Mr.Bumble Takes A Wife, Bassoon, Wilfred Josephs

MR BUMBLE TAKES A WIFE
 
Composer: Josephs, Wilfred (1927-1997)
Instrumentation: bn.
Publisher Ref: E327

Three short contrasting movements which refer to an event in the novel 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens which first appeared in serial form between 1837 and 1839

Wilfred Josephs studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London and later in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Max Deutsch. His early compositions were influenced by the avant-garde but he turned to writing more accessible music in his own lyrical and romantic style. Josephs wrote 12 symphonies, 22 concertos, 9 operas, 4 ballets, much chamber music and pieces for young players, but he is probably best known for his film and television scores. 'Waterloo' and 'Swallows and Amazons' are amongst the 30 film scores that he wrote and his television successes include 'I Claudius', 'The Great War' and 'Cider with Rosie'.

Mr Bumble is the self-important and cruel beadle (overseer) of the poorhouse and orphanage where Oliver Twist, the hero of Charles Dickens's novel of the same name, is 'brought up'. Towards the end of the book Bumble courts and marries the matron of the establishment, Mrs Corney, but more for commercial reasons than anything romantic. Although Josephs seems not to have had the opportunity to compose for any of the film or television adaptations of 'Oliver Twist', he perhaps made up for that with these three little movements describing an episode in the book.