Sidney Jones (composer) facts for kids
Sidney Jones (born June 17, 1861 – died January 29, 1946) was an English conductor and composer. He became famous for writing the music for many popular musical comedies. These shows were big hits during the late Victorian and Edwardian times.
His most well-known musical was The Geisha. But many of his other works were also very popular. They had long runs, toured around the world, and were performed many times.
In 1892, after nine years of leading touring musical groups, Jones started conducting in London. He had already begun writing music and songs for the shows he conducted. He even wrote his own full musical scores in 1889 and 1892. In 1893, one of his songs, "Linger Longer, Loo," became famous everywhere English was spoken.
Jones's first big success was A Gaiety Girl (1893). This show helped start the popular Edwardian musical comedy style. Many other hits followed, including An Artist's Model (1894), The Geisha (1896), A Greek Slave (1898), and San Toy (1899). Later, his popular shows included My Lady Molly (1902), See See (1906), King of Cadonia (1908), The Girl from Utah (1913), and The Happy Day (1916).
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About Sidney Jones
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Sidney Jones was born in Islington, London. His father, James Sidney Jones Sr., was a military bandmaster. Sidney moved often as a child because his father's military job took them to different places. This included parts of England and Ireland.
Young Sidney learned to play many instruments in his father's band. In Dublin, he studied music with Sir Robert Stewart. Later, his family moved to Leeds. There, his father became a musical director at the Leeds Grand Theatre. Sidney was the oldest of six children. His youngest brother, Guy Sidney Jones, also became a conductor and composer.
In 1885, Sidney Jones married Kate Linley, who was an actress. They had five children together.
Starting His Musical Journey
Sidney Jones began his professional music career playing the clarinet in his father's band. He also taught piano lessons. In 1882, he started working as a conductor for touring musical shows. These included operettas like Les Cloches de Corneville.
He also wrote music and songs for other shows. In 1886, he became the musical director for a tour of a musical called Vetah.
Jones then worked for nearly four years as a conductor for tours of popular comic operas. These included Dorothy and The Red Hussar. After that, he became the music director for a tour of Little Jack Sheppard.
In 1891, George Edwardes hired Jones to be the musical director for a tour to America and Australia. He conducted shows like Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué. In 1892, after nine years of touring, Edwardes hired Jones to conduct the musical In Town in London's West End. He also directed music for other West End musicals like Morocco Bound (1893).
First Composing Successes
While conducting, Jones also started writing music and songs for the shows. In 1889, he wrote the music for a pantomime called Aladdin II. When his touring company performed Cinder Ellen in Australia, Jones added a new dance number. He also composed an operetta, Our Family Legend (1892).
In 1893, his song "Linger Longer, Loo" was added to the show Don Juan. This song became very popular around the world. It even inspired a drawing by the famous artist Toulouse-Lautrec.
That same year, George Edwardes gave Jones a chance to write all the music for A Gaiety Girl. This show was a huge success. It ran for a long time and toured internationally. It helped create a new style of popular musical theatre called Edwardian musical comedy. A song from the show, "Sunshine above," became a popular song to sing at home.
Jones's music style was similar to other composers he had conducted. But it was lighter and more cheerful. This made it very appealing to people at the time.
Daly's Theatre Years and Later Works
Sidney Jones soon became the main composer and music director for George Edwardes's new Daly's Theatre. After A Gaiety Girl, Jones worked with the same writers again. They created another hit, An Artist's Model (1894), which ran for fifteen months.
Then came three of the most successful musical comedies of the 1890s: The Geisha (1896), A Greek Slave (1898), and San Toy (1899). Jones's musicals at Daly's were more musically complex than the lighter shows at the Gaiety Theatre. They had strong romantic stories along with funny parts. The music included sentimental songs, dramatic pieces, and impressive group singing.
A song from The Geisha, "The Amorous Goldfish," became a famous hit. The Geisha and San Toy were popular because they used Asian settings. This was a trend in musical theatre at the time. These two musicals were performed often, recorded, and toured widely in Europe and other English-speaking countries. The Geisha became the most performed English musical in Europe for many years. It even appears in a short story by Anton Chekhov.
Other musicals followed, but Jones's next big successes were My Lady Molly (1902) and King of Cadonia (1908). See-See (1906) also did quite well. As a music director at the Empire Theatre, Jones wrote ballets like The Bugle Call (1905) and Cinderella (1906).
Later, Jones had two more successes: The Girl from Utah (1913) and The Happy Day (1916). However, around the time of World War I, musical styles changed. New dance rhythms like ragtime became popular. Sidney Jones stopped composing new music.
He passed away at his home in Kew, Surrey, when he was 84 years old.
Major Works
- 1889 Aladdin II
- 1892 Our Family Legend
- 1892 Don Juan (contributed "Linger Longer, Loo")
- 1893 A Gaiety Girl
- 1894 An Artist's Model
- 1896 The Geisha
- 1898 A Greek Slave
- 1899 San Toy
- 1902 My Lady Molly
- 1903 The Medal and the Maid
- 1905 The Bugle Call (ballet)
- 1906 Cinderella (ballet)
- 1906 See See
- 1908 King of Cadonia
- 1909 A Persian Princess
- 1913 The Girl from Utah
- 1916 The Happy Day
Images for kids
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Cover of the Vocal Score for King of Cadonia
