Benjamin Frankel (January 31, 1906 – February 12, 1973) was a British composer. January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ...

Biography

Frankel was born in London on January 31, 1906, the son of Polish-Jewish parents. He started learning the violin at an early age, showing remarkable talent; at age 14, his piano-playing talents attracted the attention of Victor Benham, who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time. He spent a few weeks in Germany in 1922, but quickly returned to London, where he won a scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and attempted his first serious compositions while earning his income as a jazz violinist, pianist and arranger. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1906 (MCMVI) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. ... Jazz is a musical art form that originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States around the start of the 20th century. ...

By the early 1930s, Frankel was in high demand as an arranger and musical director in London; he gave up theatre work in 1944, though, even though he retained an interest in movie composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. Frankel also became widely-known as a serious composer after World War II; his first work to gain fame was the violin concerto dedicated "in the memory of 'the six million'", a reference to the Jews murdered during the Holocaust, commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain and first performed by Max Rostal. Face The 1930s (years from 1930–1939) were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression, also known in Europe as the World Depression. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. ... “Shoah” redirects here. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition which opened in May 1951 in London. ... Max Rostal (August 7, 1905 - August 6, 1991) was a violinist. ...

Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted from a long association with Max Rostal. During the last 15 years of his life, Frankel also developed his own style of 12-note composition that retained contact with tonality. The term concerto (plural is concerti or concertos) usually refers to a musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra. ... Max Rostal (August 7, 1905 - August 6, 1991) was a violinist. ... Twelve-tone technique (also dodecaphony) is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. ... Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a key center or tonic. ...

Frankel died in London on February 12, 1973 while working on the three-act opera Marching Song and a ninth symphony which had been commissioned by the BBC. When he died, Marching Song had been completed in short score and was orchestrated by Buxton Orr, a composer who had studied with Frankel and whose advocacy has been at least partly responsible for the revival of interest in his works. February 12 is the 43rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ... Buxton Orr (18 April 1924 - December 27th, 1997) was a Glasgow-born British composer. ...

Posthumous Reputation

In the twenty years following his death, Frankel's works were almost completely neglected. In 1996, BBC featured him as "Composer of the Week", allowing many people a first opportunity to hear his music (they did so again in 2006). A major turning point, however, came when a German record company CPO (Classic Produktion Osnabrück, since bought by JPC) decided to record his entire output with the help of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This has allowed, for the first time, an appraisal of his output. Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Classic Produktion Osnabrück (often referred to as cpo, in lowercase) is a record label founded in 1986 by Burkhard Schmilgun and several others. ... The Australian Broadcasting Corporation or ABC is Australias national non-profit public broadcaster. ...

A selection of works

Symphonies

• Symphony no. 1 — op. 33, three movements, 1958 (first twelve-tone work?)
• Symphony no. 2 — op. 38, three movements, 1962
• Symphony no. 3 — op. 40, one movement, 1964
• Symphony no. 4 — op. 44, three movements, 1966
• Symphony no. 5 — op. 46, three movements, 1967
• Symphony no. 6 — op. 49, five movements, 1969
• Symphony no. 7 — op. 50, four movements, 1970
• Symphony no. 8 — op. 53, four movements, 1971

Opus, from the Latin word opus meaning work, is usually used in the sense of a work of art. In this sense the plural of opus, opera, is used to refer to the genre of music drama. ...

Concertos

• Violin concerto To the memory of the six million op. 24, four movements, 1951
• Serenata Concertante for piano trio and orchestra, one movement (in parts,) op. 37, 1960
• Viola concerto op. 45, three movements, 1967

Other orchestral and small-orchestra works (selected)

• Three sketches for strings (originally for quartet,) op. 2, 1920s?
• Solemn Speech and Discussion, op. 11
• Youth Music, four pieces for small orchestra, op. 12
• May Day (overture), op. 22, 1948
• Mephistopheles Serenade and Dance, op. 25, 1952
• Shakespeare Overture, op. 29
• Overture to a Ceremony, op. 51

Selected chamber works

• Three piano studies, op. 1, 1926
• String trio no. 1, op. 3
• Trio for clarinet, cello and piano, op. 10, three movements, 1940
• Violin solo sonata no. 1, op. 13 (before 1943)
• String quartet no. 1, op. 14, four movements, around 1944–5
• String quartet no. 2, op. 15, five movements, 1944
• String quartet no. 3, op. 18, five movements, around 1947
• Early Morning Music, trio for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, three movements, 1948
• String quartet no. 4, op. 21, four movements, around 1949?
• Quartet for piano and strings, op. 26, three movements ((c) 1962 but written sometime in the 1950s?)
• Quintet for clarinet and strings, op. 28, three movements, 1956
• Inventions in Major/Minor modes, cello and piano, op. 31
• String trio no. 2, op. 34, three movements, (c) 1960 (?)
• Cinque Pezzi Notturni for eleven instruments, op. 35, five pieces, 1959
• Violin solo sonata no. 2, op. 39, three movements, 1962
• Pezzi pianissimi for clarinet cello and piano, op. 41, four pieces, 1964
• String quartet no. 5, op. 43, five movements, 1965

Vocal works

• The Aftermath, op. 17
• Eight songs, op. 32, 1959

Film scores

• Radio Parade of 1935, 1935
• London Belongs to Me, 1948
• Trottie True, 1948
• So Long at the Fair, 1950
• Night and the City, 1950 UK release
• The Man in the White Suit, 1951
• Appointment with Venus, 1951
• A Kid for Two Farthings, 1955
• The Curse of the Werewolf, 1960
• Battle of the Bulge, 1965

The symphonies, concerti, quartets, and a few other works have been among the works recorded so far by cpo, as well as some film scores (a few works were available on LP, and the clarinet quintet has a CD alternative.) In Radio Parade of 1935 (released in the USA as Radio Follies) is a film released in 1934 which tells the story the sophisticated Director General of the National Broadcasting Group (Will Hay) promotes the ambitious Head of Complaints to Programmer Director (Clifford Mollison) in an attempt to stem the... London Belongs to Me (also known as Dulcimer Street) is a 1948 British film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Richard Attenborough and Alastair Sim. ... So Long at the Fair is a mystery-/suspense-thriller directed by Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough in 1950. ... Night and the City is a 1950 film based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. ... The Man in the White Suit is a satirical comedy movie made in 1951 by Ealing Studios. ... Appointment With Venus is a 1951 film adaptation of the Jerrard Tickell novel of the same name. ... A Kid for Two Farthings is a novel by the British writer Wolf Mankowitz, based on the authors experiences of growing up within a Jewish community in Londons East End. ... Curse of the Werewolf is a 1960 British horror film directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Studios. ... Battle of the Bulge is a war film released in 1965. ...

External links

• British Music Society Lecture-Recital Has authorized sound samples
• The Benjamin Frankel Society
• British Library Frankel Exhibition Online exhibition on Benjamin Frankel to mark his centenary