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Robert Farnon was born in Toronto to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). He was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army and became the conductor/arranger of the Canadian Band of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force sent overseas during World War II.
- Farnon, Robert
- Early Years in The United Kingdom
- Writing For Film and Television
- Farnon's Influential Contributions to Popular Music
- Farnon's Compositions
- Maintaining Canadian Connections
- Farnon's Later Career
- Awards and Recognition
- The Farnon Family
While a composition pupil of Louis Waizman in the 1930s, Farnon arranged music for Faith's choral groups and for the US orchestras of André Kostelanetz and Paul Whiteman. His first symphony, completed in 1940, was premiered 7 Jan 1941 as Symphonic Suite by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The Philadelphia Orchestra also performed it on several occas...
Farnon went overseas during World War II as music director for The Army Showand also conducted the Canadian band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces on the BBC. He subsequently arranged music for the English dance bands of Ambrose, Geraldo, and Ted Heath and by 1950 had his own BBC radio programs (eg, 'Journey into Melody'), for which he composed, a...
Concurrently Farnon made several LPs with the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra for Chappell & Co Mood Music, a library intended for use by the radio, TV, and film industries. His arrangements for Chappell, some originally conceived for the Canadian army orchestra, are acknowledged widely as having exerted a decisive influence on European and North Amer...
Farnon returned briefly to Canada in 1953, moved to Riverside, New Jersey, in 1954 but quickly returned to the UK, and finally made his home on Guernsey in the Channel Islands in 1958, providing easy access to work in London and European studios. He conducted orchestras for the BBC radio series 'Music All the Way' and 'Farnon in Concert' in the mid...
The most popular of Farnon's compositions were his orchestral setting of 'À la claire fontaine,' his suite Canadian Impressions, his theme for the BBC-TV series 'Colditz' (Colditz March, for which he won a 1972 Novello Award), and his shorter pieces How Beautiful Is Night, Jumping Bean, Manhattan Playboy, On the Sea Shore (Novello Award 1960), Pean...
Although he has often been portrayed as one of Canada's forgotten musicians, Farnon maintained several connections with his country of birth. He composed Pleasure of Your Company for Oscar Peterson, Scherzo for trumpet and orchestra (recorded by the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra), Rhapsody for violin and orchestra (recorded by Steven Staryk), Prelude and ...
Robert Farnon continued writing, recording and broadcasting through the 1990s and early 2000s, eg Here's to Life (with Joe Williams), and How Beautiful Is Night (with George Shearing), both on Telarc. In 1992, Farnon conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra's recording of Hornblower Suite and À la Claire Fontaine. Farnon won a US Grammy award fo...
The Robert Farnon Appreciation Society (later, the Robert Farnon Society), founded in England in 1956 to 'further the interests of all good light music in general, and the work of Robert Farnon in particular,' publishes the periodical Journal into Melody. Farnon was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1997. In addition to three UK Novello awards f...
Farnon's brothers Dennis and Brian also had careers in film composing. Dennis moved to Hollywood in 1951, wrote music for such cartoon characters as 'Mr Magoo' and 'Bullwinkle,' and made several LPs for RCA Victor, including Magoo in Hi Fi(LPM-1362). He later worked in London and Portugal. Brian (Bryan) worked in Hollywood for TV and in Lake Tahoe,...
Jun 11, 2008 · Robert Joseph Farnon, composer, arranger, conductor (b at Toronto 24 July 1917). He is considered one of the most influential film composers of his generation in Europe and North America.
Robert Farnon was born in Toronto on July 24th 1917, and by the time he celebrated his eightieth birthday in July 1997 with two tribute concerts at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, he had become famous worldwide as a composer, conductor and arranger.
Robert Joseph Farnon CM (24 July 1917 – 23 April 2005) was a Canadian -born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a composer of original works (often in the light music genre), he was commissioned by film and television producers for theme and incidental music.
[18] In addition, during the war, Happy Gang trumpet player Robert Farnon joined the Canadian army and became the conductor of the Allied Expeditionary Forces Canadian Band; he took the band to England and ended up staying, performing patriotic songs on the BBC.
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Apr 25, 2005 · Canadian composer Robert Farnon, best known as one of the greatest composers of light orchestral music during the post-Second World War era, has died.
