Robert Farnon: Master Arranger and Composer

Robert Joseph Farnon (24 July 1917 – 23 April 2005) was a Canadian composer, conductor, musical arranger and trumpet player. He was recognised with four Ivor Novello Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Order of Canada for his contributions to music across film, television, and orchestral composition.

Early Life and Education

Robert Farnon was born in Toronto to Robert and Elsie Farnon (née Menzies). Details of his formal education are not extensively documented in available sources, though his early musical development led him to become an accomplished jazz trumpeter before his career in composition and arrangement.

Career and Achievements

Farnon was commissioned as a captain in the Canadian Army during World War II and became the conductor and arranger of the Canadian Band of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, the Canadian equivalent of the American Band of the SHAEF led by Major Glenn Miller. His jazz trumpet abilities were notable enough that Dizzy Gillespie, a longtime friend, once stated he was pleased Farnon had taken up composing, arranging and conducting, because Robert was the better jazz trumpeter.

After the war, Farnon remained in Britain and eventually settled in Guernsey in the Channel Islands. He became widely regarded by his peers as the finest arranger in the world. Conductor André Previn called him “the greatest writer for strings in the world.” His arranging work influenced many composer-arrangers who acknowledged his contributions to their own compositions. He served as musical director and conductor for Tony Bennett’s 1972 television series for Thames Television, Tony Bennett at the Talk of the Town.

From the early 1960s, Farnon was a prominent orchestral arranger for major vocalists. He arranged and conducted Frank Sinatra’s only album recorded outside the United States, Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain (1962), in London. He also arranged and conducted albums for Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, and Sarah Vaughan.

Notable Events and Milestones

Farnon is probably best known for two pieces of light music, “Jumping Bean” and “Portrait of a Flirt,” originally released in 1955 as the A and B sides on the same 78 record, and for “Westminster Waltz” and “A Star is Born.” He wrote music for more than forty motion pictures, including Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951), Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The Road to Hong Kong (1962), The Prisoner (1967–68), Shalako (1968), and Bear Island (1979). He composed theme tunes and incidental music for numerous British television series including Colditz (1972–74), Secret Army (1977–79), Kessler (1981), and A Man Called Intrepid (1979).

In his later years, Farnon composed three full-length classical symphonies, a piano concerto called Cascades to the Sea, a rhapsody for violin and orchestra, and a bassoon concerto. He was commissioned to compose the test piece for the 1975 Brass Band Championships of Great Britain finals, creating Un Vie de Matelot (A Sailor’s Life), a set of variations based on an original theme. His final composition, The Gaels: An American Wind Symphony, was commissioned for the Roxbury High School band and premiered in May 2006.

Awards and Honors

Farnon won four Ivor Novello Awards, including one for “Outstanding Services to British Music” in 1991. In 1996 he won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for “Lament” performed by J. J. Johnson & his Robert Farnon Orchestra. He was awarded the Order of Canada in early 1998.

Additional Resources

Robert Farnon’s extensive catalogue and influence on twentieth-century music are documented in greater detail through Wikipedia and other biographical archives. His work as an arranger, composer, and conductor continues to be studied by musicians and scholars interested in light music, orchestration, and the history of film and television composition.

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