 .Icons
of Light Music
We are pleased to
reproduce a selection of recordings on
LONDON LIGHT
MUSIC ONLINE, with due
acknowledgement to BBC Radio 3
The names of the composers
of British light music - Coates,
Ketèlby, Farnon, Dring or Tomlinson -
might not be as well known as those of
Mozart, Beethoven or Bach, but some of
their music will be just as familiar to
most listeners, and it still provides the
soundtrack to many people's everyday
lives through, among other things, the
theme music to their favourite TV and
radio programmes.
Donald Macleod tracks the
rise and fall of light music in Britain
over roughly 100 years, from the mid-19th
century to the mid-20th. He’ll be
exploring the social history which led to
this genre flourishing, from the
late-Victorian theatre crowds in want of
more popular fare after the successes of
Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas, to
the orchestras which sprang up to
entertain the burgeoning UK seaside
resorts.
Along the way, Donald will
examine the explosion of music in
people’s homes, as at first pianos
and other instruments, and then radio and
television sets, became affordable to
households across the country, and the
transition from silent movies to the
talkies.
Donald will also explore
the challenges which the genre faced as
audiences moved towards new ways of
listening in the 20th century and the
pioneers who have sought to keep this
music alive.
Born of the Theatre
Donald Macleod explores how light music
emerged from the theatre pits of
late-19th-century Britain and began to
find audiences in concert halls, music
halls and at home, focusing on the
composers Edward German and Haydn Wood.
Oh I do like to be beside
the seaside
Donald Macleod examines how light music
benefited from the boom in holiday making
at seaside resorts across Britain during
the first few decades of the 20th
century.
The Talkies
Donald Macleod examines the use of light
music in cinema in Britain and explores
how the transition from silent movies to
the talkies affected the genre.
An audience of millions
Donald Macleod explores the impact of
radio, the BBC and the postwar recording
industry on the British light music
scene.
Finding a new stage
Donald Macleod explores the composers who
fought to keep light music alive in the
wake of dramatic shifts in the social
lives of people in Britain.
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