name	John Grierson
birth name	John Grierson
birth date	April 26, 1898
birth place	Deanston, Stirling,Scotland
death date	February 19, 1972
death place	Bath, Somerset,England
occupation	Documentary maker
website	}}

John Grierson (26 April 1898 – 19 February 1972) was a pioneering Scottish documentary maker, often considered the father of British and Canadian documentary film. According to popular myth, in 1926, Grierson coined the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film.

Early life

Grierson was born in Deanston, near Doune, Scotland. His father was a schoolmaster, his mother a suffragette and ardent Labour Party activist. From an early age, both parents steeped their son in liberal politics, humanistic ideals, and Calvinist moral and religious philosophies, particularly the notion that education was essential to individual freedom and that hard and meaningful work was the way to prove oneself worthy in the sight of God.

After service on minesweepers in the Royal Navy during World War I, Grierson entered the University of Glasgow, where he spent a good part of his academic career enmeshed in impassioned political discussion and leftist political activism.

In 1924, after graduating from the university in English and Moral Philosophy, he received a Rockefeller Research Fellowship to study in the United States at the University of Chicago, and later at Columbia and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focus was the psychology of propaganda--the impact of the press, film, and other mass media on forming public opinion. Grierson was particularly interested in the popular appeal and influence of the "yellow" (tabloid) press, and the influence and role of these journals on the education of new American citizens from abroad.

Social Critic

In his review of Robert Flaherty's film ''Moana'' (1926) in the ''New York Sun'' (8 February 1926), Grierson wrote that it had 'documentary' value. In his essay "First Principles of Documentary" (1932), Grierson argued that the principles of documentary were that cinema's potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form; that the "original" actor and "original" scene are better guides than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world; and that materials "thus taken from the raw" can be more real than the acted article. In this regard, Grierson's views align with the Soviet propagandist Dziga Vertov's contempt for dramatic fiction as "bourgeois excess", though with considerably more subtlety. Grierson's definition of documentary as "creative treatment of actuality" has gained some acceptance, though it presents philosophical questions about documentaries containing stagings and reenactments.

Like a number of other social critics of the time, Grierson was profoundly concerned about what he perceived to be clear threats to democracy. In the US, he encountered a marked tendency toward political reaction, anti-democratic sentiments, and political apathy. He read and agreed with the journalist and political philosopher Walter Lippmann's book ''Public Opinion'' which blamed the erosion of democracy in part on the fact that the political and social complexities of contemporary society made it difficult if not impossible for the public to comprehend and respond to issues vital to the maintenance of democratic society.

In Grierson's view, a way to counter these problems was to involve citizens in their government with the kind of engaging excitement generated by the popular press, which simplified and dramatized public affair. It was during this time that Grierson developed a conviction that motion pictures could play a central role in promoting this process. (It has been suggested that some of Grierson's notions regarding the social and political uses of film were influenced by reading Lenin's writing about film as education and propaganda.)

Grierson's emerging view of film was as a form of social and political communication—a mechanism for social reform, education, and perhaps spiritual uplift. His view of Hollywood movie-making was considerably less sanguine:

:"In an age when the faiths, the loyalties, and the purposes have been more than usually undermined, mental fatigue--or is it spiritual fatigue?--represents a large factor in everyday experience. Our cinema magnate does no more than exploit the occasion. He also, more or less frankly, is a dope pedlar."

Film critic

Grierson's emerging and outspoken film philosophies caught the attention of New York film critics at the time. He was asked to write criticism for the ''New York Sun''. At the ''Sun'', Grierson wrote articles on film aesthetics and audience reception, and developed broad contacts in the film world. According to popular myth, in the course of this writing stint, Grierson coined the term "documentary" in writing about Robert J. Flaherty's film ''Moana'' (1926): "Of course ''Moana'', being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value."

During this time, Grierson was also involved in scrutinizing the film industries of other countries. He may have been involved in arranging to bring Sergei Eisenstein's groundbreaking film ''The Battleship Potemkin'' (1925) to US audiences for the first time. Eisenstein's editing techniques and film theories, particularly the use of montage, would have a significant influence on Grierson's own work.

Filmmaker

Grierson returned to Great Britain in the late 1920s armed with the sense that film could be enlisted to deal with the problems of the Great Depression, and to build national morale and national consensus. Filmmaking for Grierson was an exalted calling; the Filmmaker a patriot. In all of this there was more than a little elitism, a stance reflected in Grierson's many dicta of the time: "The elect have their duty." "I look on cinema as a pulpit, and use it as a propagandist."

In the US Grierson had met pioneering documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty. Grierson respected Flaherty immensely for his contributions to documentary form and his attempts to use the camera to bring alive the lives of everyday people and everyday events. Less commendable in Grierson's view was Flaherty's focus on exotic and faraway cultures. ("In the profounder kind of way", wrote Grierson of Flaherty, "we live and prosper each of us by denouncing the other"). In Grierson's view, the focus of film should be on the everyday drama of ordinary people. As Grierson wrote in his diaries: "Beware the ends of the earth and the exotic: the drama is on your doorstep wherever the slums; are, wherever there is malnutrition, wherever there is exploitation and cruelty." "'You keep your savages in the far place Bob; we are going after the savages of Birmingham,' I think I said to him pretty early on. And we did.")

On his return to England, Grierson became Assistant Films Officer of the Empire Marketing Board (EMB), a governmental agency which had been established several years earlier to promote British world trade and British unity throughout the empire. One of the major functions of the EMB was publicity, which the Board accomplished through exhibits, posters, and publications and films. It was within the context of this State funded organization that the "documentary" as we know it today really got its start.

In late 1929 Grierson and his cameraman, Basil Emmott, completed his first film, ''Drifters'', which he wrote, produced and directed. The film, which follows the heroic work of North Sea herring fishermen, was a radical departure from anything being made by the British film industry or Hollywood. A large part of its innovation lie in the fierce boldness in bringing the camera to rugged locations such as a small boat in the middle of a gale, while leaving relatively less of the action staged. The choice of topic was chosen less from Grierson's curiosity than the fact that he discovered that the Financial Secretary had made the herring industry his hobbyhorse. It premiered in a private film club in London on a double-bill with Eisenstein's then controversial film ''The Battleship Potemkin'' (which was banned from general release in Britain until 1954), and received high praise from both its sponsors and the press.

After this success, Grierson moved away from film direction into a greater focus on production and administration within the EMB. He became a tireless organizer and recruiter for the EMB, enlisting a stable of energetic young filmmakers into the film unit between 1930 and 1933. Those enlisted included filmmakers Basil Wright, Edgar Anstey, Stuart Legg, Paul Rotha, Arthur Elton, Humphrey Jennings, Harry Watt, and Alberto Cavalcanti. This group formed the core of what was to become known as the British Documentary Film Movement. Robert Flaherty himself also worked briefly for the unit.

In 1933 the EMB Film Unit was disbanded, a casualty of Depression era economics. Grierson's boss at the EMB moved to the General Post Office (GPO) as its first public relations officer, with the stipulation that he could bring the EMB film unit with him. Grierson's crew were charged with demonstrating the ways in which the Post Office facilitated modern communication and brought the nation together, a task aimed as much at GPO workers as the general public. During Grierson's administration, the GPO Film Unit produced a series of groundbreaking films, including ''Night Mail'' (dir. Basil Wright and Harry Watt, 1936) and ''Coal Face'' (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti, 1935). In 1934 he produced at the GPO Film Unit the award winning ''The Song of Ceylon'' (dir. Basil Wright) which was sponsored jointly by the Ceylon Tea Propagands Bureau and the EMB.

Grierson eventually grew restless with having to work within the bureaucratic and budgetary confines of government sponsorship. In response, he sought out private industry sponsorship for film production. He was finally successful in getting the British gas industry to underwrite an annual film program. Perhaps the most significant works produced during this time were ''Housing Problems'' (dir. Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey, John Taylor, and Grierson's sister Ruby Grierson, 1935).

In 1938, Grierson was invited by the Canadian government to study the country's film production. He proposed that the government create a national coordinating body for the production of films. In 1939, Canada created the National Film Commission, which would later become the National Film Board of Canada. Grierson was the first Commissioner of the Board. When Canada entered World War II in 1939, the NFB focused on the production of propaganda films, many of which Grierson directed. After the war, it focused on producing documentaries that reflected the lives of Canadians. The NFB is recognized around the world for producing quality films, many of which have won Academy Awards.

In 1945 Grierson was dismissed from his post as Commissioner of the NFB after allegations of communist sympathy regarding several of the films the Board had produced during the war. Following his dismissal, and that of three of his coworkers, Grierson returned to Scotland.

From 1957 to 1967 Grierson hosted a successful weekly television program on Scottish television, ''This Wonderful World'', which showed excerpts from outstanding documentaries. In 1957 he received a special Canadian Film Award.

Grierson Documentary Film Awards

The Grierson Documentary Film Awards were established in 1972 to commemorate John Grierson and are currently supervised by The Grierson Trust. The aim of the awards is to recognise ''outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence, together with social or cultural significance''.

Grierson Awards are presented annually in nine categories:

Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue

Best Documentary on the Arts

Best Historical Documentary

Best Documentary on Science or the Natural World

The Frontier Post Award for Most Entertaining Documentary

Best Drama Documentary

Best International Cinema Documentary

Best Newcomer

Trustees' Award

Filmography

Filmography as director:

''Drifters'' (1929; first screened at the British premiere of ''Battleship Potemkin'')

''Granton Trawler'' (1934)

Filmography as producer/creative contributor:

''O'er Hll and Dale'' (dir. Basil Wright 1932)

''UP-STREAM: A Story of the Scottish Salmon Fisheries'' (dir. Arthur Elton 1932)

''Cargo from Jamaica'' (dir. Basil Wright 1933)

''Industrial Britain'' (dir. Robert Flaherty 1933)

''Cable Ship'' (dir. (Alexander Shaw and Stuart Legg 1933)

''Coming of the Dial'' (dir. Stuart Legg 1933)

''Liner Cruising South'' (dir. Basil Wright 1933)

''Man of Aran'' (dir. Robert Flaherty 1934)

''New Operator'' (dir. Stuart Legg 1934)

''Pett and Pott: A Fairy Story of the Suburbs'' (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1934)

''Post Haste'' (dir. Humphrey Jennings 1934)

''Spring Comes to England'' dir. Donald Taylor 1934)

''Six-thirty Collection'' (dir. Harry Watt and Edgar Anstey 1934)

''Song of Ceylon'' (dir. Basil Wright 1934)

''BBC: The Voice of Britain'' (dir. Stuart Legg 1935)

''A Colour Box'' (dir. Len Lye 1935)

''Housing Problems'' (dir. Edgar Anstey, Arthur Elton 1935)

''Introducing the Dial'' (dir. Stuart Legg 1935)

''Coal Face'' (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1935)

''B.B.C. Droitwich'' (dir. Harry Watt 1935)

''Night Mail'' ( dir. (Basil Wright, and Harry Watt 1936)

''Saving of Bill Blewitt'' (dir. Basil Wright 1936)

''Line To The Tschierva Hut'' (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1937)

''Children At School'' (dir. Basil Wright 1937)

''We Live In Two Worlds'' (dir. Alberto Cavalcanti 1937)

''Daily Round'' (dir. Richard Massingham, Karl Urbahn 1937)

''Trade Tattoo'' (dir. Len Lye 1937)

''The Face of Scotland'' (dir. Basil Wright 1938)

''The Children's Story'' (dir. Alexander Shaw 1938)

''Scotland for Fitness'' (dir. Brian Salt 1938)

''They Made the Land'' (dir. Mary Field 1938)

''Sport in Scotland'' (dir. Stanley L. Russell 1938)

''Wealth of a Nation'' (dir. Donald Alexander 1938)

''Sea Food'' (1938)

''The Londoners'' (dir. John Taylor (director) 1939)

''Judgement Deferred'' (dir. John Baxter 1951)

''Brandy for the Parson'' (dir. John Eldridge 1952)

''The Brave Don't Cry'' (dir. Philip Leacock 1952)

''Miss Robin Hood'' (dir. John Guillermin 1952)

''Time Gentlemen, Please!'' (dir. Lewis Gilbert 1952)

''You're Only Young Twice'' (dir. Terry Bishop 1952)

''Man of Africa'' (dir. Cyril Frankel 1953)

''Background'' (dir. Daniel Birt 1953)

''Laxdale Hall'' (dir. John Eldridge 1953)

''The Oracle'' (dir. C.M. Pennington-Richards 1953)

''Child's Play'' (dir. Margaret Thomson 1954)

''Devil on Horseback'' (dir. Cyril Frankel 1954)

''Rivers at Work'' (dir. Lew Davidson 1958)

''This Wonderful World'' (dir. various 1957-67)

''Seawards the Great Ships'' (dir. Hilary Harris 1960)

''The Heart of Scotland'' (dir. Laurence Henson 1961)

''The Creative Process'' (dir. Donald McWilliams 1961)

''Health of a City'' (dir. Derek Williams 1965)

''I Remember, I Remember'' (dir. James Sutherland 1968)

Bibliographies

Grierson Bibliography at UC Berkeley

Gary Evans, ''John Grierson and the National Film Board: The Politics of Wartime Propaganda'' (University of Toronto Press, 1984)

Joyce Nelson, ''The Colonized Eye: Rethinking the Grierson Legend'' (Between the Lines, 1988)

Documentaries About Grierson

In a short film ''John Grierson at the NFT'' (1959) he recalls the British documentary film movement. This is included in the ''Land of Promise'' Region 2 DVD set (BFI 2008). Grierson. Produced and directed by Roger Blais. Montreal, Que.: National Film Board of Canada, c. 1973. 59 min.

See also

Edgar Anstey

Arthur Elton

Robert Flaherty

Humphrey Jennings

Stuart Legg

Paul Rotha

Basil Wright

References

Sources

Canada's Awards Database

Credits from: British Film Institute Catalog (Film Index International)

External links

The Grierson Trust

The John Grierson Archive at The University of Stirling

Bfi Screenonline entry.

John Grierson in South Africa: Afrikaaner nationalism and the National Film Board

John Grierson's NFB biography

Online essay about Grierson and Flaherty from the University of Glasgow (no link)

Literature on John Grierson

Category:1898 births Category:1972 deaths Category:Scottish documentary filmmakers Category:Scottish film directors Category:Scottish film producers Category:Scottish sailors Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow Category:Canadian documentary filmmakers Category:Canadian film directors Category:Propaganda film directors Category:Cinema pioneers Category:People from Stirling (council area) Category:Government Film Commissioners and Chairpersons of the National Film Board of Canada

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Alberto de Almeida Cavalcanti (February 6, 1897 – August 23, 1982) was a Brazilian-born film director and producer.

Early life

Cavalcanti was born in Rio de Janeiro, the son of a prominent mathematician. He was a precociously intelligent child, and by the age of 15 was studying law at university. Following an argument with a professor he was expelled. His father sent him to Geneva, Switzerland on condition that he did not study law or politics. Cavalcanti chose to study architecture instead. At 18 he moved to Paris to work for an architect, later switching to working on interior design. After a visit back to Brazil he took up a position at the Brazilian consulate in Liverpool, England.

Cavalcanti corresponded with Marcel L'Herbier, a leading light in France's avant-garde film movement. This led to a job offer from L'Herbier for Cavalcanti to work as a set designer.

Film career

In 1920 Cavalcanti left his job at the Consulate and moved back to France to work for L'Herbier; he was to be involved in the making of numerous films the most notable being ''L'Inhumaine''. He was soon making his own films, in 1926 directing his first, ''Rien Que les Heures'' (''Nothing But Time'') — a day in the life of Paris and its citizens. In 1927 he collaborated with Walter Ruttmann on a similar project set in Berlin, called ''Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Großstadt'' (''Berlin: Symphony of a Big City''). Cavalcanti took a job with Paramount's French studios after the talkies came in, but he found himself making more commercial films which could not hold his interest and left Paramount in 1933.

In the same year Cavalcanti returned to England to work for John Grierson's GPO Film Unit. He was involved in many capacities, from production to sound engineer. He was to spend seven years at the GPO Film Unit, working on many projects, most notably; ''Coal Face'' (1935), ''Night Mail'' (1936), ''Message to Geneva'' (1937), ''Four Barriers'' (1937), and ''Spare Time'' (1939). Much of Cavalcanti's work at the GPO was uncredited, he acted as a mentor to many new film makers, but in 1937 he was appointed acting head of the GPO Film Unit when Grierson left for Canada. When Cavalcanti was told that the only way the position could become permanent was to become a naturalized British citizen, he decided to leave the unit.

In 1940 Cavalcanti joined Ealing Studios, under the leadership of producer Michael Balcon. He worked as an art editor, producer and director. His most notable works were the propaganda films ''Yellow Caesar'' (1941), ''Went the Day Well?'' (1942), ''Three Songs of Resistance'' (1943), ''Champagne Charlie'' (1944), ''Dead of Night'' (as co-director) (1945) and ''Nicholas Nickleby'' (1947). In 1946 Cavalcanti left Ealing over a dispute about money. He went on to direct three more films in the UK, before returning to Brazil in 1950.

In Brazil Cavalcanti worked as a producer for Companhia Cinematográfica Vera Cruz; the company eventually became insolvent. After being blacklisted as a communist in Brazil, he moved back to Europe. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s working as an itinerant film maker in various different countries, including East Germany, France and Israel.

Cavalcanti died in Paris at the age of 85.

Filmography as director

France

1926 ''Rien que les heures''

1927 ''Le train sans yeux''

1927 ''La p'tite Lilie''

1927 ''En rade''

1927 ''Yvette''

1928 ''La jalousie du barbouille''

1928 ''La capitaine Fracasse''

1929 ''Le petit chaperon rouge''

1929 ''Vous verrez la semaine prochaine''

1930 ''Toute sa vie''

1930 ''A canção do berço''

1930 ''À mi-chemin du ciel''

1930 ''Les vacances du diable''

1931 ''Dans une ile perdue''

1932 ''En lisant le journal''

1932 ''Le jour du frotteur''

1932 ''Revue Montmartroise''

1932 ''Nous ne ferrons jamais du cinéma''

1932 ''Le truc du brésilien''

1933 ''Le mari garon''

1933 ''Plaisirs défendus''

1933 ''Coralie et Cie''

1933 ''Tour de chant''

GPO & Crown Film Units

1934 ''Pett and Pott: A fairy story of the suburbs''

1934 ''The glorious Sixth of June: New rates''

1935 ''Coalface''

1936 ''Message from Geneva''

1937 ''Line to Tcherva Hut''

1937 ''Men of the Alps'' (co-prod with Switzerland)

1937 ''We live in two worlds''

1937 ''Who writes to Switzerland?''

1937 ''Four barriers''

1938 ''Mony a pickle''

1938 ''Happy in the morning: A film fantasy''

1939 ''Mid-summer day's work''

1939 ''The Chiltern country''

1940 ''Alice in Switzerland''

1940 ''La cause commune''

1940 ''Factory front''

1940 ''Mastery of the sea''

Ealing and UK

1941 ''Yellow Caesar'' (short)

1942 ''Went the Day Well?''

1943 ''Watertight'' (short)

1944 ''Champagne Charlie''

1945 ''Dead of Night'' (episode)

1947 ''Nicholas Nickleby''

1947 ''They Made Me a Fugitive''

1947 ''The First Gentleman''

1949 ''For Them That Trespass''

1961 ''The monster of Highgate Ponds''

Brazil and others

1950 ''Caiçara'' (Brazil)

1952 ''Simão, o caolho'' (Brazil)

1952 ''O Canto do Mar'' (Brazil)

1955 ''Mulher de verdade'' (Brazil)

1955 ''Herr Puntila und sein Knecht Matti'' (DDR)

1957 ''Die Windrose'' (DDR)

1959 ''La prima notte'' (France/Italy)

1961 ''The monster of Highgate Ponds'' (UK)

1967 ''Thus Spoke Theodore Herzl'' (Israel)

1969 ''Les empailles'' (France)

1971 ''La visite de la vieille dame'' (France)

1976 ''Le voyageur du silence'' (France)

1976 ''Um homem e o cinema'' (Brazil)

External links

Alberto Cavalcanti biography and filmography at the BFI's Screenonline

Category:1897 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Brazilian film producers Category:Brazilian film directors Category:Propaganda film directors Category:Cavalcanti family

de:Alberto Cavalcanti es:Alberto Cavalcanti fr:Alberto Cavalcanti hr:Alberto Cavalcanti it:Alberto Cavalcanti nl:Alberto Cavalcanti pt:Alberto Cavalcanti ro:Alberto Cavalcanti sv:Alberto Cavalcanti

Henry Purcell (; 10 September 1659 (?)– 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music.

Early life and career

Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane, Old Pye Street, Westminster. Henry Purcell Senior, whose older brother Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) was also a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England. Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of ''The Indian Queen'' after Henry Purcell's death. Henry Purcell's family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from the year 1659 and onward.

After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle who showed him great affection and kindness. Thomas was himself a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel, and arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672), Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor. Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King. (The dates for his compositions are often uncertain, despite considerable research.) It is assumed that the three-part song "Sweet tyranness, I now resign" was written by him as a child.

In 1679, he wrote some songs for John Playford's ''Choice Ayres, Songs and Dialogues'' and also an anthem, the name of which is not known, for the Chapel Royal. From a letter written by Thomas Purcell, and still extant, we learn that this anthem was composed for the exceptionally fine voice of the Rev. John Gostling, then at Canterbury, but afterwards a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel. Purcell wrote several anthems at different times for Gostling's extraordinary basso profondo voice, which is known to have had a range of at least two full octaves, from D below the bass staff to the D above it. The dates of very few of these sacred compositions are known; perhaps the most notable example is the anthem "They that go down to the sea in ships." In gratitude for the providential escape of King Charles II from shipwreck, Gostling, who had been of the royal party, put together some verses from the Psalms in the form of an anthem and requested Purcell to set them to music. The work is a very difficult one, opening with a passage which traverses the full extent of Gostling's range, beginning on the upper D and descending two octaves to the lower.

Later career and death

In 1679, Blow, who had been appointed organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned his office in favour of his pupil. Purcell now devoted himself almost entirely to the composition of sacred music, and for six years severed his connection with the theatre. However, during the early part of the year, probably before taking up his new office, he had produced two important works for the stage, the music for Nathaniel Lee's ''Theodosius'', and Thomas d'Urfey's ''Virtuous Wife''. Between 1680 and 1688 Purcell wrote music for seven plays. The composition of his chamber opera ''Dido and Aeneas'', which forms a very important landmark in the history of English dramatic music, has been attributed to this period, and its earliest production may well have predated the documented one of 1689. It was written to a libretto furnished by Nahum Tate, and performed in 1689 in cooperation with Josias Priest, a dancing master and the choreographer for the Dorset Garden Theatre. Priest's wife kept a boarding school for young gentlewomen, first in Leicester Fields and afterwards at Chelsea, where the opera was performed. It is occasionally considered the first genuine English opera, though that title is usually given to Blow's Venus and Adonis: as in Blow's work, the action does not progress in spoken dialogue but in Italian-style recitative. Both works run to less than one hour. At the time ''Dido and Aeneas'' never found its way to the theatre, though it appears to have been very popular in private circles. It is believed to have been extensively copied, but only one song was printed by Purcell's widow in ''Orpheus Britannicus'', and the complete work remained in manuscript until 1840, when it was printed by the Musical Antiquarian Society under the editorship of Sir George Macfarren. The composition of ''Dido and Aeneas'' gave Purcell his first chance to write a sustained musical setting of a dramatic text. It was his only opportunity to compose a work in which the music carried the entire drama.

Soon after Purcell's marriage, in 1682, on the death of Edward Lowe, he was appointed organist of the Chapel Royal, an office which he was able to hold simultaneously with his position at Westminster Abbey. His eldest son was born in this same year, but his life was short lived. His first printed composition, ''Twelve Sonatas'', was published in 1683. For some years after this, he was busy in the production of sacred music, odes addressed to the king and royal family, and other similar works. In 1685, he wrote two of his finest anthems, "I was glad" and "My heart is inditing", for the coronation of King James II.

In 1687, he resumed his connection with the theatre by furnishing the music for Dryden's tragedy, ''Tyrannick Love''. In this year, Purcell also composed a march and quick-step, which became so popular that Lord Wharton adapted the latter to the fatal verses of ''Lillibullero''; and in or before January 1688, he composed his anthem "Blessed are they that fear the Lord" by express command of the King. A few months later, he wrote the music for D'Urfey's play, ''The Fool's Preferment''. In 1690, he composed the music for Betterton's adaptation of Fletcher and Massinger's ''Prophetess'' (afterwards called ''Dioclesian'') and Dryden's ''Amphitryon''. During the first ten years of his mastership, Purcell composed much- precisely how much we can only guess. In 1691, he wrote the music for what is sometimes considered his dramatic masterpiece, ''King Arthur'', with the libretto by Dryden and first published by the Musical Antiquarian Society in 1843. Another one of Purcell's operas is ''King Arthur'', or ''The British Worthy'' in 1691. In 1692, he composed ''The Fairy-Queen'' (an adaptation of Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''), the score of which (his longest for theatre) was rediscovered in 1901 and published by the Purcell Society. ''The Indian Queen'' followed in 1695, in which year he also wrote songs for Dryden and Davenant's version of Shakespeare's ''The Tempest'' (recently, this has been disputed by music scholars), probably including "Full fathom five" and "Come unto these yellow sands". ''The Indian Queen'' was adapted from a tragedy by Dryden and Sir Robert Howard. In these semi-operas (another term for which at the time was "dramatic opera"), the main characters of the plays do not sing but speak their lines: the action moves in dialogue rather than recitative. The related songs are sung "for" them by singers, who have minor dramatic roles.

Purcell's ''Te Deum'' and ''Jubilate Deo'' were written for Saint Cecilia's Day, 1693, the first English ''Te Deum'' ever composed with orchestral accompaniment. This work was annually performed at St Paul's Cathedral until 1712, after which it was performed alternately with Handel's ''Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate'' until 1743, when both works were replaced by Handel's ''Dettingen Te Deum''.

He composed an anthem and two elegies for Queen Mary II's funeral. Besides the operas and semi-operas already mentioned, Purcell wrote the music and songs for Thomas d'Urfey's ''The Comical History of Don Quixote'', ''Boudicca'', ''The Indian Queen'' and others, a vast quantity of sacred music, and numerous odes, cantatas, and other miscellaneous pieces. The quantity of his instrumental chamber music is minimal after his early career, and his keyboard music consists of an even more minimal number of harpsichord suites and organ pieces. In 1693, Purcell composed music for two Comedies: ''The Old Bachelor'', and ''The Double Dealer''. Purcell also composed for five other plays within the same year. In July 1695, Henry Purcell composed an ode for the Duke of Gloucester for his sixth birthday. The ode is titled ''Who can from joy refrain?'' Purcell's four-part sonatas were issued in 1697. In the remaining six years of his life, Henry Purcell wrote music for forty two plays.

Purcell died in 1695 at his home in Dean's Yard, Westminster, at the height of his career. He was believed to be 35 or 36 years old at the time. The cause of his death is unclear: one theory is that he caught a chill after returning home late from the theatre one night to find that his wife had locked him out. Another is that he succumbed to tuberculosis. The beginning of Purcell's will reads:

:"In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Purcell, of the City of Westminster, gentleman, being dangerously ill as to the constitution of my body, but in good and perfect mind and memory (thanks be to God) do by these presents publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. And I do hereby give and bequeath unto my loving wife, Frances Purcell, all my estate both real and personal of what nature and kind soever..."

Purcell is buried adjacent to the organ in Westminster Abbey. The music that he had earlier composed for Queen Mary's funeral was performed during his as well. Purcell was universally mourned as 'a very great master of music.'  Following his death, the officials at Westminster honoured him by unanimously voting that he be buried with no expense in the north aisle of the Abbey. His epitaph reads: "Here lyes Henry Purcell Esq., who left this life and is gone to that blessed place where only his harmony can be exceeded."

Henry Purcell fathered six children by his wife Frances, four of whom died in infancy. His wife, as well as his son Edward (1689–1740) and daughter Frances, survived him. Frances the elder died in 1706, having published a number of her husband's works, including the now famous collection called ''Orpheus Britannicus'', in two volumes, printed in 1698 and 1702, respectively. Edward was appointed organist of St Clement Eastcheap, London, in 1711 and was succeeded by his son Edward Henry Purcell (d. 1765). Both men were buried in St Clement's near the organ gallery.

Influence and reputation

After his death, Purcell was honoured by many of his contemporaries, including his old friend John Blow, who wrote "An Ode, on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell (Mark how the lark and linnet sing)" with text by his old collaborator, John Dryden. More recently, the English poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a famous sonnet entitled simply "Henry Purcell", with a headnote reading: "The poet wishes well to the divine genius of Purcell and praises him that, whereas other musicians have given utterance to the moods of man's mind, he has, beyond that, uttered in notes the very make and species of man as created both in him and in all men generally."

Purcell also had a strong influence on the composers of the English musical renaissance of the early 20th century, most notably Benjamin Britten, who created and performed a realisation of ''Dido and Aeneas'' and whose ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' is based on a theme from Purcell's ''Abdelazar''. Stylistically, the aria "I know a bank" from Britten's opera ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is clearly inspired by Purcell's aria "Sweeter than Roses", which Purcell originally wrote as part of incidental music to Richard Norton's ''Pausanias, the Betrayer of His Country''.

Purcell is honoured together with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 28 July. In a 1940 interview Ignaz Friedman stated that he considered Purcell as great as Bach and Beethoven. In Victoria Street, Westminster, England, there is a bronze monument to Purcell (''right''), sculpted by Glynn Williams and erected in 1994.

Purcell's works have been catalogued by Franklin Zimmerman, who gave them a number preceded by Z. A Purcell Club was founded in London in 1836 for promoting the performance of his music, but was dissolved in 1863. In 1876 a Purcell Society was founded, which published new editions of his works. A modern day Purcell Club has been created, and provides guided tours and concerts in support of Westminster Abbey.

So strong was his reputation that a popular wedding processional was incorrectly attributed to Purcell for many years. The so-called Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary was in fact written around 1700 by a British composer named Jeremiah Clarke as the ''Prince of Denmark's March''.

In 2009 Pete Townshend of The Who, an English rock band that established itself in the 1960s, identified Purcell's harmonies as an influence on the band's music (in songs such as "Won't Get Fooled Again" (1971) and "I Can See for Miles" (1967)).

Michael Nyman, at the request of the director, built the score of Peter Greenaway's 1982 film, ''The Draughtsman's Contract'' on ostinati by Purcell from various sources, one misattributed. He credited Purcell as a "music consultant." Another of Purcell's ostinati, in fact the aforementioned Cold Genius aria, was used in Nyman's ''Memorial''.

In popular culture

Purcell is among the Baroque composers who has had a direct influence on modern rock and roll; according to Pete Townshend of The Who, Purcell was among his influences, particularly evident in the opening bars of The Who's "Pinball Wizard". The processional section from Purcell's "Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary," was also adapted for the synthesiser by Wendy Carlos to serve as the theme music for the 1971 film ''A Clockwork Orange''. Noted cult New Wave artist Klaus Nomi regularly performed "The Cold Song" from ''King Arthur'' during his career, including a version on his debut self-titled album, ''Klaus Nomi'', from 1981; his last public performance before his untimely death was an interpretation of the piece done with a full orchestra in December 1982 in Munich. Purcell wrote the song for a bass, but numerous countertenors have performed the piece in homage to Nomi.

In the 1995 film England, My England, the life of Purcell (played by Michael Ball) was depicted as seen through the eyes of a playwright in the 1960s who is trying to write a play about him.

In the 21st century, the soundtrack of the 2005 film version of ''Pride and Prejudice'' features a dance titled "A Postcard to Henry Purcell." This is a version by composer Dario Marianelli of Purcell's ''Abdelazar'' theme. In the German-language 2004 movie, Der Untergang ([the] Downfall (film), the music of Dido's Lament is used repeatedly as the end of the Third Reich culminates.

See also

List of compositions by Henry Purcell

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

Burden, Michael, ed. ''Performing the Music of Henry Purcell'', Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996.

Burden, Michael, ed. ''Henry Purcell's Operas; The Complete Texts'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000.

Dent, Edward J. ''Foundations of English Opera'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928.

Duffy, Maureen, ''Henry Purcell'', Fourth Estate Ltd, Londen, 1994.

Holman, Peter and Robert Thompson. "Henry Purcell (ii)," ''Grove Music Online'', ed. L. Macy (accessed 17 March 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).

Holman, Peter, ''Henry Purcell'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1994.

Holst, Imogen, ed. ''Henry Purcell 1659–1695: Essays on His Music'', Oxford University Press, London, 1959.

Keates, Jonathan, ''Purcell'', Chatto & Windus, Londen, 1995

Moore, R. E., ''Henry Purcell and the Restoration Theatre'', Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 1961.

Muller, Julia, ''Words and Music in Henry Purcell's First Semi-Opera, Dioclesian'', Edwin Mellen Press, New York, 1990.

Orrey, Leslie and Rodney Milnes, ''Opera: A Concise History'', World of Art, Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20217-6.

Price, Curtis A., ''Henry Purcell and the London Stage'',Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1984.

Shay, Robert, and Robert Thompson, ''Purcell Manuscripts: The Principal Musical Sources'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.

Westrup, Jack A., ''Purcell'', Dent & Sons, Londen 1980

Zimmerman, Franklin B., ''Henry Purcell, 1659–1695, His Life and Times'', University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA, 1983

External links

Purcell by John F. Runciman, a biography forming part of Bell's Miniature Series of Musicians published in 1909, from Project Gutenberg

Short biography, audio samples and images of Purcell

Monument to Purcell

Harpsichord Suites played on virtual harpsichord

Dido's Lament – Research leading to a narrative account of how Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas was created.

[ Henry Purcell] at Allmusic

Category:English composers Category:Baroque composers Category:Opera composers Category:Glee composers Category:Old Westminsters Category:People from Westminster Category:English classical organists Category:1659 births Category:1695 deaths Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey Category:Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal Category:Anglican saints Category:English music theorists

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In law, an enemy alien is a citizen of a country which is in a state of conflict with the land in which he or she is located. Usually, but not always, the countries are in a state of declared war.

Germany

United Kingdom

At the outbreak of World War II, in 1939, the United Kingdom had become a place of refuge for people who had fled Nazi persecution, including Jews and political refugees. At first, the authorities interned these refugees with other enemy residents, without distinction. Later on, when Italy also declared war, significant numbers of Italian residents were also interned.

The Isle of Man, relatively isolated from the British mainland and with a useful amount of holiday accommodation was used to provide housing for the "Alien Civilians" (as it had in World War I). There were also efforts to move internees from Britain. In July, 1940, the ''Arandora Star'' was torpedoed and sunk while transporting Italian and German aliens to North America; 743 died, including prisoners, crew and guards. The 813 surviving prisoners were subsequently included in the 2,500 men transported by HMT ''Dunera'' for internment in Hay, New South Wales.

United States

A well known example of enemy aliens were the Japanese citizens residing in the United States during World War II. Many of these Japanese and Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in internment camps by President Roosevelt during wartime, alongside many Italian-Americans. It is important, however, to recognize that the Japanese-Americans and Italian-Americans were not actually "aliens", as they held American citizenship, only the non-American citizens can be correctly termed "enemy aliens" and be interned. However, German American, Italian American and Japanese American permanent resident aliens were interned in the United States during WWII. In total 10,905 Italian Americans and 11,229 Japanese Americans were interned in many different camps and sites across the country. German Americans were held in more than 50 different locations.

Citizens of an enemy country who lived in the USA during World War II, were required to have a "Enemy Alien" card and register monthly with the authorities. Similar regulations existed in Canada and Mexico.

See also

1798 US Alien and Sedition Acts

alien (law)

legal alien

resident alien

nonresident alien

Crystal City, Texas

References

Handbook of Texas online entry on WWII internment camps in Texas.

Category:Legal categories of people

de:Enemy Alien

Len Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye (5 July 1901, Christchurch, New Zealand - 15 May 1980, Warwick, New York), was a New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific Film Archive at University of California, Berkeley. Lye's sculptures are found in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Berkeley Art Museum. Although he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1950, much of his work went to New Zealand after his death, where it is housed at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth.

Career

As a student, Lye became convinced that motion could be part of the language of art, leading him to early (and now lost) experiments with kinetic sculpture, as well as a desire to make film. Lye was also one of the first Pākehā artists to appreciate the art of Māori, Australian Aboriginal, Pacific Island and African cultures, and this had great influence on his work. In the early 1920s Lye travelled widely in the South Pacific. He spent extended periods in Australia and Samoa, where he was expelled by the New Zealand colonial administration for living within an indigenous community.

Working his way as a coal trimmer aboard a steam ship, Lye moved to London in 1926. There he joined the Seven and Five Society, exhibited in the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and began to make experimental films. Following his first animated film ''Tusalava'', Lye began to make films in association with the British General Post Office, for the GPO Film Unit. His 1935 film ''A Colour Box'', an advertisement for "cheaper parcel post", was the first direct film screened to a general audience. It was made by painting vibrant abstract patterns on the film itself, synchronizing them to a popular dance tune by Don Baretto and His Cuban Orchestra. A panel of animation experts convened in 2005 by the Annecy film festival put this film among the top ten most significant works in the history of animation (his later film ''Free Radicals'' was also in the top 50).

Lye also worked for the GPO Film Unit's successor, the Crown Film Unit producing wartime information films, such as ''Musical Poster Number One''. On the basis of this work, Lye was later offered work for ''The March of Time'' newsreel in New York. Leaving his family in England, Lye moved to New York in 1943.

In ''Free Radicals'' he used black film stock and scratched designs into the emulsion. The result was a dancing pattern of flashing lines and marks, as dramatic as lightning in the night sky. In 2008, this film was added to the United States National Film Registry.

Lye continued to experiment with the possibilities of direct film-making to the end of his life. In various films he used a range of dyes, stencils, air-brushes, felt tip pens, stamps, combs and surgical instruments, to create images and textures on celluloid. In ''Color Cry'', he employed the "photogram" method combined with various stencils and fabrics to create abstract patterns. It is a 16mm direct film featuring a searing soundtrack by the blues singer Sonny Terry.

As a writer, Len Lye produced a body of work exploring his theory of ''IHN'' (Individual Happiness Now). He also wrote a large number of letters and poems. He was a friend of Dylan Thomas, and of Laura Riding and Robert Graves (their Seizin Press published ''No Trouble'', a book drawn from Lye's letters to them, his mother, and others, in 1930). The NZEPC (New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre) website contains a selection of Lye's writings, which are just as surprising and experimental as his work in other media. One of his theories was that artists attempt to reproduce themselves in their works, which he exposited in an essay complete with visual examples.

right|thumb|250px|A 45m Wind Wand on the New Plymouth waterfrontLye was also an important kinetic sculptor and what he referred to as "Tangibles". He saw film and kinetic sculpture as aspects of the same "art of motion", which he theorised in a highly original way in his essays (collected in the book ''Figures of Motion'').

Many of his kinetic works can be found at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, Taranaki including a 45-metre high ''Wind Wand'' near the sea. The ''Water Whirler'', designed by Lye but never realised in his lifetime, was installed on Wellington's waterfront in 2006. His "Tangibles" were shown at MOMA in New York in 1961 and are now found worldwide. In 1977, Len Lye returned to his homeland to oversee the first New Zealand exhibition of his work at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. Shortly before his death in 1980, Lye and his supporters established the Len Lye Foundation, to which he gave his work . The Gallery is the repository for much of this collection, employing a full-time curator to ensure its preservation and appropriate exhibition.

Lye was a maverick, never fitting any of the usual art historical labels. Although he did not become a household name, his work was familiar to many film-makers and kinetic sculptors - he was something of an "artist's artist", and his innovations have had an international influence. He is also remembered for his colourful personality, amazing clothes, and highly unorthodox lecturing style (he taught at New York University for three years).

In 2010 a retrospective of his work was held at Ikon, Birmingham UK.

Personal life

Lye was married twice. His first wife was Jane (Florence Winifred) Thompson with whom he had two children:

Bix Lye, also a sculptor, who lives and works in Williamsburg, New York

Yancy Ning Lou Lye (born 20 May 1940, Chiswick, London)

In Las Vegas in May 1948, Lye married his second wife, Annette "Ann" Zeiss (born 1910, Minnesota) on the same day he obtained a divorce from Jane. Ann was formerly married to Tommy Hindle, a British journalist.

Further information

There are two documentaries about Lye: ''Flip and Two Twisters'' and ''Doodlin''', and a DVD of Lye's talks illustrated with slides: ''Len Lye Talks about Art''.

Filmography

''Tusalava'' (1929)

''The Peanut Vendor'' (1933)

''Kaleidoscope'' (1935) in Dufaycolor

''A Colour Box'' (1935) in Dufaycolor

''Rainbow Dance'' (1936) in Gasparcolor

''The Birth of The Robot'' (1936) in Gasparcolor

''Trade Tattoo'' (1937) in Technicolor

''Full Fathom Five'' (1937)

''Colour Flight'' (1937) in Gasparcolor

'' North or Northwest? (''N or NW?'')'' (1938)

''Swinging the Lambeth Walk]'' (1939) in Dufaycolor

''Musical Poster Number One'' (1940) in Technicolor

''When the Pie Was Opened'' (1941)

''Kill or Be Killed'' (1942)

''Color Cry'' (1952)

''Rhythm'' (1957)

''Free Radicals'' (1958, revised 1979)

''Particles in Space'' (1979)

''Tal Farlow'' (completed posthumously, 1980)

References

Notes

Further reading

Auckland City Art Gallery (1980) ''Len Lye: A personal mythology'' (catalogue published in conjunction with an exhibition of his paintings, steel-motion contributions and films). ISBN 0-86463-100-6

Bouhours, Jean Michel and Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2000) ''Len Lye'', Paris, Edition Centre Pompidou. ISBN 2-84426-034-9

Curnow, Wystan and Horrocks, Roger (1984)'' Figures of Motion: Len Lye, Selected Writings''', Oxford University Press/Auckland University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-19-647996-7

Horrocks, Roger (2002) ''Len Lye: A Biography'', Auckland, Auckland Univ Press. ISBN 1-86940-247-2

Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2002) ''Happy Moments: Text and Images By Len Lye'', Auckland, The Holloway Press. ISBN 0-9582313-3-8

Kashmere, Brett (2007) "Len Lye" in ''Senses of Cinema'' (Revised text of an entry first published in ''The Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film'', 2006)

Len Lye in ''Te Ara'' online encyclopedia

Horrocks, Roger (2009) ''Art that Moves: The Work of Len Lye'', Auckland, Auckland Univ Press. ISBN 978-1-86940-422-2

Horrocks, Roger (ed) (2009) ''Body English: Text and Images By Len Lye'', Auckland, The Holloway Press. ISBN 0-9582313-9-7

External links

Biography, Work listings and more

from the ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biography''

Work by Len Lye in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Works, on New Zealand Electronic Poetry Centre website

Listen to two Len Lye MP3s on thewire.co.uk

Informations on Len Lye's Wind Wand

Len Lye's work in the collection of Te Papa

"Len Lye: The Body Electric; Ikon Gallery, Burmingham, UK"

Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United States Category:Drawn-on-film animation Category:Experimental filmmakers Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:New Zealand film producers Category:New Zealand sculptors Category:People from Christchurch Category:Visual music artists Category:1901 births Category:1980 deaths

ca:Len Lye de:Len Lye fr:Len Lye it:Len Lye nl:Len Lye