Ignatius de Orellana
| Ignatius Antonio de Orellana | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1860 St Helier, Jersey |
| Died |
19 March 1931 London[1] |
| Occupation | Violinist, conductor, composer and orchestrator |
Ignatius de Orellana (1860-1931) was a British violinist, composer, conductor and orchestrator.
He was born in St Helier in Jersey, where his grandfather Ignacio de Orellana, originally from Spain, had settled by 1841.[2] He studied the violin in London; he composed a string quartet and a string trio, which were published in 1888.[3] He became lead violinist of London theatre orchestras, and from about 1900 was a conductor of operettas and an orchestrator of scores for the theatre by Paul Rubens and others.[1][4][5]
In later years he was musical director of Harold Fraser-Simson's music in Toad of Toad Hall, produced in 1929, and he wrote the overture to Noël Coward's 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet.[1][4]
The composer Eric Coates, who in his early career played in London theatres, wrote that Orellana had "a remarkable sense of the theatre, and being a sound musician his arrangements were always delicately finished and in good taste. It was fascinating to get hold of a vocal score of one of the popular musical comedies of the day and run through the music on the piano, and then listen in the evening to what Orellana could make it sound like."[1][3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Brief biography of Ignatius de Orellana IMSLP. Accessed Feb 2014.
- ↑ Census records from Ancestry.com.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Scores, with information about the composer, from Merton Music. Merton Music catalogue Accessed Feb 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ignatius de Orellana Edition Silvertrust. Accessed Feb 2014.
- ↑ British Light Music Composers Music Web International. Accessed Feb 2014.