Everything about Ivor Novello totally explained
David Ivor Davies (
January 15,
1893 –
March 6,
1951), better known as
Ivor Novello, was a
Welsh composer,
singer and
actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the early
20th century.
Early life
He was born at Llwyn-yr-Eos (Grove of Nightingales),
Cowbridge Road East,
Cardiff,
Wales, to the well-known singer and teacher,
Clara Novello Davies, and David Davies, a tax collector. A
blue plaque commemorating his birth can be seen on the side of the house. He attended
Magdalen College School, Oxford for some time.
Career
He first became well known as a result of the song, "Keep the Home Fires Burning", which he composed during
World War I. His 1917 show,
Theodore & Co was a wartime hit. After the war, he began a film career, and also appeared on stage in the
West End, in
musical shows of his own devising; the best known of these was
The Dancing Years (1939). Novello starred in two early films directed by
Alfred Hitchcock, (1927) and
Downhill (1927). He later went to
Hollywood and appeared in numerous successful films, but the stage remained his first love and the medium for his major successes. For many years, he lived at
Littlewick Green in East
Berkshire.
Novello wrote his
musical shows in the style of
operetta, and was one of the last major composers in this form. He generally composed his music to the
librettos of
Christopher Hassall.
Personal life
Novello was
homosexual, well known for some of his more glamorous gay affairs. For 35 years, he was the lover of the British actor
Bobbie Andrews, and he'd an affair with the British poet and writer
Siegfried Sassoon.
During
World War II, Novello was sentenced to eight weeks in prison (he served four) for misuse of petrol coupons, a serious offence in wartime Britain. Serving a sentence alongside him was
Frankie Fraser. After his release, he continued to appear on stage and write shows until the day before his sudden death from a
coronary thrombosis on
March 6 1951, aged 58. In 1933, he coaxed the actress
Zena Dare out of semi-retirement, and thereafter until his death, he often performed with, and wrote parts for her in his works.
Legacy
The
Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, are awarded each year by the record industry to songwriters and arrangers as well as the performing artistes.
Novello was portrayed in
Robert Altman's film
Gosford Park (2001) by
Jeremy Northam and several of his songs were used for the film's soundtrack.
His memory continues to be promoted by
The Ivor Novello Appreciation Bureau, who hold annual events around
Britain, including an annual pilgrimage to
Redroofs in
Littlewick Green in June.
In 2005 The
Strand Theatre in London, above which Novello lived for many years, was renamed the Novello Theatre.
Principal shows
Notable Songs
"Keep the Home Fires Burning" - John McCormack (1917 recording .mp3
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"Fold Your Wings"
"Shine Through my Dreams"
"Rose of England"
"I Can Give you the Starlight"
"My Dearest Dear"
"When I Curtsied to the King"
"We'll Gather Lilacs"
"Someday my Heart will Awake"
"Yesterday"
"Waltz of my Heart"
"My Life Belongs To You"
Filmography
The Call of the Blood (L'Appel du Sang) - 1919
Miarka: The Daughter of the Bear (Miarka, Fille de L'Ourse) - 1920
Carnival - 1922
The Bohemian Girl - 1922
The Man Without Desire - 1923
The White Rose - 1923
Bonnie Prince Charlie - 1923
The Rat - 1925
The Triumph of the Rat - 1926
- (1927)
Downhill - 1927
The Vortex - 1928
The Constant Nymph - 1928
The Gallant Hussar - 1928
The South Sea Bubble - 1928
The Return of the Rat - 1928
Symphony in Two Flats - 1930
Once a Lady - 1931
The Phantom Fiend - 1932
I Lived With You - 1933
Sleeping Car - 1933
Autumn Crocus - 1934Further Information
Get more info on 'Ivor Novello'.
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