{{Short description|Romanian/English composer (1905–1972)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Francis Chagrin | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Alexander Paucker | birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|11|15}} | birth_place = Bucharest, Romania | death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|11|10|1905|11|15}} | death_place = Hampstead, London, England | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline}} --> | monuments = | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Composer | years_active = | employer = | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = }}
'''Francis Chagrin''' (born '''Alexander Paucker''', 15 November 1905 – 10 November 1972),<ref name="ChesterNovello">[http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&ComposerId_2905=248 Francis Chagrin at Chester Novello]</ref><ref name="MusicWeb">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/jan09/Chagrin_Scowcroft.htm|title=Francis Chagrin|last=Scowcroft|first=Philip|date=January 2009|work=MusicWeb-International|access-date=3 January 2011}}</ref> was a composer of film scores and popular orchestral music, as well as a conductor. He was also the "organizer and chief moving spirit" who founded the Society for the Promotion of New Music.<ref name=MT45/>
== Career ==
He was born in Bucharest, Romania to Jewish parents and at their insistence studied for an engineering degree in Zurich while secretly studying at that city's music conservatoire.<ref name=cole/> He graduated in 1928 but when his family failed to support his musical ambitions, left home and moved to Paris where he adopted his new, French-sounding name.<ref name=cole>[https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/grovemusic/abstract/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000005358 Cole Hugo. 'Francis Chagrin' in ''Grove Music Online'']</ref>
By playing in nightclubs and cafes and writing popular songs, he funded himself for two years, from 1933, at the Ecole Normale, where his teachers included Paul Dukas and Nadia Boulanger, and settled in England in 1936.<ref name=cole/>
At the outbreak of World War II, he was appointed musical adviser and composer-in-chief to the BBC French Service and the programme ''{{Lang|fr|Les Français parlent aux Français}}''. For this, he was decorated {{lang|fr|Officier d'Academie}} by the French government in 1948. He spoke French fluently, as well as perfect English (with a French accent), Romanian and German, and good Italian and Spanish. For a trip to the USSR in October 1966, he studied Russian.<ref name="ChesterNovello" />
In January 1943 Chagrin founded The Committee for the Promotion of New Music (later renamed Society for the Promotion of New Music) with the intention of promoting the creation, performance and appreciation of new music by young and unestablished composers.<ref>Chagrin, Francis. ‘A Quarter Century of New Music’, in ''The Composer'' 26 (1967–8), p 4–6</ref> Ralph Vaughan Williams agreed to be its president, with Arthur Bliss the committee's vice-president.<ref name=MT45>{{Citation | last =Carner | first =Mosco | title =The Committee for the Promotion of New Music | journal =The Musical Times | volume =86 | issue =1232 | pages =297–299 | date =October 1945 | jstor =934638 | doi =10.2307/934638 }}</ref><ref name=grove>Payne, Anthony. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000026075 "Society for the Promotion of New Music"], Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press, retrieved 15 June 2014. {{subscription required}}</ref> In his obituary of Chagrin, fellow composer Benjamin Frankel said that through the Society Chagrin "gave many composers (not only the young ones) their first opportunity of a hearing: he had travelled abroad as our representative, had battled with publishers and spoken passionately on the question of performing rights. He had, in fact, become the first person to whom we turned when composer's problems arose".<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/956994?seq=1 Frankel, Benjamin. 'Francis Chagrin' in ''Musical Times'', No 1559 (January 1973), p 65]</ref>
In 1951 Chagrin formed his own chamber group, the Francis Chagrin Ensemble which performed and broadcast regularly over the next two decades, including many first performances.<ref name="ChesterNovello" />
==Family==
Chagrin married his second wife Eileen during the Second World War and they lived in London, at 48 Fellows Road, Hampstead.<ref>[https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/romanian-born-composer-and-conductor-francis-chagrin-and-news-photo/954610844 Getty Images]</ref> His sons are the actors Nicolas and Julian Chagrin,<ref>[http://ein-hod.info/artists/julian Julian Chagrin profile]</ref> husband of actress and comedian Rolanda Chagrin. There was also a stepson, the poet Gerald Benson.<ref>Gerald Benson obituary, ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2014</ref> Chagrin died in Hampstead after several heart attacks. The Francis Chagrin Fund for Young Composers was established in his memory in 1973 and continues today.<ref>[http://soundandmusic.org/projects/funding-opportunity-francis-chagrin-award Francis Chagrin Award]</ref>
==Music==
Chagrin's compositions include orchestral concert works, light music, chamber music<ref>[https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/francis-chagrin British Music Collection]</ref> and over 200 film scores, television and commercials.<ref>[https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/CH10323.pdf Lane, Philip. Notes to Chandos 10323: ''The Film Music of Francis Chagrin'' (2005)]</ref> His Prelude and Fugue for orchestra was given its world premiere at The Proms in 1947 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Basil Cameron.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/eqxhzc BBC Proms archive, 2 September 1947]</ref> He composed the score for the 1955 film about Colditz, ''The Colditz Story''.<ref>[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/the-film-scores-of-francis-chagrin Gramophone review: The Film-Scores of Francis Chagrin, 2005]</ref> His harmonica work ''Roumanian Fantasy'' was composed in 1956 for Larry Adler. In 1959 he composed the theme and incidental music for the Sapphire Films TV series ''The Four Just Men'' for ITV. In 1963, he won the Harriet Cohen International Music Award as "film composer of the year".<ref name="ChesterNovello" /> The following year, he composed music for the ''Doctor Who'' television episodes ''The Dalek Invasion of Earth''.<ref name="ChesterNovello" /><ref name="DrWho">{{cite web|url=http://www.drwhoguide.com/who_k.htm|title=The Dalek Invasion of Earth|work=Dr Who guide|access-date=2 January 2011}}</ref>
He left a third symphony incomplete at his death.<ref name=cole/> Chagrin had also been commissioned to write a new piece for performance at the SPNM's 30th-anniversary concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 5 February 1973 - one of the few times his own work was ever performed at an SPNM event - but was unable to complete the work.<ref>'Elizabeth Maconchy writes about the Society for the Promotion of New Music', in ''The Listener'', 26 April 1973</ref> At his request, the ''Lamento appassionato'' for string orchestra was played instead.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141017195042/http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/radio3/1973-05-01 ''Music in Our Time'', BBC Radio 3, 1 May 1973]</ref>
=== Concert music ===
Including: {{columns-list|colwidth=30em| *Prelude and Fugue for Orchestra (1947) *Piano Concerto (1943, rev. 1969, 1971)<ref name=bms>'[https://www.britishmusicsociety.co.uk/2025/03/british-piano-concertos-addison-cannon-chagrin/ British Piano Concertos: Addison, Cannon, Chagrin]', Lyrita SRCD444 (2025) British Music Society CD review</ref> *Prelude and Fugue for Two Violins (1950) * ''Aquarelles (Portraits of Five Children)'' for strings (1951)<ref>''[https://musicwebinternational.com/2025/02/british-light-music-premieres-vol-5-dutton-epoch/ British Light Music Premieres Volume Five]'', Dutton Epoch CDLX7209 (2009)</ref> * ''Helter Skelter'' overture (1951) * ''Lamento appassionato'' for strings (1951) * ''Sarabande'' for oboe and strings (1951) * Divertimento for wind quintet (1952) *''Roumanian Fantasy'' for harmonica and orchestra (1956) *Symphony No 1 (1946–59, rev 1965) * ''Sept Petite Pieces pour 8 Instruments'' (1966) *Symphony No 2 (1965–71) * ''Castellana'', Spanish dance for orchestra (1968) * Divertimento for brass quintet (1969) * ''Renaissance Suite'' for strings, optional wind (1969) }}
===Film scores=== {{columns-list|colwidth=30em| * ''The Silent Battle'' (1939) * ''Behind the Guns'' (1940) * ''Law and Disorder'' (1940) * ''Helter Skelter'' (1949) * ''Last Holiday'' (1950) * ''The Happy Family'' (1952) * ''Castle in the Air'' (1952) * ''The Intruder'' (1953) * ''An Inspector Calls'' (1954) * ''The Beachcomber'' (1954) * ''The Colditz Story'' (1955) * ''Simba'' (1955) * ''Charley Moon'' (1956) * ''No Time for Tears'' (1957) * ''The Scamp'' (1957) * ''The Snorkel'' (1958) * ''Danger Within'' (1959) * ''Marriage of Convenience'' (1960) * ''Clue of the Twisted Candle'' (1960) - ( an episode of ' The Edgar Wallace Mysteries ') * ''Greyfriars Bobby'' (1961) * ''In the Cool of the Day'' (1963) }}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0149614}}* * [http://cpp.orangeleaf.org/html/search/verb/GetRecord/4683/ Concert Programmes: The Francis Chagrin Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018075549/http://cpp.orangeleaf.org/html/search/verb/GetRecord/4683/ |date=18 October 2021 }} * [http://soundandmusic.org/projects/funding-opportunity-francis-chagrin-award The Francis Chagrin Award] * List of émigré composers in Britain
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chagrin, Francis}} Category:Musicians from Bucharest Category:Jewish Romanian musicians Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Romanian classical composers Category:BBC radio producers Category:1905 births Category:Jewish classical composers Category:1972 deaths Category:Male classical composers Category:Romanian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Romanian expatriates in France Category:British classical composers Category:British people of Romanian-Jewish descent Category:BBC World Service people Category:20th-century British male musicians