Charles Williams

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Charles Williams (1893 to 1978) was a British composer and conductor who wrote music for more than fifty films. He was born in London as Isaac Cozerbreit. He began as a freelance violinist in theatres, cinemas and symphony orchestras and then studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1933 he joined Gaumont British Films as a composer, where he remained until 1939. After the Second World War he became conductor of the Queen's Hall Light Orchestra and later formed his own Concert Orchestra. Much of his film music was reused as stock music and therefore went uncredited.

Music and breakthrough

His best-known work falls under light music, the so-called mood music. His first success was the march Blue Devils, which he wrote in 1926 for the opening of the Odeon in Kensington. Many of his short orchestral pieces became signature tunes for radio and television in the 1950s. Devil's Galop was the tune of the radio serial Dick Barton, The Young Ballerina accompanied the famous BBC interlude The Potter's Wheel, and Girls in Grey became known as the tune of BBC Television Newsreel. In Australia, Majestic Fanfare from 1935 served for years as the signature tune of the ABC news.

Influence

Williams showed how a short, easily remembered melody could become a fixture of daily life. Many people knew his music without knowing his name. In this way you heard his compositions on radio and TV in the 1950s, even if nobody would have described them as pop music.

Listening

In School of Rock

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