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38-613: The Committee for the Promotion of New Music was a membership organization which sought to find the best new composers and to help support their careers, especially in the UK. Francis Chagrin has been described as the Committee's "organizer and chief moving spirit". Fellow émigré composer Benjamin Frankel said that by establishing it he "gave many composers (not only the young ones) their first opportunity of

76-953: A jazz violinist, pianist and arranger. Known then as Ben Frankel, his jazz work can be heard on recordings by Fred Elizalde 's band. He also played violin with Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Hotel Orpheans . By the early 1930s, Frankel was in demand as an arranger and musical director in London, working with several dance bands. He wrote several popular dance band arrangements for Henry Hall 's BBC Dance Orchestra, including "Learn To Croon", "Don't Blame Me", "Weep No More My Baby", "April in Paris" and "In Town Tonight". He wrote many arrangements and scores for theatre and film music but gave up theatre work in 1944. He did, however, retain an interest in film composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. These included The Seventh Veil (1945), The Man in

114-427: A British composer. His best known pieces include a cycle of five string quartets, eight symphonies, and concertos for violin and viola. He was also notable for writing over 100 film scores and working as a big band arranger in the 1930s. During the last 15 years of his life, Frankel also developed his own style of 12-note composition which retained contact with tonality . Frankel was born in London on 31 January 1906,

152-519: A concert pianist. Over and over again, he reminded her to take care of her precious hands. Prior to Francesca's debut concert in Venice, an old school friend visits her dressing room and tactlessly reminds her of the failed music exam; the stress is so great that, although the concert is a success, Francesca faints on stage at its completion. "I could almost feel my fingers swelling …" she tells Larsen. Francesca’s career progresses and eventually she performs at

190-437: 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". Mátyás Seiber and Roy Douglas were also among the founding members of the Committee. Ralph Vaughan Williams agreed to become president with the proviso that it "avoid all cliques [and] give

228-453: A recording of the adagio, but Nicholas breaks the record. Larsen thanks him for revealing what Francesca means to him. Nicholas goes to Max's house and convinces Francesca that Larsen can help her. Meanwhile, Larsen sees Peter, who tells him that the night Francesca returned, he told her he was married. However, he is now divorced. Larsen brings Peter to Nicholas's home, where Max also waits, and they go upstairs. We hear Peter's waltz, and then

266-491: A waltz) that Nicholas scorns as "suburban shop girl trash". Francesca proposes to Peter, who accepts, but when Nicholas hears the news he calmly orders her to pack a bag because they are leaving for Paris the following morning to continue her studies. When Francesca tries to defy him he reminds her that she is only 17, and under his control until she is 21. Francesca tells Larsen that for the next seven years Nicholas never let her out of his sight as they prepared for her future as

304-650: A welcome to all good work in whatever style or school". Arthur Bliss was appointed as vice-president, and Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett served on the Committee. Its initial activities were subsidized by the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts and by private donations from Vaughan Williams and Bliss among others, and remained the basis for much of its subsequent work: "recommended lists" of works were drawn up, which resulted in increased broadcasting by

342-400: Is "everything". Following a transgression, a teacher canes Francesca on her hands, causing her fingers to swell and thus ruining her chances of winning a piano scholarship that afternoon. After the sudden death of her father, Francesca is placed in the care of his second cousin, Nicholas, a misogynistic bachelor who walks with a cane. Nicholas ignores her until a school report reveals that she

380-403: Is a brilliant concert pianist suffering from a delusion that she has lost the use of her hands. Despairing, she slips out of the nursing home where she is staying and jumps into the river. She survives, but is unresponsive. Dr. Larsen, a psychiatrist specializing in hypnosis, leads Francesca to describe events in her life, that appear as flashbacks. When she is 14, and at boarding school, music

418-479: Is a gifted pianist. Nicholas does not play well, but he is a brilliant and inspiring teacher. They work for hours every day and he arranges for Francesca to become a pupil at the Royal College of Music; but he violently rejects her demonstration of gratitude. At the college, Francesca meets Peter, a brash American musician studying in London, who charms her and opens a new world to her, including music (in particular

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456-426: Is an accident and Francesca wakes in the nursing home with bandages on her slightly burned hands, irrationally convinced she will never play again. The story has come full circle. While she is still under hypnosis, Larsen gets her to play the adagio, but the memory of Nicholas intrudes, and she faints. Max removes her from the nursing home and refuses to let Larsen continue treatment. Larsen goes to Nicholas and plays

494-408: Is highly entertaining: maybe, with a few veils stripped away, most of us have a fantasist inside who gobbles up this sadomasochistic sundae, with its culture sauce." Looking back at the movie and its reception, Todd said, "It was the film that had everything — a bit of Pygmalion , a bit of Trilby , a bit of Cinderella . Apart from all that it's an intriguing psychological drama and was one of

532-481: Is outraged. Francesca tells him she is grateful for many things, but will never forgive him for others. As he rants loudly that she belongs to him, Francesca plays the second movement (adagio cantabile) of the Piano Sonata No. 8 by Beethoven, louder and louder, drowning him out. Furious, he slams his cane down on the keyboard, just missing her hands. She screams and runs to Max who whisks her away in his car. But there

570-528: The Composer of the Week , first in 1996 and again in 2006. Symphonies Concertos Orchestral Chamber Vocal Film scores The Seventh Veil The Seventh Veil is a 1945 British melodrama film directed by Compton Bennett and starring James Mason and Ann Todd . It was made by Ortus Films (a company established by producer Sydney Box ) and released through General Film Distributors in

608-627: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation to record Frankel's complete oeuvre. This allowed for the first time an appraisal of his output. CPO recorded all the symphonies (conducted by Werner Andreas Albert ) and all the string quartets (by the Nomos Quartet), and in 1998 issued the world premiere recordings of the Violin Concerto, Viola Concerto and Serenata Concertante. With recordings now available, BBC Radio 3 featured him as

646-623: The British Film Institute compiled a list of the 100 biggest UK cinematic hits of all time based on audience figures, as opposed to gross takings. The Seventh Veil placed 10th in this list with an estimated attendance of 17.9 million people. The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival . It won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (for Sydney and Muriel Box ) that same year. Pauline Kael called The Seventh Veil "a rich, portentous mixture of Beethoven, Chopin, kitsch, and Freud," adding that "[a]ll this nonsense

684-448: The Grieg and Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concertos. Eileen Joyce , whose name does not appear in the credits, was the pianist who substituted for Todd on the soundtrack. She also made a short film for Todd to practise to, and even coached Todd personally in her arm movements. It is Joyce's hands that are seen in all the close-ups. Filmed on a relatively low budget of under £100,000, the film

722-465: The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). That year issues arose about certain expenses Clark had claimed while he was chairman. Clark alleged that Frankel had accused him of fraud. Frankel denied he had ever made such a claim, but nevertheless said that such a claim, had he made it, would have been true. This amounted to slander as far as Clark was concerned, and he sued Frankel in

760-621: The BBC and in several recordings, issued in the 1940s on 78rpm discs by Decca . By October 1951, a draft amended Constitution had been prepared, and on 27 May 1952 the Society for the Promotion of New Music met for its inaugural meeting. On 5 February 1973 the Society celebrated its 30th anniversary with a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall . It had commissioned a new piece from Francis Chagrin to mark

798-585: The High Court, calling the composers Christian Darnton and Bernard Stevens as witnesses. While Frankel's alleged slander itself was unproven, the jury exonerated Clark of any wrongdoing and he felt this meant his integrity was intact. Clark's wife Elisabeth Lutyens ever after referred to Frankel as "composer and ex-colleague". Born and raised in Hammersmith , Frankel lived in London for many years, most notably at 17 Soho Square between 1953 and 1957, where he

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836-664: The Jews murdered during the Holocaust ), commissioned for the 1951 Festival of Britain , and was the soloist in the Viola Concerto for BBC radio broadcasts in 1970 and 1972. The core of Frankel's output are the eight symphonies (composed between 1958 and 1971) and the five string quartets (composed between 1945 and 1965). His friend Hans Keller was a champion of his concert music and did much to promote its performance at home and abroad. In 1955 Frankel succeeded Edward Clark as Chairman of

874-728: The Royal Albert Hall, to an overwhelming audience response. Nicholas presents her with flowers after her performance, but she brushes past him to go out to find Peter. She finds him by chance, after seeing a poster outside the elegant nightclub where he leads the band. The band plays "their" waltz and they dance; but Francesca refuses to tell the doctor what happened next. Instead, she tells him about Maxwell Leyden, an artist whom Nicholas commissions to do her portrait. Francesca and Max soon fall in love and decide to go to live in Max's villa in Italy. Nicholas

912-718: The SPNM, resulting in 850 composers being represented in its concerts. On 1 October 2008, the SPNM merged with the British Music Information Centre (BMIC), the Contemporary Music Network and the Sonic Arts Network , forming a new organisation to promote contemporary music in the UK called Sound and Music . Benjamin Frankel Benjamin Frankel (31 January 1906 – 12 February 1973) was

950-493: The UK and Universal Pictures in the United States. The screenplay concerns Francesca (Todd), a brilliant concert pianist who attempts suicide while she is being treated for a disabling delusional disorder centred on her hands that makes it impossible for her to play. A psychiatrist uses hypnosis to uncover the source of her crippling fear and to reveal, one by one, the relationships that have enriched and troubled her life. When

988-719: The White Suit (1951), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), The Night of the Iguana (1964), and Battle of the Bulge (1965), as well as the first British (partly) serial film score, to The Curse of the Werewolf (1961). From 1941 until 1952 he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain , but resigned his membership in protest against the Slánský trial . During and after

1026-445: The adagio. Larsen descends while Francesca plays. He warns the three men that she is a new Francesca, no longer afraid, who will want to be with the one she loves, trusts, has been happiest with, and cannot live without. Nicholas withdraws to another room. Smiling, Francesca runs downstairs, through the door and into his arms. Sydney and Muriel Box were commissioned to film a documentary about shell-shocked soldiers being treated with

1064-546: The event but he was ill and unable to complete the work. Chagrin died on 10 November 1972. At his request, his Lamento appassionato for string orchestra was played instead. This was one of the few times his own work was ever performed at an SPNM event. The Francis Chagrin Fund for Young Composers was established in his memory in 1973 and continues today. From 1993 onward SPNM awarded the annual Butterworth Prize for Composition . In its first 50 years, some 9,000 scores were submitted to

1102-411: The first films to have a hero who was cruel. Most male stars up to then had been honest, kind, upstanding, good-looking men that the female star was supposed to feel safe and secure with for the rest of her life when they finally got together at the end of the film. Not so with our smash hit. The men saw me as a victim and the women thrilled to Mason's power and cruelty, as women have thrilled to this since

1140-474: The first marriage. Frankel died in London on 12 February 1973 while working on the three-act opera Marching Song and a ninth symphony, which had been commissioned by the BBC . When he died, Marching Song had been completed in short score; it was orchestrated by Buxton Orr , a composer who had studied with Frankel and whose advocacy has been at least partly responsible for the revival of interest in his works. In

1178-541: The help of hypnosis. Muriel then began to think there was dramatic potential in the premise of hypnotherapy. The couple wrote the screenplay, and Sydney went on to produce the movie. According to Mason, the original script concluded with Francesca choosing Peter as the one she loves. Mason and wife Pamela Kellino believed such an ending to be "wrong" and "rather dull." The film score was written by Benjamin Frankel (credited as Ben Frankel) with original piano works by Chopin , Mozart , and Beethoven , as well as parts of

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1216-418: The last "veil" is removed, her mind is clear. She regains the ability to play and knows whom she loves best. The film's title comes from the metaphor, attributed to the fictional psychiatrist, that while Salome removed all her veils willingly, human beings fiercely protect the seventh and last veil that hides their deepest secrets, and will only reveal themselves completely under narcosis. Francesca Cunningham

1254-663: The son of Polish Jewish parents. He began to learn the violin at an early age, showing remarkable talent; at age 14, his piano-playing gifts attracted the attention of the American pianist and teacher Victor Benham (1867-1936) who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time. He spent six months in Germany in 1922, then returned to London, where he won a scholarship from the Worshipful Company of Musicians and attempted his first serious compositions while earning his income as

1292-532: The twenty years following his death, Frankel's works were almost completely neglected. Thea King 's landmark recording of the Clarinet Quintet with the Britten Quartet released in 1991 was the first commercial recording of his music since his death. A major turning point, however, came in the mid-1990s when German record company CPO ( Classic Produktion Osnabrück , since bought by JPC) decided to partner with

1330-538: The war Frankel started to become widely known as a composer of works in traditional classical form. One of the first to gain attention was the Sonata No 1 for solo violin of 1942, which was dedicated to the Austrian-born violinist and viola player Max Rostal . Rostal made the premiere recording in 1944. He went on to perform Frankel's most famous work, the Violin Concerto "in memory of 'the six million'" (a reference to

1368-471: The world began, however much they deny it..." On 5 October 1946, This Is Hollywood presented The Seventh Veil . Ray Milland and Ann Todd starred in the adaptation. The Seventh Veil was also presented by the Lux Radio Theatre on 15 September 1947, starring Joseph Cotten and Ida Lupino ; and then on 13 December 1948, now starring Ingrid Bergman and Robert Montgomery . Another version

1406-566: Was the biggest British box-office success of its year. According to Kinematograph Weekly the "biggest winners" at the box office in 1945 Britain were The Seventh Veil , with Madonna of the Seven Moons , Arsenic and Old Lace and Meet Me in St Louis among the runner-ups. UK income was a repored £253,000. In South America it grossed $ 363,000 by May 1947. By February 1948, its box-office receipts were over £2 million worldwide. In 2004,

1444-644: Was the host of a circle of artists including the poet Cecil Day Lewis and film director Anthony Asquith . From 1952 there was also a house in Sussex, Rodmell Hiil, Rodmell , near Lewes. The writer Leonard Woolf lived next door. In 1958 he re-located to Locarno in Switzerland. He married three times: first in 1932 to Joyce Stanmore Rayner (divorced 1944), then to Phyllis Anna Leat (1944 until her death in 1967), and finally to Xenia Hamilton-Kennaway in 1972, not long before his death. There were two sons and one daughter by

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