Brassed Off
Encyclopedia
Brassed Off is a 1996 British film
written and directed by Mark Herman
. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films
and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band
, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band
, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe
's own struggles against pit closures. It is generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry and the struggle to retain hope
in the circumstances.
Channel 4
and The Guardian
both sponsored what was expected to be a low-profile film; it was not expected to gain the wide audience that it has. Having expected viewers to be mostly those with past links to coal mining, the film does not make explicit the political background to the plot. The American marketing for the film (and later VHS and DVD releases) portrays the film as a cheerful romantic comedy with nearly no mention at all about the musical or political elements.
The film stars Pete Postlethwaite
, Tara Fitzgerald
and Ewan McGregor
. The film was well received as a comedy, and by some as a political statement about the state of traditional coal mining communities in Britain
.
The film was particularly well received in former mining
communities, who felt it accurately reflected the suffering they faced because of the decline of their industry during the years of the Thatcher
and Major
Conservative governments
. It is set during the latter period, when Michael Heseltine
presided over a huge programme of pit closures, as President of the Board of Trade.
Audio samples from the film were used on the 1997 Chumbawamba
record, Tubthumper
.
village of Grimethorpe
, which had been named as the poorest village in Britain two years earlier by the European Union
. The nearby areas of the Dearne Valley
and the Hemsworth
area were also identified as in need of serious aid. Indeed, the soundtrack for the film was recorded by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band
, the story roughly reflects Grimethorpe Colliery Band's history, and the film was largely shot in Grimethorpe
. The Grimley Colliery Band in the film is made up of a mixture of actors and members of the Grimethorpe Band.
The miners in the film put up little resistance to the coal board
's harsh redundancy
policy. This can be understood in the context of the 1984-85 British miners' strike, which effectively destroyed trade union
power in British coal mining industry. The film depicts the spirit of hopelessness 10 years after the strike, and the miners' attempts to find redemption. An ongoing piece of symbolism in the first half of the film is the lack of conversation between one miner and his wife, until she finally criticises him harshly for not making a show of resistance against the closure, when he had been so full of fight in 1984.
) has been sent to her old hometown of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal
. She also plays the flugelhorn
brilliantly, and is allowed to play with the local brass band, made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor
), which soon leads to complications. It is later revealed during a confrontation between Gloria and the management of the colliery that the decision to close the colliery had been made two years previously, and that this was to have gone ahead regardless of the findings of her report; the report simply being a P.R. exercise to placate the miners and members of the public sympathetic to their plight.
The passionate band conductor, Danny (Pete Postlethwaite
), finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son Phil (Stephen Tompkinson
) is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. As Danny, (who is earlier seen coughing coal dust into a handkerchief) collapses in the street and is hospitalised from pneumoconiosis
or a similar disease, Phil, who is later revealed to be struggling with the guilt of having voted to take a lump sum rather than fight the closure of the colliery, has a breakdown while entertaining a group of children as part of a harvest festival in a church. Saying he doesn't know much about harvest festival, he offers to tell a story about God, which descends into a foul-mouthed satire about how the Tory Party was created (having been informed there was a surplus of bodies but no brains, hearts and vocal chords, God gave instructions to "Sew 'em up anyway. Smack smiles on their faces and make them talk out their arses.") then, after being asked to leave, and being told "May God forgive you." gestures towards the effigy of Jesus on the cross and reels off a list of perceived injustices, asking "What the bloody hell's He playing at?" before parting with "You've been great. My name's Coco the Scab
." Later (in one of the film's darker moments) he attempts suicide by trying to hang himself from the girders of one of the colliery's winding towers. He is spotted, still in his clown costume, by two security guards who, it is assumed, save him. Danny, lying in a hospital bed, notices Phil's clown shoes as he is pushed by the door to his ward on a trolley. While talking in the hospital, Phil reveals to Danny that in light of the colliery's closure, the band has decided not to continue playing.
With the intention that it will be their last performance, the band, (in full uniform, and wearing their miner's helmets and cap lamps) play "Danny Boy" late at night outside the hospital. Andy, having pawned his tenor horn, whistles along with his hands in his pockets. After they finish, they all switch off their lamps.
As the colliery itself is finally closed, the band finds success in the national brass band competition. Andy wins his tenor horn back in a game of pool, and having forgiven Gloria, after she gives them the money she was paid to compile the report, (saying she doesn't want it because it's "dirty money") the band travel to the final at the Royal Albert Hall
in London
, (Birmingham Town Hall
was used to film these scenes) where they are amused by the woman on the P.A. system in the dressing room's inability to pronounce colliery, with an older band member remarking "I bet she's glad the bugger's closed." Before departing, Phil leaves a note for Danny, which is found on the bed by a nurse along with Danny's pajamas the next morning. The note simply says: "WE'RE GOING!" Danny arrives, in uniform, just in time to see the band win the competition with a stirring rendition of "The William Tell Overture
", during which Phil notices his wife and children are in the audience. Danny refuses to accept the trophy stating that it's only human beings that matter and not music or the trophy and that "...this bloody government has systematically destroyed an entire industry. OUR industry. And not just our industry— our communities, our homes, our lives. All in the name of 'progress'. And for a few lousy bob". However, despite this moving gesture, another band member takes away the giant cup with a typical Yorkshire "Don't talk so bloody soft". The film ends with Andy and Gloria kissing passionately on the upper deck of an open topped bus travelling through London, while the rest of the band play Land of Hope and Glory
under Danny's conduction.
although some titles existed before Jones' commission as original compositions for brass band or arrangements for example Death or Glory and Floral Dance
respectively.
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
written and directed by Mark Herman
Mark Herman
Mark Herman is an English film director and screenwriter best known for writing & directing the 2008 film The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas....
. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band
Brass band
A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting entirely of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands , but are usually more correctly termed military bands, concert...
, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band...
, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe is a large village which is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,873....
's own struggles against pit closures. It is generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry and the struggle to retain hope
Hope
Hope is the emotional state which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. It is the "feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" or the act of "look[ing] forward to with desire and reasonable confidence" or...
in the circumstances.
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
both sponsored what was expected to be a low-profile film; it was not expected to gain the wide audience that it has. Having expected viewers to be mostly those with past links to coal mining, the film does not make explicit the political background to the plot. The American marketing for the film (and later VHS and DVD releases) portrays the film as a cheerful romantic comedy with nearly no mention at all about the musical or political elements.
The film stars Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
, Tara Fitzgerald
Tara Fitzgerald
Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage....
and Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
. The film was well received as a comedy, and by some as a political statement about the state of traditional coal mining communities in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The film was particularly well received in former mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
communities, who felt it accurately reflected the suffering they faced because of the decline of their industry during the years of the Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
Conservative governments
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. It is set during the latter period, when Michael Heseltine
Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major...
presided over a huge programme of pit closures, as President of the Board of Trade.
Audio samples from the film were used on the 1997 Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
record, Tubthumper
Tubthumper
Tubthumper is an album by the band Chumbawamba, and is the album that catapulted them into the mainstream, released by EMI Electrola GmbH and in the US by Universal Records...
.
Background
The film is set in "Grimley" in the mid-1990s — a thinly disguised version of the real South YorkshireSouth Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
village of Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe is a large village which is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,873....
, which had been named as the poorest village in Britain two years earlier by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. The nearby areas of the Dearne Valley
Dearne Valley
The Dearne Valley is an area of South Yorkshire along the River Dearne. It encompasses the towns of Wombwell, Wath-upon-Dearne, Swinton, Conisbrough and Mexborough, the large villages of Ardsley, Bolton on Dearne, Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe, Darfield, Stairfoot and Brampton Bierlow, and many other...
and the Hemsworth
Hemsworth
Hemsworth is a small town and civil parish on the edge of West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the City of Wakefield, and has a population of 13,311....
area were also identified as in need of serious aid. Indeed, the soundtrack for the film was recorded by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
The Grimethorpe Colliery Band is a brass band, based in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire, England. It was formed in 1917, as a leisure activity for the workers at the colliery, by members of the disbanded Cudworth Colliery Band...
, the story roughly reflects Grimethorpe Colliery Band's history, and the film was largely shot in Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe
Grimethorpe is a large village which is part of the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 1,873....
. The Grimley Colliery Band in the film is made up of a mixture of actors and members of the Grimethorpe Band.
The miners in the film put up little resistance to the coal board
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
's harsh redundancy
Layoff
Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...
policy. This can be understood in the context of the 1984-85 British miners' strike, which effectively destroyed trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
power in British coal mining industry. The film depicts the spirit of hopelessness 10 years after the strike, and the miners' attempts to find redemption. An ongoing piece of symbolism in the first half of the film is the lack of conversation between one miner and his wife, until she finally criticises him harshly for not making a show of resistance against the closure, when he had been so full of fight in 1984.
Plot
Gloria (Tara FitzgeraldTara Fitzgerald
Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage....
) has been sent to her old hometown of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal
British Coal
thumb|right|British Coal company logoThe British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation in the United Kingdom responsible for the extraction of coal...
. She also plays the flugelhorn
Flugelhorn
The flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
brilliantly, and is allowed to play with the local brass band, made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy (Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
), which soon leads to complications. It is later revealed during a confrontation between Gloria and the management of the colliery that the decision to close the colliery had been made two years previously, and that this was to have gone ahead regardless of the findings of her report; the report simply being a P.R. exercise to placate the miners and members of the public sympathetic to their plight.
The passionate band conductor, Danny (Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
), finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son Phil (Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Tompkinson is a British actor. He is best known for his work in comedy and drama productions such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Ballykissangel, Grafters, In Deep, Wild at Heart and DCI Banks....
) is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. As Danny, (who is earlier seen coughing coal dust into a handkerchief) collapses in the street and is hospitalised from pneumoconiosis
Pneumoconiosis
Pneumoconiosis is an occupational lung disease and a restrictive lung disease caused by the inhalation of dust, often in mines.-Types:Depending upon the type of dust, the disease is given different names:...
or a similar disease, Phil, who is later revealed to be struggling with the guilt of having voted to take a lump sum rather than fight the closure of the colliery, has a breakdown while entertaining a group of children as part of a harvest festival in a church. Saying he doesn't know much about harvest festival, he offers to tell a story about God, which descends into a foul-mouthed satire about how the Tory Party was created (having been informed there was a surplus of bodies but no brains, hearts and vocal chords, God gave instructions to "Sew 'em up anyway. Smack smiles on their faces and make them talk out their arses.") then, after being asked to leave, and being told "May God forgive you." gestures towards the effigy of Jesus on the cross and reels off a list of perceived injustices, asking "What the bloody hell's He playing at?" before parting with "You've been great. My name's Coco the Scab
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
." Later (in one of the film's darker moments) he attempts suicide by trying to hang himself from the girders of one of the colliery's winding towers. He is spotted, still in his clown costume, by two security guards who, it is assumed, save him. Danny, lying in a hospital bed, notices Phil's clown shoes as he is pushed by the door to his ward on a trolley. While talking in the hospital, Phil reveals to Danny that in light of the colliery's closure, the band has decided not to continue playing.
With the intention that it will be their last performance, the band, (in full uniform, and wearing their miner's helmets and cap lamps) play "Danny Boy" late at night outside the hospital. Andy, having pawned his tenor horn, whistles along with his hands in his pockets. After they finish, they all switch off their lamps.
As the colliery itself is finally closed, the band finds success in the national brass band competition. Andy wins his tenor horn back in a game of pool, and having forgiven Gloria, after she gives them the money she was paid to compile the report, (saying she doesn't want it because it's "dirty money") the band travel to the final at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, (Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
was used to film these scenes) where they are amused by the woman on the P.A. system in the dressing room's inability to pronounce colliery, with an older band member remarking "I bet she's glad the bugger's closed." Before departing, Phil leaves a note for Danny, which is found on the bed by a nurse along with Danny's pajamas the next morning. The note simply says: "WE'RE GOING!" Danny arrives, in uniform, just in time to see the band win the competition with a stirring rendition of "The William Tell Overture
William Tell Overture
The William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
", during which Phil notices his wife and children are in the audience. Danny refuses to accept the trophy stating that it's only human beings that matter and not music or the trophy and that "...this bloody government has systematically destroyed an entire industry. OUR industry. And not just our industry— our communities, our homes, our lives. All in the name of 'progress'. And for a few lousy bob". However, despite this moving gesture, another band member takes away the giant cup with a typical Yorkshire "Don't talk so bloody soft". The film ends with Andy and Gloria kissing passionately on the upper deck of an open topped bus travelling through London, while the rest of the band play Land of Hope and Glory
Land of Hope and Glory
"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...
under Danny's conduction.
Cast
| Cast | Characters |
|---|---|
| Ewan McGregor Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the... |
Andy |
| Pete Postlethwaite Pete Postlethwaite Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr... |
Danny |
| Tara Fitzgerald Tara Fitzgerald Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage.... |
Gloria |
| Stephen Tompkinson Stephen Tompkinson Stephen Tompkinson is a British actor. He is best known for his work in comedy and drama productions such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Ballykissangel, Grafters, In Deep, Wild at Heart and DCI Banks.... |
Phil |
| Jim Carter | Harry |
| Philip Jackson Philip Jackson (actor) Philip Jackson is an English actor, known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in the television series Poirot and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series Robin of Sherwood. Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire... |
Jim |
| Peter Martin Peter Martin (actor) Peter Martin is an English actor who was known in the 1980s for his TV commercials for Jewsons Hardware. He played the fish shop man in First of the Summer Wine. He also played 'Charlie the moonlighting gravedigger' in the Beiderbecke Tapes... |
Ernie |
| Melanie Hill Melanie Hill Melanie Hill is an English actress from Sunderland, County Durham.-Television:Hill replaced Gilly Coman as the character of Aveline in the last two series' of Carla Lane's BBC television sitcom Bread... |
Sandra |
| Sue Johnston Sue Johnston Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside , Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family between 1998 and 2000, and again in 2006, 2008, 2009,... |
Vera |
| Mary Healey | Ida |
| Stephen Moore Stephen Moore (actor) Stephen Moore is an English actor, known for his work on British television since the 1980s. He is known for his appearances in Rock Follies and other TV series such as The Last Place on Earth, the children's series The Queen's Nose and the drama Mersey Beat and the British TV comedy series Solo,... |
McKenzie (the colliery's manager) |
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Brassed Off is officially composed by Trevor JonesTrevor Jones (composer)
Trevor Alfred Charles Jones is a South African orchestral film score composer. Although not especially well known outside the film world, he has composed for numerous films and his music has been critically acclaimed for both its depth and emotion.-Career:At the age of five, Jones already had...
although some titles existed before Jones' commission as original compositions for brass band or arrangements for example Death or Glory and Floral Dance
The Floral Dance
The Floral Dance is a popular English song describing the annual Furry Dance in Helston, Cornwall.The music and lyrics were written in 1911 by Kate Emily Barkley Moss who was a professional violinist, pianist and concert singer...
respectively.
Track listing
- Death or Glory - Robert Browne Hall
- A Sad Old Day
- Floral DanceThe Floral DanceThe Floral Dance is a popular English song describing the annual Furry Dance in Helston, Cornwall.The music and lyrics were written in 1911 by Kate Emily Barkley Moss who was a professional violinist, pianist and concert singer...
- Katie Moss - Aforementioned Essential Items
- En Aranjuez Con Tu AmorConcierto de AranjuezThe Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. ...
- Joaquín RodrigoJoaquín RodrigoJoaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez , commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success... - Years of Coal
- March of the Cobblers - Bob Barrett & Edrich Siebert
- There's More Important Things in Life
- Cross of Honour - William RimmerWilliam Rimmer (music)William Rimmer was a Lancashire composer and conductor of brass band music who was particularly well-known for his marches.Rimmer was born in Southport in 1862 into a musical family. His father was bandmaster of the Lancashire Volunteer Rifles and encouraged both Rimmer and his brother Robert in...
- JerusalemAnd did those feet in ancient time"And did those feet in ancient time" is a short poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic Milton a Poem, one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date on the title page of 1804 for Milton is probably when the plates were begun, but the poem was printed c. 1808...
- Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words... - Florentiner March - Julius FučíkJulius Fucík (composer)Julius Arnost Wilhelm Fučík was a Czech composer and conductor of military bands.Fučík spent most of his life as the leader of military brass bands. He became a prolific composer, with over 300 marches, polkas, and waltzes to his name...
- Danny BoyDanny Boy-Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine...
- Percy GraingerPercy GraingerGeorge Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many... - We'll Find a Way
- Clog DanceClog Dance (song)Clog Dance was the first single released by Violinski, and became their only charting single. It was written by band member John Marcangelo, inspired by a shop in his town called Brew's which sold clogs....
- John MarcangeloJohn MarcangeloJohn Marcangelo is an English pianist, drummer and composer of folk-rock music.-Early life:He comes from The Valley in Whitehaven in Cumberland. He went to on Coach Road in Whitehaven. He is the son of an Italian barber... - Colonel BogeyColonel Bogey MarchThe "Colonel Bogey March" is a popular march that was written in 1914 by Lieutenant F. J. Ricketts , a British army bandmaster who later became director of music for the Royal Marines at Plymouth...
- Kenneth AlfordKenneth AlfordFrederick Joseph Ricketts was a British composer of marches for band. Using the pen name Kenneth J. Alford, his marches are considered to be great examples of the art... - All Things Bright and Beautiful - William Henry MonkWilliam Henry MonkProbably better known in his day as an organist, church musician, and music editor, William Henry Monk composed a fair number of popular hymn tunes, including one of the most famous from nineteenth century England, "Eventide", used for the hymn Abide with Me...
arranged D.Rimmer - William Tell OvertureWilliam Tell OvertureThe William Tell Overture is the instrumental introduction to the opera Guillaume Tell by Gioachino Rossini. William Tell premiered in 1829 and was the last of Rossini's 39 operas, after which he went into semi-retirement, although he continued to compose cantatas, sacred music and secular vocal...
- Gioachino Rossini arranged G.J. Grant - Honest Decent Human Beings
- Pomp and Circumstance - Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
arranged Ord Hume