Donald Swann | |
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.jpg) Swann in 1966 | |
| Born | Donald Ibrahim Swann (1923-09-30)30 September 1923 Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales |
| Died | 23 March 1994(1994-03-23) (aged 70) London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, musician and entertainer |
| Known for | Flanders and Swann |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Donald Ibrahim Swann (30 September 1923 – 23 March 1994) was a British composer, musician, singer and entertainer. He was one half ofFlanders and Swann, writing and performingcomic songs withMichael Flanders.[1]
Donald Swann was born inLlanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales.[2] His father, Herbert Alfredovich Swann, was a Russian doctor of English descent, from the expatriate community that started out as theMuscovy Company. His mother, Naguimé Sultán Swann (born Piszóva), was aTurkmen-Russian nurse fromAshgabat, now part ofTurkmenistan.[3] They were refugees from theRussian Revolution. Swann's great-grandfather, Alfred Trout Swan, a draper fromLincolnshire, emigrated to Russia in 1840 and married the daughter of thehorologist to the tsars. Some time later the family added a second 'n' to their surname. His uncleAlfred wrote the first biography ofAlexander Scriabin in English.[4]
The family moved to London, where Swann attendedDulwich College Preparatory School andWestminster School. It was at the latter that he first metMichael Flanders, a fellow pupil.[2] In July and August 1940 they staged a revue calledGo To It.[5] The pair then went their separate ways duringWorld War II, but were later to establish a musical partnership.[2]
In 1941 Swann was awarded anexhibition toChrist Church, Oxford, to read modern languages. He was aQuaker and pacifist.[2] In 1942 he registered as aconscientious objector and served with theFriends' Ambulance Unit (aQuaker relief organisation) inEgypt,Palestine andGreece. After the war, Swann returned to Oxford to read Russian andModern Greek.
When by chance Swann and Flanders met again in 1948 it led to the start of their professional partnership. They began writing songs and light opera, Swann writing the music and Flanders writing the words.[2] Their songs were performed by artists such asIan Wallace andJoyce Grenfell. They subsequently wrote two two-man revues,At the Drop of a Hat andAt the Drop of Another Hat, which they performed all over the world until their partnership ended in 1967.[2]
At the same time, Swann was maintaining a prolific musical output, writing the music for several operas and operettas, including a full-length version ofC. S. Lewis'sPerelandra, and a setting ofJ. R. R. Tolkien's poems fromThe Lord of the Rings to music inThe Road Goes Ever On song cycle.[6]
In 1953–59 Swann provided music for seven plays byHenry Reed on theBBC Third Programme, generally known as theHilda Tablet plays after one of the fictional characters, a lady composer of avant-garde "musique concrète renforcée". Besides incidental music, Swann composed for this character an opera, "Emily Butter" and several other complete works.[7] A lifelong friendship withSydney Carter resulted in scores of songs, the best known being "The Youth of the Heart" which reappeared inAt the Drop of A Hat, and a musicalLucy and the Hunter.
After his partnership with Flanders ended, Swann continued to give solo concerts and to write for other singers. He also formed the Swann Singers and toured with them in the 1970s. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he continued performing in various combinations with singers and colleagues and as a solo artist. One such was a jazz partnership with trumpeterDigby Fairweather and vocalist Lisa Lincoln for theSwann in Jazz series of concerts and the 1994 CD.[8]
It is estimated that Swann wrote or set to music nearly 2,000 songs throughout his career.[9] He wrote a number ofhymn tunes which appear in modern standard hymn books. In the later years of his life he 'discovered' Victorian poetry and composed some of his most profound and moving songs, settings ofWilliam Blake,Emily Dickinson,Christina Rossetti,Oscar Wilde and others.[10] A selection of his solo songs were recorded on aHyperion double CD issued in 2017.[11]
Donald Swann was married twice; he married Janet Oxborrow in 1955 and they were divorced in 1983. His second wife was the art historian Alison Smith. From 1961 until his death his address was 13 Albert Bridge Road, London SW11.[12]
In the 1970s, Swann became a Sponsor of thePeace Pledge Union.
In 1992 he was diagnosed with cancer. He died atTrinity Hospice in South London on 23 March 1994.
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