John Danforth Herman Greenwood (b. London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 26 June 1889 d. Ditchling

Ditchling

Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling....

 15 April 1975), film composer, was the son of a New Zealander, Alfred Greenwood (1842-1912) and his English-born wife Ottilie Rose Minna (1855-1932) née Schweitzer. He was named after his grandfather John Danforth Greenwood (1803-1890), a pioneering New Zealand doctor and educationist, who had emigrated in 1842 after losing his fortune in the French cement industry.

Education

Greenwood learned piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

 from his parents and at 18 entered the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

 to study viola and horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

.

Career

He was a classical composer who also wrote music scores for nearly 50 films from the 1930s to 1950s. He will be found on the credits of films from Man of Aran (1934) to Grand National Night (1954). While he no doubt gained considerable satisfaction from these compositions - and access to a large audience - there were also frustrations as the film editing process frequently required the removal or addition of a bar quite regardless of the overall theme of the piece. Whether his compositions of incidental music for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream were intrinsically more satisfying is not known.

Serious works include La Belle Dame Sance Merci, Pippa Passes, Puncinello, and Salute to Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....

which was premiered at the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts in 1936.

During the War he worked on the staff of the BBC European Service as Assistant Music Supervisor.

Filmography

• Grand National Night (1954) aka Wicked Wife (USA);
• The Gentle Gunman (1952);
• Another Man's Poison
  Another Man's Poison
  Another Man's Poison is a 1951 British drama film directed by Irving Rapper. The screenplay by Val Guest is based on the play Intent to Murder by Leslie Sands.-Plot:...
  
   (1952);
• Family Portrait (1950) aka A Film on the Theme of the Festival of Britain 1951 (UK: subtitle);
• Trio (1950);
• The Lost People (1949);
• The Last Days of Dolwyn; (1949) aka Dolwyn aka Women of Dolwyn (USA) ;
• Quartet; (1949)
• Eureka Stockade; (1949) aka Massacre Hill ;
• Broken Journey; (1948)
• School for Danger; (1947)
• Frieda; (1947)
• Hungry Hill; (1947)
• They Knew Mr. Knight; (1946)
• Painted Boats; (1945) aka The Girl of the Canal; (USA) ;
• San Demetrio, London; (1943)
• The Lamp Still Burns; (1943)
• The Gentle Sex; (1943)
• Nine Men; (1943)
• 'Pimpernel' Smith; (1941) aka Mister V (USA: reissue title) aka The Fighting Pimpernel;
• Contraband; (1940) aka Blackout; (USA);
• 21 Days; (1940) aka 21 Days Together; (USA) aka The First and the Last; aka Twenty-One Days; aka Twenty-One Days Together; (USA);
• Prison Without Bars; (1938)
• The Drum; (1938) aka Drums; (USA);
• Elephant Boy; (1937)
• The Invader; (1935) aka An Old Spanish Custom;
• Man of Aran
  Man of Aran
  Man of Aran is a fictional documentary by Robert J. Flaherty about life on the Aran Islands off the western coast of Ireland. It portrays characters living in premodern conditions, documenting their daily routines such as fishing off high cliffs, farming potatoes where there is little soil, and...
  
  (1934)
• The Constant Nymph (1933)