Richard Stewart Addinsell

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"...Richard Stewart Addinsell (13 January 1904 – 14 November 1977) was a British composer, best known for film music, primarily his Warsaw Concerto, composed for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight (also known under the later title Suicide Squadron)....

...The Warsaw Concerto was written for the 1941 film Dangerous Moonlight, and continues to be a popular concert and recording piece. The film-makers wanted something in the style of Sergei Rachmaninoff, but were unable to persuade Rachmaninoff himself to write a piece. Roy Douglas orchestrated the concerto. It has been recorded over one hundred times and has sold in excess of three million copies....

...He was for many years the companion of the fashion designer Victor Stiebel, who died a year before Addinsell in 1976."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Richard Addinsell', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 May 2011, 23:26 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Addinsell> [accessed 5 June 2011]

Encyclopedia.com Biography

Composer. Nationality: British. Born: London, England, 13 January 1904. Family: single. Education: Home schooled; attended Hertford School, Oxford, for 18 months; attended Royal College of Music for two semesters; studied in Berlin and Vienna, 1929–32. Career: Composed songs for London theater, 1925–28; scored first film, Amateur Gentleman, 1936. Died: London, England, 15 November 1977....

...born in London on January 13, 1904. He was the son of a successful London business man and a mother so protective of her youngest child that his major education came through home schooling. Addinsell briefly attended Hertford School, Oxford, where he began to read Law, but his interest in music soon led him—briefly—to the Royal College of Music....

...1940s and 1950s Addinsell alternated film scoring with theatrical work, the latter including both composing and performing (as pianist/accompanist). He was especially known for his songwriting with the British actress/lyricist Joyce Grenfell..."

SOURCE: "Addinsell, Richard." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (June 5, 2011). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406802148.html