Carey Blyton, nephew of the childrenʼs writer Enid Blyton, was born in Beckenham, Kent. During his early years he exhibited not merely an apathy towards music but a marked hostility to it, until, as a convalescent from polio during 1947/8, he was taught the piano to while away the time. Embarking initially on a degree in zoology in 1950, he abandoned this pursuit after a year as music was becoming increasingly important to him. In 1953 he entered Trinity College of Music, London, where he won the Sir Granville Bantock Prize for Composition. His musical studies in London were followed by a scholarship year spent studying composition in Copenhagen.
He freelanced as a composer, arranger, music editor and lecturer from 1963, occupying the post of Personal Editor to Benjamin Britten at Faber Music from 1963 to 1971. He served as Professor of Harmony, Counterpoint and Orchestration at his former college, Trinity, for a decade from 1963, and as Visiting Professor of Composition for Film, Television and Radio at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for a decade from 1972, where he pioneered the first such a course of specialised tuition in the UK.
Primarily a miniaturist, he wrote music for documentary films and for television (including, notably, Doctor Who), and achieved worldwide fame as the creator of the nonsense song, Bananas in Pyjamas.
Further information about Carey Blyton can be found on his Web site.
Work | Vocal range | Duration | Published | Price | |||
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Commuter Special for Orchestra | 2 mins | 12th November 2023 | |||||
Forces: Orchestra | |||||||
Dirge for St Patrick’s Night Ballad for voice and piano (or guitar) | E to C' | 4½ mins | 2000 | £6.75 | |||
Words: Elsa Corbluth Forces: Voice, Guitar, Piano | |||||||
El Tango Ultimo (Tango cromatico) for symphony orchestra | 2¼ mins | 2000 | |||||
Forces: Orchestra | |||||||
Fanfara Pian’ e Forte Echo-Fanfare for three trumpets, three trombones and side drum | ½ minute | 9th December 2021 | £5.50 | ||||
Forces: Three Trumpets, Three Trombones, Side drum | |||||||
Girl Friday for Piano and String Orchestra | 2½ mins | 12th November 2023 | |||||
Forces: Piano, String orchestra | |||||||
In the Spice Markets of Zanzibar for Brass Quintet (with optional tambourine) | 2¼ mins | 1999 | £9.45 | ||||
Forces: Two Trumpets, French horn, Trombone, Tuba, Tambourine | |||||||
Lyrics from the Chinese Seven Songs for High Voice and Piano | 18¼ mins | 10th October 2020 | £9.95 | ||||
Forces: High voice, Piano | |||||||
Lyrics from the East Five Miniatures for tenor and piano | D to A | 5 mins | 2000 | £7.45 | |||
Words: Anonymous • Words: Bengali folk-poem • Words: Omar Khayyam • Words: Sappho Forces: Tenor, Piano | |||||||
Shadow-Play (Wayang Kulit) for four or eight flutes (four alto flutes and two piccolos optional) | 4 mins | 2000 | £12.45 | ||||
Forces: Four Flutes, Eight Flutes | |||||||
The ’Cellist and the Nightingale for ’cello and piano | 1994 | £5.45 | |||||
Forces: ’Cello, Piano | |||||||
The Ballad of Lady Maynard and Dudin Brown A medi-evil ditty collected by Gustav Holst ‘At the Whore’s Bed’ for unaccompanied choir (SATB) | 2¼ mins | 9th December 2021 | £3.50 | ||||
Forces: Choir (SATB) | |||||||
The Christ Church Carol (To Bethlehem) for SATB | 3 mins | 2002 | £3.00 | ||||
Forces: Choir (SATB) | |||||||
The Christmas Spirit Three Carols for SATB and string orchestra | 4½ mins | 4th June 2011 | |||||
Words: Peter Westmore Forces: Choir (SATB), String orchestra | |||||||
The Christmas Spirit Three Carols for two equal voices and piano | 4½ mins | 4th June 2011 | £5.95 | ||||
Words: Peter Westmore Forces: Two voices, Piano | |||||||
The Christmas Spirit Three Carols arranged for SATB and piano | 4½ mins | 5th July 2011 | £5.95 | ||||
Words: Peter Westmore • Edited by Richard Hallas Forces: Choir (SATB), Piano | |||||||
Vale, Diana! for string orchestra | 2000 | £12.50 | |||||
Forces: String orchestra | |||||||
Valse Musette for Accordion, Harp and String Orchestra | 2 mins | 12th November 2023 | |||||
Forces: Harp, Accordion, String orchestra | |||||||
War Song of the Saracens for SATB and piano | 2½ mins | 1999 | |||||
Words: James Elroy Flecker Forces: Choir (SATB), Piano | |||||||
Attribution | Work | Vocal range | Duration | Published | Price | |||
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Traditional arr. Carey Blyton | The Ash Grove Welsh folksong for string orchestra | 2004 | £11.50 | |||||
Forces: String orchestra | ||||||||
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov arr. Carey Blyton | The Rose and the Nightingale Eastern Song for soprano, flute or alto flute and harp (with words in English and French) | F to F' | 2½ mins | 1996 | £7.45 | |||
Words: M.-D. Calvocoressi • Words: Rosa Newmarch Forces: Soprano, Flute, Alto flute, Harp | ||||||||
Traditional Welsh arr. Carey Blyton | Three Welsh Folk Songs arranged for Voice and Harp (or Piano) | ,A to F' | 7 mins | 1st January 2022 | £8.50 | |||
Words: Welsh traditional • Edited by Richard Hallas Forces: Voice, Harp, Piano | ||||||||
Book | Published | Price | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Collected Short Stories and Summer in the Country (Autobiography) ISBN 0-9535125-4-1 | 2002 | £14.00 | |||
Edited by Peter Thompson | |||||
Composer Interviews no 1 Carey Blyton, interviewed by Peter Thompson ISBN 0-9535125-2-5 (second edition) | 19th May 2012 | £7.00 | |||