Angela Morley
Encyclopedia
Angela Morley was an English
composer
and conductor
. Morley was born in Leeds
, Yorkshire
in 1924, and played saxophone in a number of dance bands, and in 1944 became a member of Geraldo's band.
She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and encouragement of the Canadian light music
composer Robert Farnon
. In 1972, Morley underwent a sex-change operation. Later in life, she lived in Scottsdale
, Arizona
. She died there on 14 January 2009 of complications from a fall and subsequent heart attack.
Morley won two Emmys for her work in music arrangement. These were in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, in 1988 and 1990, both for television specials starring Julie Andrews
. Morley received Emmy nominations for composing music for television series such as Dynasty
and Dallas
. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Music, Original Song Score/Adaptation: for The Little Prince
(1974), a nomination shared with Alan Jay Lerner
, Frederick Loewe, and Douglas Gamley; and for The Slipper and the Rose
, which Morley shared with Richard M. Sherman
and Robert B. Sherman
.
, best known for pieces such as the jaunty Rotten Row and A Canadian in Mayfair, a homage to Robert Farnon
's Portrait of a Flirt. She is also remembered for writing the theme tune and incidental music
for Hancock's Half Hour
and was the musical director for The Goon Show
from the third series in 1952 to the last show in 1960. Another very short, but fondly remembered, theme was the 12-note-long "Ident Zoom-2", written for Lew Grade
's Associated TeleVision
(ATV) and in use from the introduction of colour television in 1969 until the demise of ATV in 1981.
In 1953, she began a long association with the Philips record label, arranging for and accompanying the company's artists, as well as releasing records, including the 1958 LP 'London Pride'.
In 1958 she worked with Shirley Bassey
, most notably on the song "As I Love You", which got to #1 in the UK singles chart in January 1959. She also worked with Dusty Springfield
and the first four highly regarded solo albums by Scott Walker
. In 1962 and 1963, she arranged the United Kingdom entries for the Eurovision Song Contest
, Ring-A-Ding Girl and Say Wonderful Things, both sung by Ronnie Carroll
. The former was conducted on the Eurovision stage in Luxembourg
by her as well.
In 1961 she provided the orchestral accompaniments for a selection of choral arrangements made by Norman Luboff
for an RCA LP that was recorded in London's Walthamstow Town Hall. The New Symphony Orchestra
(an ad hoc recording ensemble) was conducted by Leopold Stokowski
, and the choir of professional British singers, as rehearsed by Luboff, performed such favourites as "Deep River
", Handel's "Largo
", Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
", Rachmaninov's "Vocalise
", etc., under the LP's title "Inspiration" (also later reissued on a BMG Classics CD).
collaboration of Lerner and Loewe
, The Little Prince
(1974). At this time she was also a regular guest conductor of the BBC Radio Orchestra
and BBC Big Band
.
In 1976 she was music supervisor, arranger, and conductor for the Sherman Brothers
musical adaptation of the Cinderella
story, The Slipper and the Rose
. She won Oscar nominations for both films.
Additionally, she wrote most of the score for the 1978 film version of Watership Down
, although the prelude and opening was by Malcolm Williamson
. From about this point she began a collaboration with John Williams
, the composer for Star Wars
and other films, though working in an uncredited capacity.
During the 1980s she wrote numerous arrangements for the Boston Pops Orchestra
and scored many episodes of TV shows, including Dynasty
, Dallas
, Falcon Crest
, and Hotel
. She was nominated multiple times for Emmy Awards and won for music direction of Julie Andrews
TV specials.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. Morley was born in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in 1924, and played saxophone in a number of dance bands, and in 1944 became a member of Geraldo's band.
She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and encouragement of the Canadian light music
Light music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
composer Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon
Robert Joseph Farnon was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works , he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation...
. In 1972, Morley underwent a sex-change operation. Later in life, she lived in Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. She died there on 14 January 2009 of complications from a fall and subsequent heart attack.
Morley won two Emmys for her work in music arrangement. These were in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, in 1988 and 1990, both for television specials starring Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
. Morley received Emmy nominations for composing music for television series such as Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
and Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Music, Original Song Score/Adaptation: for The Little Prince
The Little Prince (film)
The Little Prince is a 1974 American/British science fiction musical film with screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
(1974), a nomination shared with Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film...
, Frederick Loewe, and Douglas Gamley; and for The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose is a 1976 British musical film retelling the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. This film was chosen as the Royal Command Performance motion picture selection for 1976....
, which Morley shared with Richard M. Sherman
Richard M. Sherman
Richard Morton Sherman is an American songwriter who specializes in musical film with his brother Robert Bernard Sherman....
and Robert B. Sherman
Robert B. Sherman
Robert Bernard Sherman is an American songwriter who specializes in musical films with his brother Richard Morton Sherman...
.
Pre-transition Works
She was originally a composer of light musicLight music
Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....
, best known for pieces such as the jaunty Rotten Row and A Canadian in Mayfair, a homage to Robert Farnon
Robert Farnon
Robert Joseph Farnon was a Canadian-born composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. As well as being a famous composer of original works , he was recognised as one of the finest arrangers of his generation...
's Portrait of a Flirt. She is also remembered for writing the theme tune and incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
for Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
and was the musical director for The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
from the third series in 1952 to the last show in 1960. Another very short, but fondly remembered, theme was the 12-note-long "Ident Zoom-2", written for Lew Grade
Lew Grade
Lew Grade, Baron Grade , born Lev Winogradsky, was an influential Russian-born English impresario and media mogul.-Early years:...
's Associated TeleVision
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
(ATV) and in use from the introduction of colour television in 1969 until the demise of ATV in 1981.
In 1953, she began a long association with the Philips record label, arranging for and accompanying the company's artists, as well as releasing records, including the 1958 LP 'London Pride'.
In 1958 she worked with Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, most notably on the song "As I Love You", which got to #1 in the UK singles chart in January 1959. She also worked with Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
and the first four highly regarded solo albums by Scott Walker
Scott Walker (singer)
Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
. In 1962 and 1963, she arranged the United Kingdom entries for the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
, Ring-A-Ding Girl and Say Wonderful Things, both sung by Ronnie Carroll
Ronnie Carroll
Ronnie Carroll is a Northern Irish singer and entertainer.-Career:...
. The former was conducted on the Eurovision stage in Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
by her as well.
In 1961 she provided the orchestral accompaniments for a selection of choral arrangements made by Norman Luboff
Norman Luboff
Norman Luboff was an American music arranger, music publisher, and choir director.-Early years:Norman Luboff was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1917. He studied piano as a child and participated in his high school chorus. Luboff studied at the University of Chicago and Central College in Chicago...
for an RCA LP that was recorded in London's Walthamstow Town Hall. The New Symphony Orchestra
New Symphony Orchestra
-History:The New Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1991 in Sofia, Bulgaria by the music critic Julia Hristova as an alternative to the existing Bulgarian musical institutions...
(an ad hoc recording ensemble) was conducted by Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
, and the choir of professional British singers, as rehearsed by Luboff, performed such favourites as "Deep River
Deep River (song)
"Deep River" is an anonymous spiritual of African American origin. It has been sung in several films, including the 1929 film version of Show Boat, although it was not used in the original show...
", Handel's "Largo
Ombra mai fu
"Ombra mai fu" is the opening aria from the 1738 opera Serse by George Frideric Handel.-Context:The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces...
", Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is the most common English title of the 10th movement of the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147 composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. A transcription by the English pianist Myra Hess was published in 1926 for piano solo and in 1934 for piano duet...
", Rachmaninov's "Vocalise
Vocalise
A vocalise is a vocal exercise without words, which is sung on one or more vowel sounds.-In classical music:Vocalise dates back to the mid-18th century...
", etc., under the LP's title "Inspiration" (also later reissued on a BMG Classics CD).
Works - As Angela Morley
After her sex change, she orchestrated, arranged, and supervised the music for the final musical filmMusical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
collaboration of Lerner and Loewe
Lerner and Loewe
Lerner and Loewe are the duo of lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe, known primarily for the music and lyrics of some of Broadway's most successful musical shows, including My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Brigadoon....
, The Little Prince
The Little Prince (film)
The Little Prince is a 1974 American/British science fiction musical film with screenplay and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
(1974). At this time she was also a regular guest conductor of the BBC Radio Orchestra
BBC Radio Orchestra
The BBC Radio Orchestra was a broadcasting orchestra based in London, maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation from 1965 until 1991....
and BBC Big Band
BBC Big Band
The BBC Big Band, originally known as the BBC Radio Big Band is a British big band run under the auspices of the BBC. Widely regarded as the UK’s leading and most versatile jazz orchestra, the band broadcasts exclusivley on BBC Radio, particularly on BBC Radio 2's long running series Big Band Special...
.
In 1976 she was music supervisor, arranger, and conductor for the Sherman Brothers
Sherman Brothers
The Sherman Brothers are an American songwriting duo that specialize in musical films, made up of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman ....
musical adaptation of the Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
story, The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose is a 1976 British musical film retelling the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. This film was chosen as the Royal Command Performance motion picture selection for 1976....
. She won Oscar nominations for both films.
Additionally, she wrote most of the score for the 1978 film version of Watership Down
Watership Down (film)
Watership Down is a 1978 English adventure drama animated film written, produced and directed by Martin Rosen and based on the book by Richard Adams. It was financed by a consortium of British financial institutions...
, although the prelude and opening was by Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
. From about this point she began a collaboration with John Williams
John Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
, the composer for Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
and other films, though working in an uncredited capacity.
During the 1980s she wrote numerous arrangements for the Boston Pops Orchestra
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....
and scored many episodes of TV shows, including Dynasty
Dynasty (TV series)
Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
, Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
, Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
, and Hotel
Hotel (TV series)
Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
. She was nominated multiple times for Emmy Awards and won for music direction of Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
TV specials.