Christopher Hassall
Encyclopedia
Christopher Vernon Hassall (24 March 1912 – 25 April 1963) was an English actor
, dramatist, librettist, lyricist
and poet
, who found his greatest fame in a memorable musical partnership with the actor and composer Ivor Novello
after working together in the same touring company. He was also a noted biographer of Rupert Brooke
(1964, Faber and Faber
) and Edward Marsh (1958, James Tait Black Memorial Prize
1959).
and educated at Brighton College
. He is the son of John Hassall (illustrator)
and brother of Joan Hassall
, who engraved the title page of his book of poetry, Devil's Dyke, published in 1936. Hassall married the actress Eve Lynett with whom he had a son and a daughter, the actress Imogen Hassall
.
Hassall was an experienced actor serving as Ivor Novello's understudy in a minor London drama when Ivor Novello
invited him to provide the lyrics for a new musical. Their successful collaboration for Glamorous Night
(1935) ("Shine Through My Dreams", "Fold Your Wings") began a fifteen year partnership that included six long-running hits. ('Perchance to Dream' the other hit which Novello wrote during this period, had lyrics by Novello himself). While their musicals delighted West End audiences, they were judged "too British" for America. Jeremy Northam
, who played a character based on Ivor Novello in the 2001 Robert Altman
movie, Gosford Park
, sang "I Can Give You the Starlight" from The Dancing Years, Hassall's and Novello's 1939 musical.
During World War II in 1940, Hassall served in an anti-aircraft gun emplacement with editor John Guest, architect Denys Lasdun, and socialite Angus Menzies. A man of many talents, he recorded a record album entitled Great Voices Read Poetry (1954-1955) along with Richard Burton
, Dame Peggy Ashcroft
, John Gielgud
, Robert Hardy
, and Anthony Quayle. Hassall's contributions included: Upon Westminster Bridge, Daffodils, and Ode: Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
; and Death Be Not Proud by John Donne
.
Hassall lived at Tonford Manor, a house with a mediaeval stone tower situated by the River Stour on the outskirts of Canterbury
. He delighted in its fine prospect and had a road named after him in the community. At Thanington Church nearby is a small pane of glass engraved in his memory. Shortly before his death in 1963, Hassall spoke about the first Stour Music Festival, saying:
Hassall died on a train at Rochester, Kent on 25 April 1963 after suffering a heart attack
whilst running for the train to see his daughter play at the Royal Opera House
. He was 51.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, dramatist, librettist, lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, who found his greatest fame in a memorable musical partnership with the actor and composer Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
after working together in the same touring company. He was also a noted biographer of Rupert Brooke
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke was an English poet known for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War, especially The Soldier...
(1964, Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...
) and Edward Marsh (1958, James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
1959).
Biography
Hassall was born in LondonLondon
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...
and educated at Brighton College
Brighton College
Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...
. He is the son of John Hassall (illustrator)
John Hassall (illustrator)
John Hassall was born in Walmer, Kent on 21 May 1868, died 8 March 1948 and was an English illustrator.Hassall educated in Worthing, at Newton Abbot College and at Neuenheim College, Heidelberg. After twice failing entry to The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he emigrated to Manitoba in Canada...
and brother of Joan Hassall
Joan Hassall
Joan Hassall, was a wood engraver, book illustrator and typographer. Her subject matter ranged from natural history to illustrations for English literary classics...
, who engraved the title page of his book of poetry, Devil's Dyke, published in 1936. Hassall married the actress Eve Lynett with whom he had a son and a daughter, the actress Imogen Hassall
Imogen Hassall
Imogen Hassall was an English actress who appeared in 33 films during the 1960s and 1970s.- Early life :...
.
Hassall was an experienced actor serving as Ivor Novello's understudy in a minor London drama when Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
invited him to provide the lyrics for a new musical. Their successful collaboration for Glamorous Night
Glamorous Night
Glamorous Night is a musical with a book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall, Novello's collaborator in six of the eight Novello musicals staged between 1935 and 1951...
(1935) ("Shine Through My Dreams", "Fold Your Wings") began a fifteen year partnership that included six long-running hits. ('Perchance to Dream' the other hit which Novello wrote during this period, had lyrics by Novello himself). While their musicals delighted West End audiences, they were judged "too British" for America. Jeremy Northam
Jeremy Northam
Jeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...
, who played a character based on Ivor Novello in the 2001 Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
movie, Gosford Park
Gosford Park
Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...
, sang "I Can Give You the Starlight" from The Dancing Years, Hassall's and Novello's 1939 musical.
During World War II in 1940, Hassall served in an anti-aircraft gun emplacement with editor John Guest, architect Denys Lasdun, and socialite Angus Menzies. A man of many talents, he recorded a record album entitled Great Voices Read Poetry (1954-1955) along with Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
, Dame Peggy Ashcroft
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, Robert Hardy
Robert Hardy
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, CBE, FSA is an English actor with a long career in the theatre, film and television. He is also an acknowledged expert on the longbow.-Early life:...
, and Anthony Quayle. Hassall's contributions included: Upon Westminster Bridge, Daffodils, and Ode: Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
; and Death Be Not Proud by John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
.
Hassall lived at Tonford Manor, a house with a mediaeval stone tower situated by the River Stour on the outskirts of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
. He delighted in its fine prospect and had a road named after him in the community. At Thanington Church nearby is a small pane of glass engraved in his memory. Shortly before his death in 1963, Hassall spoke about the first Stour Music Festival, saying:
The shared experience … a communion between listener and performer … impossible in a great assembly … (which) means the restoration of a large body of music to the private salon or to the church where it originally belonged. With the appropriate setting and a perceptive audience of proportionate size, the work will not only sound, but feel right.
Hassall died on a train at Rochester, Kent on 25 April 1963 after suffering a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
whilst running for the train to see his daughter play at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
. He was 51.
Selected credits
- The Merry WidowThe Merry WidowThe Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(1955) English translation. (TVTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
) adaptationAdaptationAn adaptation in biology is a trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism that is maintained and evolved by means of natural selection. An adaptation refers to both the current state of being adapted and to the dynamic evolutionary process that leads to the adaptation.... - King's RhapsodyKing's RhapsodyKing's Rhapsody is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall.The musical was first produced at the Palace Theatre, London, on 15 September 1949 and ran for 841 performances, surviving its author, who died in 1951...
(1955) screenplay for the film adaptation - The Dark Avenger, also known as The Warriors (USA) (1955) — lyricist of "Bella Marie"
- Anna KrausAnna KrausAnna Kraus, Op. 30 is an opera in one act by composer Franz Reizenstein. The work uses an English language libretto by Christopher Hassall which tells the tragic tale of a German woman who is forced to leave her country due to opression from the Nazi regime, as the Nazis did not like her political...
(1952), librettist for the radio opera by composer Franz ReizensteinFranz ReizensteinFranz Theodor Reizenstein was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his career there, including teaching at the Royal Northern College of Music and Boston University, as well as performing.-Life and work:Franz... - Dance HallDance hallDance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
(1950) ("You're Only Dreaming") lyricist. - Dear Miss Phoebe (1950) lyricist. (Music by Harry Parr Davies)
- King's Rhapsody (1949) ("Some Day My Heart Will Awake" ", "Take Your Girl") lyricist. (Music and book by Ivor Novello).
- Arc de Triomphe (1943)("Man Of My Heart", "Waking Or Sleeping") lyricist. (Music by Ivor Novello).
- The Dancing YearsThe Dancing YearsThe Dancing Years is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall. The piece is one of Novello's most popular musicals...
(1939) ("I Can Give You The Starlight", "Primrose", "Waltz Of My Heart", "My Dearest Dear", "My Life Belongs To You") lyricist. (Music and book by Ivor Novello). - Crest of the WaveCrest of the Wave (musical)Crest of the Wave is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall.It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, on 1 September 1937, starring Novello as both hero and villain, Dorothy Dickson, Olive Gilbert, Walter Crisham and Edgar Elmes...
(1937) lyricist. (Music and book by Ivor Novello). - The Yellow Iris (radio play)The Yellow Iris (radio play)The Yellow Iris is the name of a radio play written by Agatha Christie and broadcast on the BBC National Programme on Tuesday 2 November 1937 at 8.00pm...
(1937) lyricist. (Music by Michael Sayer and arranged by Jack Beaver) - Careless Rapture (1936) lyricist. (Music by Ivor Novello).
- Glamorous NightGlamorous NightGlamorous Night is a musical with a book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall, Novello's collaborator in six of the eight Novello musicals staged between 1935 and 1951...
(1935) lyricist (Music by Ivor Novello). - Song of Simeon libretto - Nativity Masque by Sir Malcolm Arnold.
- Troilus and CressidaTroilus and Cressida (opera)Troilus and Cressida is the first of the two operas by William Walton. The libretto was by Christopher Hassall, his own first opera libretto, based on Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde...
libretto / Chaucer-adaptation - Opera by Sir William WaltonWilliam WaltonSir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
.