Ivor Novello
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Ivor Novello |
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.
He was born at Llwyn-yr-Eos (Grove of Nightingales), Cowbridge Road East,
Cardiff,
Wales, to the well-known singer and teacher, Dame Clara Novello Davies, and David Davies, a tax collector.
He first became well known as a result of the song,
Keep the Home Fires Burning, which he composed during
World War I. After the war, he appeared on stage in the
West End, in
musical shows of his own devising, the best known being
The Dancing Years (1939). Novello starred in two early films directed by
Alfred Hitchcock,
The Lodger (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.
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.
During
World War II, Novello was convicted of illegal use of
rationed petrol (gasoline) and was briefly imprisoned. This downfall from his luxurious lifestyle completely broke his spirit, and he was never the same man after his release. However, he continued to appear on stage until the day before his sudden death from a
coronary thrombosis on
March 6,
1951, aged 58.
Novello was a
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 had an affair with the British poet and writer
Siegfried Sassoon. It was alleged by
W. Somerset Maugham that
Sir Winston Churchill confided in him that he had once been to bed with Novello.
The
Ivor Novello Award is a prize awarded for songwriting, named for Ivor Novello, and awarded each year by the record industry to song writers and arrangers rather than the performing artistes.
Novello was portrayed in Robert Altman's fictional film
Gosford Park (
2001) by
Jeremy Northam and several of his songs were used for the film's soundtrack. However, Novello's homosexuality was subtly underplayed in the film.
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 was renamed the Novello Theatre.
Glamorous Night (1935)
Careless Rapture (1936)
Crest of the Wave (1937)
The Dancing Years (1939)
Arc de Triomphe (1943)
Perchance to Dream (1945)
King's Rhapsody (1949)
Gay's the Word (1951) (lyrics by
Alan Melville (writer)*
Keep the Home Fires Burning*
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 YouThe 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
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog - (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 - 1934
