the music

Before Late Romantic orchestral trends of length and scope separated the trajectory of lighter orchestral works from the Western Classical canon, classical composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart or Joseph Haydn won as much fame for writing lighter pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik as for their symphonies and operas. Later examples of early European light music include the operettas of composers such as Franz von Suppé or Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Continental salon and parlour music genres; and the waltzes and marches of Johann Strauss II and his family. The Straussian waltz became a common light music composition (note for example Charles Ancliffe's "Nights of Gladness" or Felix Godin's "Valse Septembre"). These influenced the foundation of a "lighter" tradition of classical music in the 19th and early 20th centuries...from the likes of Binge and Coates to Farnon.

DAVID ADES (1938 - 2015)

David Ades was Secretary and Treasurer of The Robert Farnon Society from 1962 until December 2013. For much of the time he also edited the society’s magazine Journal Into Melody.

  FARNON SOCIETY

 David Ades tribute
British light music 
David Ades was the acclaimed authority on British light orchestral music. This is an excellent 60 min tribute by Radio Six International, which was broadcast on 24 February 2015, three days after his death.


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