# Herman Finck > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Herman_Finck > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Herman_Finck.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Finck > Source revision: 1225374009 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British composer and conductor}} {{for|the sixteenth-century composer and organist|Hermann Finck}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{more citations needed|date=April 2019}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Herman Finck | honorific_suffix = | image = Herman Finck by Arthur Trevor Haddon (1939).jpg | caption = Pastel portrait of Finck (1939) by [Arthur Trevor Haddon](/source/Arthur_Trevor_Haddon) | birth_name = Hermann Van Der Vinck | birth_date = {{birth date|1872|11|04|df=y}} | birth_place = [London](/source/London), [England](/source/England) | death_date = {{death date and age|1939|04|21|1872|11|04|df=y}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | monuments = | nationality = | alma_mater = [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](/source/Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama) | occupation = {{Plainlist| * [Composer](/source/Composer) * [Conductor](/source/conducting) }} | employer = [Palace Theatre](/source/Palace_Theatre%2C_London), London (1900-1920) | known_for = First recorded album | notable_works = | style = | spouse = | children = | parents = | awards = }} '''Herman Finck''' (4 November 1872 – 21 April 1939){{Cite web|url=https://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1939/april_21_1939_97331.html|title=Herman Finck, composer, dies at 66... April 21 in History at BrainyHistory.com|website=BrainyHistory}} was a British composer and conductor of Dutch extraction. Born '''Hermann Van Der Vinck'''{{IMDb name|0277483|Herman Finck}} in London, he began his studies training at the [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](/source/Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama) and established a career as the musical director at the [Palace Theatre](/source/Palace_Theatre%2C_London) in London (from 1900 until 1920),{{cite web |url=http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/January2005/PageSeven.htm |title=Palace Theatre Feature |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061013065050/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/January2005/PageSeven.htm |archive-date=13 October 2006 }} with whose orchestra he made many virtuoso recordings. During these decades, he was also a principal conductor at the Queen's Theatre, at [Theatre Royal, Drury Lane](/source/Theatre_Royal%2C_Drury_Lane) and at [Southport](/source/Southport). Finck was a prolific composer throughout the 1910s and 1920s. He composed around thirty theatre shows of most types - [operetta](/source/operetta)s (such as ''Decameron Nights''), [ballet](/source/ballet)s (like ''My Lady Dragon Fly''), incidental music, revues (annual revues ''Round the Map'' and ''The Passing Show'' were especially popular), plus songs, "mood music" for the [silent cinema](/source/silent_film) and many light orchestral pieces - suites such as ''Vive La Danse'' and ''Marie Antoinette'', marches such as ''Pageant March'', ''Guards Parade March'', ''Splendour and Victory'' and the individual genre movements ''Dancing Daffodils'', ''Dignity and Impudence'', ''Land of Roses'', ''Penguin Parade'' and ''Queen of the Flowers''. Finck also conducted the first record album ever made (in 1909) of [Tchaikovsky](/source/Tchaikovsky)'s ''[Nutcracker Suite](/source/The_Nutcracker)''.{{Cite web|url=https://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/the-nutcracker-chronicles-listening-to-the-score/|title='The Nutcracker' Chronicles: Listening to the Score|first=Alastair|last=Macaulay|date=December 31, 2010}} thumb|Cover of the sheet music for 'In the Shadows' (1910) The Palace Theatre was famous not only for its orchestra, but also for the beautiful Palace Girls, who had many dances composed by Finck in their honour. In 1911 the Palace Girls performed a song and dance number, which was originally called "Tonight", but became hugely popular as a romantic instrumental piece "In The Shadows". This is the most enduring composition of Finck, largely because "In The Shadows" was one of the last numbers played on the [Titanic](/source/RMS_Titanic) and has thus made its way into several Titanic-collections.{{cn|date=June 2023}} Another popular song, during the [World War I](/source/World_War_I) was "Gilbert the Filbert" (also called "The K-Nuts"). It was performed in ''The Passing Show'' of 1914 by the popular [Basil Hallam](/source/Basil_Hallam), who became Captain B. H. Radford and died in 1916 when his parachute failed to open.Pollard, A. C. ''The Royal Air Force'' London 1938 p.106{{Cite web |url=https://www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/today-remember-basil-hallam/ |title=Today we remember: Basil Hallam - Remembered |access-date=15 July 2019 |archive-date=15 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715192654/https://www.therebutnotthere.org.uk/today-remember-basil-hallam/ |url-status=dead }} Finck also conducted the first London stage production of ''[Show Boat](/source/Show_Boat)'', in 1928.{{Cite web|url=http://ovrtur.com/production/2882553/credits|title=Credits for Show Boat (London Production, 1928)|website=Ovrtur}} This was the first production of ''Show Boat'' to include [Paul Robeson](/source/Paul_Robeson) in its cast. His illustrated autobiography, "My melodious memories" was published in 1937.{{cite book |last1=Finck |first1=Herman |title=My Melodious Memories |year=1937 |publisher=Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.}} The Divine Art Recordings Group (UK and USA) released on its Diversions label, in February 2012, the first CD album dedicated to the music of Herman Finck, performed by the orchestra and principals of the Bel-Etage Theatre from [Estonia](/source/Estonia), conducted by [Mart Sander](/source/Mart_Sander). In addition to Finck's most popular tunes "Gilbert the Filbert" and "In The Shadows" (vocal version), this CD also includes several popular dances, patriotic World War I songs and hits from the revues and musicals, as well as two full orchestral suites - ''My Lady Dragonfly'' and the magnificently symphonic ''Decameron Nights'', which had not had a revival since 1923. In 2012, ''Divine Music'' CD label released ''The Finck Album'', the first modern recording of Finck's music, performed by the principals and orchestra of the ''Bel-Etage Theatre'' in [Tallinn](/source/Tallinn), [Estonia](/source/Estonia), conducted by [Mart Sander](/source/Mart_Sander).{{Cite web|url=http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2012/06/the-finck-album-music-by-herman-finck.html|title = British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content: The Finck Album: Music by Herman FInck|date = 2 June 2012}} ==Selected filmography== * ''[The Old Curiosity Shop](/source/The_Old_Curiosity_Shop_(1934_film))'' (1934) ==References== {{Reflist}} == External links == {{Commons category}} * {{YouTube|id=zlfQKIHF5Tc|title=Melodious Memories I-VI (1907)}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Finck, Herman}} Category:1872 births Category:1939 deaths Category:English conductors (music) Category:English light music composers Category:English male conductors (music) Category:English people of Dutch descent --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Herman Finck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Finck) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Finck?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.