Brian Easdale (10 August 1909 – 30 October 1995) was a British composer.
Easdale was born in Manchester, England. He was educated at Westminster Abbey School and the Royal College of Music.
For the opera house and the concert hall, his works include the operas Rapunzel (1927), The Corn King (1935, not performed until November 1950) and The Sleeping Children (1951). His orchestral works included Five pieces for orchestra, Six Poems, and Tone Poem. For choir, Easdale wrote the Missa Coventrensis.
Easdale also composed film and theatre music. He worked for the General Post Office (G.P.O.) Film Unit, on films such as Big Money (1937), Job in a Million (1937) and Men in Danger (1939). His film scores included several for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, including Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Miracle in Soho (1957), The Queen's Guards (1961) and Powell's controversial Peeping Tom (1960). He was the first British composer to win an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, for his music for The Red Shoes.
Easdale (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Èisdeal) is one of the Slate Islands, in the Firth of Lorn, Scotland. Once the centre of the Scottish slate industry, there has been some recent island regeneration.
A ferry sails from Easdale to Ellenabeich (Gaelic: Eilean nam Beathach) on the nearby island of Seil (Gaelic: Saoil), which is separated from Easdale by only a narrow channel. Confusingly, Ellenabeich is sometimes known as Easdale as a result of its traditional connections with the island.
In 1549, Donald Monro, "Dean of the Isles" wrote, in brief reference to Easdale, of an island "namit in the Erische Leid Ellan Eisdcalfe" However the derivation of "Eisdcalfe" and this word's etymological relationship to "Easdale" is not clear. Haswell Smith (2004) notes that eas is Gaelic for "waterfall" and dal is Norse for "valley". Nonetheless, it is not clear why either description should apply to the island which is low lying and has no waterfalls.
The Gaelic name, Èisdeal ([ˈeːʃtʲəl̪ˠ]) or Eilean Èisdeal has a long vowel and local folk legend attributes this to a derivation from èist thall "listen to that yonder".Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland states that the first element is obscure, the second Norse dalr. It is not clear if this Èisdeal shares its derivation with Gleann Èisdeal (Glen Ashdale) (Glen of Ash trees) on the Isle of Arran.
Brian Easdale (10 August 1909 – 30 October 1995) was a British composer.
Easdale was born in Manchester, England. He was educated at Westminster Abbey School and the Royal College of Music.
For the opera house and the concert hall, his works include the operas Rapunzel (1927), The Corn King (1935, not performed until November 1950) and The Sleeping Children (1951). His orchestral works included Five pieces for orchestra, Six Poems, and Tone Poem. For choir, Easdale wrote the Missa Coventrensis.
Easdale also composed film and theatre music. He worked for the General Post Office (G.P.O.) Film Unit, on films such as Big Money (1937), Job in a Million (1937) and Men in Danger (1939). His film scores included several for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, including Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), The Elusive Pimpernel (1950), The Battle of the River Plate (1956), Miracle in Soho (1957), The Queen's Guards (1961) and Powell's controversial Peeping Tom (1960). He was the first British composer to win an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score, for his music for The Red Shoes.