Philip Sainton
Philip Prosper Sainton was a British-French composer, conductor, and violist.
Early career
He was born in Arques-la-Bataille, in Seine-Maritime, France, grandson to violinist Prosper Sainton and contralto Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby, but the family soon moved to Godalming, Surrey in the UK. His father, Charles Prosper, was a painter and his mother, born Amy Foster, was a singer.He started his music studies learning the violin. In 1913 he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition under Frederick Corder and viola under Lionel Tertis.
Shortly after World War I he joined the Queen's Hall 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. In 1930 he joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Composer
His composition activities had begun early. The premiere of his first orchestral work, Sea Pictures, took place at the Queen's Hall Proms 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 conducted the premiere of his Serenade Fantastique with Bernard Shore playing the viola. During the 1940s he was a professor of Ensemble at the Guildhall School of Music.Today, he is perhaps most remembered as the composer of the score for John Huston's 1956 film Moby Dick. 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 1990s - 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, the symphonic elegy Nadir as well as The Dream of a Marionette have helped the process of re-evaluating his music after years of neglect. Sainton also orchestrated a number of scores by the amateur South African composer J.S. Gerber.
Personal life and death
In April 1915 he married the harpist Gwendolen Mason, who was later professor of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music, where she taught Osian Ellis. His second wife was Raymonde McGeoch, whom he met and married in 1935. He died in Petersfield, Hampshire in England. His daughter Barbara Clark holds many of the remaining scores.Works
StageThe Dream of the Marionette, BalletOrchestralSea Pictures Harlequin and Columbine The Dream of a Marionette ballet Sérénade Fantastique for Viola and Orchestra The Island, Tone Poem - recording conducted by Matthias Bamert, 1992Caricature Nadir, Tone Poem Moby Dick, Suite from the Film Carnival
Chamber musicCrépuscule for Viola and Piano Phantom Gavotte for Viola and Piano
VocalEven for Me for Voice and PianoHe Was My King for Voice and Piano; words by Helen WaddellJonah's Hymn from Moby Dick for Voice and PianoLeaves, Shadows and Dreams for Voice and Piano; words by Fiona MacleodA Night in Spring for Voice and Piano; words by Clifford BaxShieling Song for Voice and Piano; words by Fiona MacleodThe Song of the Wind Bell for Voice and Piano; words by Harold ActonA Walk by the River at Night for Voice and Piano; words by Clifford Bax
Film musicMoby Dick A King in New York ; incomplete
Orchestrations of works by Jack Sydney Gerber Balaton RhapsodyFiestaPrelude to Stonehenge
- ''The Sea''