Philip Sainton


Philip Prosper Sainton was a British-French composer, conductor, and violist.

Biography

He was born in Arques-la-Bataille, in Seine-Maritime, France, grandson to violinist Prosper Sainton and contralto Charlotte Helen Sainton-Dolby. He started his music studies learning the violin. At some point he entered the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied composition under Frederick Corder and viola under Lionel Tertis. Shortly after World War I, he joined the Queen's Hall orchestra, and in 1925 he was also appointed principal viola of the Royal Philharmonic Society's orchestra. These positions were relinquished in 1929 when he was asked to replace Harry Waldo Warner in the London Quartet. In 1930 he joined the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His composition activities had begun early.
The premiere of his first orchestral work, Sea Pictures, took place at the Queen's Hall Proms on 4 September 1923 with the composer conducting. It was repeated the following year. Other Proms premieres included Harlequin and Columbine on 1 October 1925 and the ballet The Dream of a Marionette on 13th August 1929. In 1935, Sir Henry Wood conducted the premiere of his Serenade Fantastique with Bernard Shore playing the viola. He was professor at the Guildhall School of Music.
Today, he is perhaps most remembered as the composer of the score for John Huston's 1956 film Moby Dick. He died in Petersfield, Hampshire in England.

Works

Stage
Orchestral
Chamber music
Vocal
Film music
Orchestrations of works by Jack Sydney Gerber