Editing Ronald Binge

{{Short description|British composer and arranger}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name                = Ronald Binge
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| image_size          =
| background          = 
| birth_name          = 
| alias               = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1910|7|15}}
| birth_place         = [[Derby]], [[Derbyshire]], England
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1979|9|6|1910|7|15}}
| death_place         = [[Ringwood, Hampshire|Ringwood]], [[Hampshire]], England
| instrument          =
| genre               = [[Light music]]
| occupation          = Composer
| years_active        = 
| label               = 
| past_member_of     = [[Mantovani]]
}}

'''Ronald Binge''' (15 July 1910 – 6 September 1979)<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=42}}</ref> was a British composer and arranger of [[light music]].<ref name=carey/> He arranged many of [[Mantovani]]'s most famous pieces before composing his own music, which included ''[[Elizabethan Serenade]]'' and ''[[Sailing By]]''.<ref name=grove>Ades, David. 'Binge, Ronald', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)</ref>
{{ external media|float=right|width=270px|audio1=You may hear Ronald Binge's ''[[Elizabethan Serenade]]'' as performed by [[Annunzio Mantovani]] and the Mantovani Orchestra in 1971  [https://archive.org/details/Mantovani_Orchestra_Greatest_01/08-elizabethanSerenade.wav '''Here on archive.org''']}}

==Biography==
Binge was born in a working-class neighbourhood in [[Derby]], Derbyshire, in the [[Midlands (England)|English Midlands]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> In his childhood he was a chorister at [[St Andrew's Church, Derby|Saint Andrew's Church]] ([[Church of England]]), London Road, Derby – 'the railwaymen's church' (demolished 1970). Binge was educated at the [[Derby School of Music]], where he studied the organ.<ref name=tom/> Early in his career he was a cinema organist,<ref name=carey>{{cite web|last=Carey|first=Mike|title=Ronald Binge|url=http://www.rfsoc.org.uk/rbinge.shtml|publisher=Robert Farnon Society|access-date=4 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051226224814/http://www.rfsoc.org.uk/rbinge.shtml|archive-date=26 December 2005}}</ref> and later worked in summer orchestras in British seaside resorts (including [[Blackpool]] and [[Great Yarmouth]]), for which he learned to play the [[piano accordion]]. Binge's skill as a [[Theatre organ|cinema organist]] was put to good use, and he played the organ in [[Mantovani]]'s first band, the Tipica Orchestra.<ref name=grove/> During the [[World War II|Second World War]], he served in the [[Royal Air Force]], during which time he was much in demand organising in-camp entertainment.<ref name=biog>Carey, Mike. [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1335624.Sailing_by ''Sailing By, the Ronald Binge Story''], ''Goodreads.com'', (2000)</ref>

After the war, Mantovani offered Binge the job of arranging and composing for his new orchestra.<ref name="Larkin50"/> With Mantovani, Binge also orchestrated [[Noël Coward]]'s musicals ''[[Pacific 1860]]'' (1946) and ''[[Ace of Clubs (musical)|Ace of Clubs]]'' (1950).<ref name=grove/> In 1951, his arrangement of "[[Charmaine (song)|Charmaine]]" gave him and Mantovani worldwide success and recognition.<ref name=carey/> However, he tired of writing [[musical arrangement|arrangements]], and turned to composing original works and film scores.<ref name=grove/> Mantovani's orchestra began playing his light orchestral pieces for radio broadcast, and in 1952 Binge devised and conducted his own BBC radio programme called String Song, playing many of his own compositions. He regularly composed for production and library music publishers, and a number of his works were used for radio and television signature tunes.

Binge married Vera Simmons in 1945. During the 1950s they lived at 18, Smitham Bottom Lane in [[Purley, London|Purley]], Croydon.<ref>Norris, Gerald. ''A Musical Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland'' (1981), p. 96</ref> He died in [[Ringwood, Hampshire|Ringwood]], [[Hampshire]], of [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|liver cancer]] in 1979, aged 69, survived by his wife, son and daughter.<ref name=biog/>
<!---AND HAVE THEY?==Commemoration==
In early 2013, [[Derby City Council]] and Derby Civic Society announced they would put a [[blue plaque]] on one of his two early homes in Derby (83 Darby Street, [[Normanton, Derby|Normanton]], or 29 Wiltshire Road, [[Chaddesden]]).<ref>[https://www.derbycivicsociety.co.uk/viewnews.php?id=16 Derby Civic Society]</ref>--->

==Compositions==
Binge was interested in the technicalities of composition and was most famous as the inventor of the "[[cascading strings]]" effect that is the signature sound of the Mantovani orchestra, much used in their arrangements of popular music.<ref name=scow/> First heard on the hit ''Charmaine'' (1951)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=X0unFqqjhMAC&dq=Mantovani+Charmaine+cascading&pg=PA126 Mackenzie, Colin. ''Mantovani: A Lifetime in Music'' (2005), pp. 126–7]</ref> it was originally created to capture the essence of the echo properties of a building such as a cathedral, although it later became particularly associated with [[easy-listening]] music.<ref name=tom>[[Ernest Tomlinson|Tomlinson, Ernest]]. 'Ronald Binge', in ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004)</ref>

Binge's catalogue includes hundreds of works, most of them light orchestral.<ref>[https://ronaldbinge.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Ronald-Binge-music-catalogue.pdf Ronald Binge Music Catalogue], ''Ronaldbinge.com''</ref> His first big compositional success was the orchestral overture ''Spitfire'', composed in Blackpool while he was still on RAF service, which predated William Walton's orchestral tribute by a year.<ref name=scow>Scowcroft, Philip. L. ''British Light Music'' (1997), pp. 28–29</ref> Best known today is probably ''[[Elizabethan Serenade]]'' (1951),<ref name=scow/> which was used by the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] as the theme for the popular 1950s series, "Music Tapestry", and as the play-out for the [[British Forces Network]] radio station, and for which in 1957 he won an [[Ivor Novello Award]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> It was later turned into a vocal version called "Where the Gentle Avon Flows", with lyrics by the poet [[Christopher Hassall]]. A [[reggae]] version of the tune, "Elizabethan Reggae", was performed by [[Boris Gardiner]] in 1970.

Binge is also known for ''[[Sailing By]]'' (1963), which introduces the late-night [[Shipping Forecast]] on [[BBC Radio 4]].<ref name=tom/><ref>Saylor, Eric. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cgo7EAAAQBAJ&dq=ronald+binge+sailing+by&pg=PA4 ''The Sea in British Musical Imagination''] (2015), p. 4</ref> Other well-known pieces include ''Miss Melanie'' (used as the theme for the CBS Network's radio comedy ''[[Ethel and Albert|The Couple Next Door]]'' from 1957 to 1960), ''Like Old Times'', ''[[The Watermill]]'' (1958) for oboe and strings (used as the theme for the BBC children's series The Secret Garden),<ref name=scow/> and his Concerto for Alto Saxophone in E-flat major (1956). His largest, longest, and most ambitious work is the four-movement [[Symphony]] in C (or ''Saturday Symphony''), which was written during his retirement between 1966 and 1968,<ref name=scow/> and performed in Britain and Germany. It was issued as a recording by the South German Radio Orchestra, conducted by the composer.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3IvKVh3s3E ''Saturday Symphony''], ''YouTube''</ref>

<!---UNCITED Less well known is a 1948 [[piano]] piece known as "Vice Versa", a [[palindrome#In Music|musical palindrome]] which was not only a front-to-back [[palindrome]], but also exploited the two [[musical stave|staves]] used for writing for piano. The music reads the same whichever way it is turned. He later extended this theme, composing a piece known as "Upside/Downside" for his son, who was learning to play the [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]] at [[Downside School]]. This musical palindrome was for piano, recorder and [[cello]] and again was universally reversible – two players could play from the same sheet of music reading from opposite ends.--->

==Selected works==
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* ''Spitfire'' (1940)
* ''Madrugado'' (1945)
* ''Trade Winds'' (1946)
* ''The Red Sombrero'' (1947)
* ''Vice Versa'', palindrome for piano (1948)
* Scherzo: Allegro molto (1951)
* ''Elizabethan Serenade'' (1952)
* ''High Stepper'' (The 'Aggie' Theme) (1952)
* Prelude: ''The Whispering Valley'' (1952)
* ''Impressions of London'', suite (1953)
* ''Scottish Rhapsody'' (1953)
* ''Cornet Carillon'' (for brass band) (1954)
* ''String Song'' (1955)
* ''The Watermill'' (1955)
* ''Cockles and Mussels'' (1956)
* ''The Dance of the Snowflakes'' (1956)
* ''Saxophone Concerto'' (1956)
* ''Miss Melanie'' (1956)
* ''Faire Frou-Frou'' (1957)
* ''Man in a Hurry'' (1957)
* ''Las Castañuelas'' (1960)
* ''Thames Rhapsody'' (1960)
* ''Venetian Carnival'' (1960)
* ''Sailing By'' (1963)
* ''Saturday Symphony'' (1966–1968)
* ''Festival Te Deum'' (1970)
* ''Dual for Conductors'', for brass band and orchestra (1976)

===Film scores===
* ''[[13 Men and a Gun]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Once a Sinner (1950 film)|Once a Sinner]]'' (1950)
* ''[[Desperate Moment]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Our Girl Friday]]'' (1953)
* ''[[The Large Rope]]'' (1953)
* ''[[Adventure in the Hopfields]]'' (1954)
* ''[[Dance Little Lady]]'' (1954)
* ''[[The Runaway Bus]]'' (1954)
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://ronaldbinge.com/ Ronald Binge, composer website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124202819/https://ronaldbinge.com/ |date=24 January 2022 }}
*[http://www.robertfarnonsociety.org.uk/index.php/legends/ronald-binge Biography at the Robert Farnon Society]
*[http://www.classical-composers.org/comp/binge Classical Composers Database (with photo)]
*[http://www.chaddesdenhistoricalgroup.co.uk/2011/01/a-local-musical-maestro/ Biography at Chaddesden Historical Group (Derby)]
*[http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5911385 Obituary by George Pollen, copyist to R Binge]
*[http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5911385/gallery Photogallery on Obituary to R Binge]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Binge, Ronald}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:English classical composers]]
[[Category:English light music composers]]
[[Category:20th-century British classical composers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Derby]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver cancer in England]]
[[Category:Theatre organists]]
[[Category:20th-century English composers]]
[[Category:English male classical composers]]
[[Category:20th-century British organists]]
[[Category:20th-century English male musicians]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force airmen]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Derby]]
[[Category:English film score composers]]
[[Category:English male film score composers]]