John Addison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Addison
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Addison in 1953.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | John Mervyn Addison |
| Born | 16 March 1920 Chobham, Surrey, England |
| Died | 7 December 1998 (aged 78) Bennington, Vermont, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer |
John Mervyn Addison (born March 16, 1920, died December 7, 1998) was a talented British composer. He is most famous for creating music for many movies.
Contents
Early Life and Education
John Addison was born in Chobham, Surrey, England. His father was a colonel in the army, which led John to attend Wellington College, Berkshire. His grandfather, George Addison, was also famous. He played football for the Royal Engineers in important FA Cup Finals in the 1870s.
At 16, John went to the Royal College of Music. There, he studied how to compose music with Gordon Jacob. He also learned to play the oboe and clarinet. His studies stopped in 1939 because of World War II.
War Service
During the war, Addison served as a tank officer. He was part of the British XXX Corps in the 23rd Hussars. He fought in the Battle of Normandy and was hurt in Caen. He also took part in Operation Market Garden. Years later, John Addison would write the music for the movie A Bridge Too Far, which was about this very operation. After the war, he returned to London. He taught music composition at the Royal College of Music.
A Career in Music
John Addison is best known for his amazing film scores. These are the musical pieces written specifically for movies.
Awards and Recognition
He won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the music in the 1963 film, Tom Jones. He also won a Grammy Award for this film's music. Later, he received a BAFTA Award for his work on A Bridge Too Far in 1977.
Addison also composed the famous theme music for the TV series Murder, She Wrote. He won an Emmy Award for the music in the show's two-hour pilot episode.
Notable Film and TV Scores
John Addison wrote music for many other films, including:
- A Taste of Honey (1961)
- Smashing Time (1967)
- The Honey Pot (1967)
- Sleuth (1972)
- Swashbuckler (1976)
He also composed for the TV series Centennial (1978). Interestingly, he was the composer Alfred Hitchcock chose for his 1966 film Torn Curtain. This happened after Hitchcock stopped working with his usual composer, Bernard Herrmann.
John Addison had a personal connection to the film Reach for the Sky (1956). He wrote the music for this movie. The film was about Douglas Bader, a famous pilot who was John's brother-in-law. Douglas Bader married John's older sister, Thelma.
Music for Theatre
Besides movies, Addison also wrote music for plays. He composed music for John Osborne's plays The Entertainer (1957) and Luther (1961). He also worked with John Cranko on a show called "Cranks" in 1956.
Classical Compositions
Even though he was very successful with film music, John Addison also wrote many classical pieces. He once said that if you are good at something, like being a film composer, it's smart to keep doing it.
Some of his classical works include:
- Concerto for trumpet, strings, and percussion (1949)
- A trio for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon
- Carte Blanche, a ballet first performed in 1953
- A septet for wind instruments and harp
- A piano concertino
- A concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, and orchestra
- A partita for strings, which was highly praised.
His Bassoon Concertino was one of his last pieces. It was first played by Graham Salvage and the Hallé Orchestra in 1998.
The famous singer Marlene Dietrich even recorded two songs from his Tom Jones movie score: If He Swing By the String and Such Trying Times.
Legacy
In 1994, John Addison's collection of letters, music scores, and recordings were given to the Film Music Archives at Brigham Young University. He passed away on December 7, 1998. He was survived by his wife Pamela, two sons Jonathan and Daniel, a daughter Lucinda, and two stepchildren. His daughter Jane had passed away before him.
Images for kids
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Addison in 1953.
See also
In Spanish: John Addison (1920-1998) para niños
