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Ernest Irving

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

Kelville Ernest Irving was an English musical director, conductor and composer, born in Godalming, Surrey, in 1878. As a child he sang in the church choir, attended Charterhouse and taught himself the rest. His career began with applying for vacancies in The Stage. In 1895 he conducted his first orchestra, for a musical burlesque in Maidenhead. For twenty years he toured the country, by his own account with third-rate opera and second-rate musical comedy. In 1907 he made an arrangement of Tom Jones for fifteen players for Edward German, and the following year of Merrie England.

Music and breakthrough

His breakthrough came in 1917, when he met Norman O'Neill at the Savage Club. O'Neill was musical director of the Haymarket Theatre and Irving stood in for him. From the end of the First World War until the end of the 1940s he was a fixture of London theatre. He conducted and composed for operettas, musicals and plays. An early success was the British version of Lilac Time in 1922, which ran for 626 performances. In 1928 he directed the music for Noël Coward's This Year of Grace, which ran for ten months.

Influence

His best-known work was done afterwards, for film. From the 1930s to the 1950s he was musical director of Ealing Studios. In this way he shaped the sound of British film of that time. He died in 1953.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the music for a British film from Ealing Studios of the 1940s or 1950s and notice how the music colours a scene and fixes the tone of the film.

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists