Editing Benjamin Frankel (section)

==Biography==
Frankel was born in London on 31 January 1906, the son of Polish [[Jewish]] parents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/frankel/index.htm|title=Benjamin Frankel: British Composer-|website=Musicweb-international.com|access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref> He began to learn the violin at an early age, showing remarkable talent; at age 14, his piano-playing gifts attracted the attention of the American pianist and teacher Victor Benham (1867–1936) who persuaded his parents to let him study music full-time.<ref name=grove>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000010150|title=Frankel, Benjamin|website=Grove Music Online|year=2001 |access-date=26 July 2020|doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.10150|isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |last1=Orr |first1=Buxton }}</ref> 

He spent six months in Germany in 1922, then returned to London, where he won a scholarship from the [[Worshipful Company of Musicians]] and attempted his first serious compositions while earning his income as a [[jazz]] violinist, pianist and arranger. Known then as Ben Frankel, his jazz work can be heard on recordings by [[Fred Elizalde]]'s band.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1787699-Ben-Frankel|title=Ben Frankel|website=Discogs.com|access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref> He also played violin with [[Carroll Gibbons]] and the [[Savoy Hotel Orpheans]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/282519584859/permalink/10154804230799860/|title=Mickey Clark|website=Facebook.com|access-date=26 July 2020}}</ref>

By the early 1930s, Frankel was in demand as an arranger and musical director in London, working with several dance bands. He wrote several popular dance band arrangements for [[Henry Hall (bandleader)|Henry Hall]]'s BBC Dance Orchestra, including "Learn To Croon", "Don't Blame Me", "Weep No More My Baby", "April in Paris" and "In Town Tonight". He wrote many arrangements and scores for theatre and film music but gave up theatre work in 1944. 

He did, however, retain an interest in film composing until his death, writing over 100 scores. These included ''[[The Seventh Veil]]'' (1945), ''[[The Man in the White Suit]]'' (1951), [[The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)|''The Importance of Being Earnest'']] (1952), ''[[The Night of the Iguana (film)|The Night of the Iguana]]'' (1964), and [[Battle of the Bulge (1965 film)|''Battle of the Bulge'']] (1965),<ref name=dnb>Kennaway, E.D: [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-67638 ''Benjamin Frankel''] in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)</ref> as well as the first British (partly) [[serialism|serial]] film score, to ''[[The Curse of the Werewolf]]'' (1961).<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSQQx-D2EO0C&q=edward+clark+iscm&pg=PT64|title=Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde|first=David|last=Huckvale|year= 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786451661|access-date=26 July 2020|via=Google Books}}</ref>

From 1941 until 1952 he was a member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], but resigned his membership in protest against the [[Slánský trial]].<ref>According to ''[[The Evening Standard]]'' of 12 December 1952.</ref> 

During and after the war Frankel started to become widely known as a composer of works in traditional classical form. One of the first to gain attention was the Sonata No 1 for solo violin of 1942, which was dedicated to the Austrian-born violinist and viola player [[Max Rostal]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Description Page of Frankel Sonata|publisher=Chester Novello|url=http://www.chesternovello.com/default.aspx?TabId=2432&State_3041=2&workId_3041=12250|access-date=7 November 2007}}</ref>
Rostal made the premiere recording in 1944.

He went on to perform Frankel's most famous work, the Violin Concerto "in memory of 'the six million<nowiki>'</nowiki>" (a reference to the Jews murdered during [[the Holocaust]]), commissioned for the 1951 [[Festival of Britain]], and was the soloist in the Viola Concerto for BBC radio broadcasts in 1970 and 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtPoBYjIj7M |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/VtPoBYjIj7M |archive-date=22 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Viola Concerto, BBC broadcast, 15 December 1972|website=[[YouTube]] |date=5 April 2016 |access-date=26 July 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The core of Frankel's output are the eight symphonies (composed between 1958 and 1971)<ref>Orr, Buxton. 'Benjamin Frankel's Symphonies and the Death of Tonality', in ''The Listener'', 12 October 1972, p. 483</ref> and the five string quartets (composed between 1945 and 1965). His friend [[Hans Keller]] was a champion of his concert music and did much to promote its performance at home and abroad.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/956730|title=Frankel and the Symphony|author=Keller, Hans|year=1970|journal=The Musical Times|volume=111|issue=1524|pages=144–147|access-date=26 July 2020|doi=10.2307/956730|jstor=956730|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Born and raised in [[Hammersmith]], Frankel lived in London for many years, most notably at 17 [[Soho Square]] between 1953 and 1957, where he was the host of a circle of artists including the poet [[Cecil Day Lewis]] and film director [[Anthony Asquith]]. From 1952 there was also a house in Sussex, Rodmell Hiil, [[Rodmell]], near Lewes. The writer [[Leonard Woolf]] lived next door.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KKNGMreR978C&q=%22Benjamin&pg=PA373 Glendinning, Victoria. ''Leonard Woolf: A Biography'' (2006), p. 373]</ref> In 1958 he re-located to [[Locarno]] in Switzerland.<ref name=dnb/> He married three times: first in 1932 to Joyce Stanmore Rayner (divorced 1944), then to Phyllis Anna Leat (1944 until her death in 1967), and finally to Xenia Hamilton-Kennaway in 1972, not long before his death.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112686/ Russell, Ken. ''Classic Widows'', television documentary, 1995]</ref> There were two sons and one daughter by the first marriage.<ref name=dnb/> 

Frankel died in London on 12 February 1973 while working on the three-act opera ''Marching Song'' and a ninth symphony, which had been commissioned by the [[BBC]]. When he died, ''Marching Song'' had been completed in short score; it was orchestrated by [[Buxton Orr]], a composer who had studied with Frankel and whose advocacy has been at least partly responsible for the revival of interest in his works.<ref name=grove/>