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Roy Douglas
Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to William Walton and Ralph Vaughan Williams, made well-known orchestrations of works such as Les Sylphides (based on piano pieces by Chopin) and Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto, and wrote a quantity of original music.
Roy Douglas was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 12 December 1907, the youngest of the three children of Edith Ella Douglas, née Charlton, and her husband, Richard Moses Douglas, a buyer and manager in a furnishing company. His involvement with music began early: as a five-year-old he would listen to his sister playing in her piano lessons and then seat himself at the piano and play by ear. His mother decided that he too should have piano lessons. An attack of rheumatic fever left him with a damaged heart, and the doctors said he was unlikely to live to adulthood. His fragile health meant that he received little formal education, but when well enough, he spent many hours playing the piano, "reading at sight everything I could find from Beethoven to ragtime"
After the family moved to Folkestone in 1915 Douglas played in local concerts and at twenty he joined the Folkestone Municipal Orchestra. He was harmonium player, deputy pianist, celesta player, extra percussionist, librarian and programme-planner, for the pay of £6 a week for 14 performances and two rehearsals. When the local council cut the orchestral players' pay Douglas left to pursue a career in London. The family moved to Highgate, and he secured engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), which admitted him to full membership in 1933 as pianist, celesta player, organist, fourth percussionist and librarian.
With the LSO, Douglas played under conductors including John Barbirolli, Adrian Boult, Hamilton Harty, Malcolm Sargent, Bruno Walter and Sir Henry Wood. He also played in ballet and opera seasons in the West End. By his own reckoning he played the piano part in Stravinsky's Petrushka 80 times, and he recalled that in the "Polovtsian Dances" from Borodin's Prince Igor, "I played triangle and tambourine, both parts together, one with each hand". In addition to playing in the LSO, he was also the pianist for some West End shows and occasionally played at the Savoy Hotel to entertain diners.
In 1932 a friend, the violinist and conductor Rae Jenkins, rang Douglas to say that a film director needed a score based on Indian music for a forthcoming film. Douglas recalled, "I didn't know anything about Indian music and I'd never written for a film, but I took the job on". After this film, Karma, Douglas composed scores for Dick Turpin (1933), released in 1934, and five other films between then and 1943. During the 1930s Douglas assisted other film composers including Mischa Spoliansky (The Ghost Goes West, 1935), Arthur Benjamin (Wings of the Morning, 1937) and Anthony Collins (Sixty Glorious Years, 1938).
Douglas first broadcast on BBC radio in 1935 as the pianist of the Cellini Trio, with two LSO colleagues: Gordon Walker (flute) and Geraint Williams (cello). From 1936 to 1939 his arrangements featured in regular broadcasts by the Broadhurst Septet in chamber versions of orchestral or solo piano music. By 1938 he was a familiar name to radio listeners; introducing a concert of chamber music that featured one of his compositions, The Radio Times said:
The orchestration of Chopin's piano music used in Les Sylphides was done in nine days in 1936. Douglas wrote that he was "disgusted and horrified by the many bad orchestrations" of the music and made his own orchestration. He was offered a one-off payment of £10 for it, but refused to part with the copyright. As his version was taken up by most leading ballet companies round the world, royalties from it provided him with a substantial income for the rest of his life.
Douglas helped other film composers, often uncredited, assisting with the score for Noël Coward's In Which We Serve, and orchestrating scores by Richard Addinsell, including the Warsaw Concerto in Dangerous Moonlight. He and Addinsell also collaborated on Gaslight and The Day Will Dawn. According to Douglas's obituary in The Daily Telegraph he orchestrated all Addinsell's music for eight BBC radio programmes and twenty-four films. The LSO played many composers' scores for films during the Second World War, and Douglas came to work with Alan Rawsthorne, John Ireland and, most importantly for his later activities, William Walton.
Roy Douglas
Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to William Walton and Ralph Vaughan Williams, made well-known orchestrations of works such as Les Sylphides (based on piano pieces by Chopin) and Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto, and wrote a quantity of original music.
Roy Douglas was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 12 December 1907, the youngest of the three children of Edith Ella Douglas, née Charlton, and her husband, Richard Moses Douglas, a buyer and manager in a furnishing company. His involvement with music began early: as a five-year-old he would listen to his sister playing in her piano lessons and then seat himself at the piano and play by ear. His mother decided that he too should have piano lessons. An attack of rheumatic fever left him with a damaged heart, and the doctors said he was unlikely to live to adulthood. His fragile health meant that he received little formal education, but when well enough, he spent many hours playing the piano, "reading at sight everything I could find from Beethoven to ragtime"
After the family moved to Folkestone in 1915 Douglas played in local concerts and at twenty he joined the Folkestone Municipal Orchestra. He was harmonium player, deputy pianist, celesta player, extra percussionist, librarian and programme-planner, for the pay of £6 a week for 14 performances and two rehearsals. When the local council cut the orchestral players' pay Douglas left to pursue a career in London. The family moved to Highgate, and he secured engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), which admitted him to full membership in 1933 as pianist, celesta player, organist, fourth percussionist and librarian.
With the LSO, Douglas played under conductors including John Barbirolli, Adrian Boult, Hamilton Harty, Malcolm Sargent, Bruno Walter and Sir Henry Wood. He also played in ballet and opera seasons in the West End. By his own reckoning he played the piano part in Stravinsky's Petrushka 80 times, and he recalled that in the "Polovtsian Dances" from Borodin's Prince Igor, "I played triangle and tambourine, both parts together, one with each hand". In addition to playing in the LSO, he was also the pianist for some West End shows and occasionally played at the Savoy Hotel to entertain diners.
In 1932 a friend, the violinist and conductor Rae Jenkins, rang Douglas to say that a film director needed a score based on Indian music for a forthcoming film. Douglas recalled, "I didn't know anything about Indian music and I'd never written for a film, but I took the job on". After this film, Karma, Douglas composed scores for Dick Turpin (1933), released in 1934, and five other films between then and 1943. During the 1930s Douglas assisted other film composers including Mischa Spoliansky (The Ghost Goes West, 1935), Arthur Benjamin (Wings of the Morning, 1937) and Anthony Collins (Sixty Glorious Years, 1938).
Douglas first broadcast on BBC radio in 1935 as the pianist of the Cellini Trio, with two LSO colleagues: Gordon Walker (flute) and Geraint Williams (cello). From 1936 to 1939 his arrangements featured in regular broadcasts by the Broadhurst Septet in chamber versions of orchestral or solo piano music. By 1938 he was a familiar name to radio listeners; introducing a concert of chamber music that featured one of his compositions, The Radio Times said:
The orchestration of Chopin's piano music used in Les Sylphides was done in nine days in 1936. Douglas wrote that he was "disgusted and horrified by the many bad orchestrations" of the music and made his own orchestration. He was offered a one-off payment of £10 for it, but refused to part with the copyright. As his version was taken up by most leading ballet companies round the world, royalties from it provided him with a substantial income for the rest of his life.
Douglas helped other film composers, often uncredited, assisting with the score for Noël Coward's In Which We Serve, and orchestrating scores by Richard Addinsell, including the Warsaw Concerto in Dangerous Moonlight. He and Addinsell also collaborated on Gaslight and The Day Will Dawn. According to Douglas's obituary in The Daily Telegraph he orchestrated all Addinsell's music for eight BBC radio programmes and twenty-four films. The LSO played many composers' scores for films during the Second World War, and Douglas came to work with Alan Rawsthorne, John Ireland and, most importantly for his later activities, William Walton.