long planned." The score - restored and partially re-constructed by J. Morgan and W. Stromberg in the late 1990sNotes to Naxos CD 8.573367 (1998)
/ref> - shows the combined influence of Ravel, Delius and Vaughan Williams. Modern recordings on Marco Polo and Chandos of ''Moby Dick'', his tone poem ''The Island'' (1939), the symphonic elegy ''Nadir'' (first performed in 1949) as well as ''The Dream of a Marionette'' have helped the process of re-evaluating his music after years of neglect. His daughter Barbara Clark holds many of the remaining scores. Sainton also orchestrated a number of scores by the amateur South African composer J.S. Gerber. In April 1915 he married the harpist (1883-1977), who was later professor of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music, where she taught

Osian Ellis Osian or Osiyan may refer to: * Osian art fund, an arts fund started in Mumbai (2010). *Osian, Jodhpur, a city in Rajasthan, India *Osiyan, Unnao, a village in Unnao district, Uttar Pradesh, India *Osian (name), a name common in Wales, derived from ...

.'London Concerts' in ''The Musical Times'', March 1921, p. 183
/ref> He died in

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Works

Stage * ''The Dream of the Marionette'', Ballet (1929) Orchestral * ''Sea Pictures'' (1923–1924) (aka ''Two Orchestral Pieces'') * ''Harlequin and Columbine'' (published 1925) * ''The Dream of a Marionette'' ballet (1929) * ''Sérénade Fantastique'' for Viola and Orchestra (1935) (also arranged for oboe) * ''The Island'', Tone Poem (1939) - recording conducted by

Matthias Bamert Matthias Bamert (born July 5, 1942 in Ersigen, Canton of Bern) is a Swiss composer and conductor. In addition to studies in Switzerland, Bamert studied music in Darmstadt and in Paris, with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, and their influ ...

, 1992 * ''Caricature'' (1940) * ''Nadir'', Tone Poem (1942) * ''Moby Dick'', Suite from the Film (1956) :: ''The Clipper'' * ''Carnival'' Chamber music * ''Crépuscule'' for Viola and Piano (1935) * ''Phantom Gavotte'' for Viola and Piano Vocal * ''Even for Me'' for Voice and Piano * ''He Was My King'' for Voice and Piano; words by Helen Waddell * ''Jonah's Hymn'' from ''Moby Dick'' for Voice and Piano * ''Leaves, Shadows and Dreams'' for Voice and Piano; words by

Fiona Macleod William Sharp (12 September 1855 – 12 December 1905) was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. He was also an editor ...

* ''A Night in Spring'' for Voice and Piano; words by

Clifford Bax Clifford Lea Bax (13 July 1886 – 18 November 1962)Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-Armour, A. C. Fox-Davies, T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1910, p. 106 was a versatile English writer, known particularly as a playwright, a journalist, ...

* ''Shieling Song'' for Voice and Piano; words by

* ''The Song of the Wind Bell'' for Voice and Piano; words by

Harold Acton Sir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton (5 July 1904 – 27 February 1994) was a British writer, scholar, and aesthete who was a prominent member of the Bright Young Things. He wrote fiction, biography, history and autobiography. During his stay in C ...

* ''A Walk by the River at Night '' for Voice and Piano; words by

Film music * ''

'' (1956) * ''

A King in New York ''A King in New York'' is a 1957 British comedy film directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin in his last leading role, which co-stars, among others, his young son Michael. The film presents a satirical view of the McCarthy communist-hunt era ...

'' (1957); incomplete Orchestrations of works by Jack Sydney Gerber (1902-1979) * ''Balaton Rhapsody'' * ''Fiesta'' * ''Prelude to Stonehenge'' * ''The Sea''

References

* Material from External links * Material from th
French article

External links

Music Web Biography
* Allmusic Biography* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sainton, Philip 1891 births 1967 deaths British composers British classical violists British film score composers British male film score composers Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century French composers 20th-century British musicians 20th-century French male musicians 20th-century violists