Carey Blyton [1932–2002]

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.


Composer…

  WorkVocal rangeDurationPublishedPrice
FM273Commuter SpecialSound
for Orchestra
2 mins12th November 2023
Purchase options
Forces: Orchestra
FM057Dirge for St Patrick’s NightSound
Ballad
for voice and piano (or guitar)
E to C'4½ mins2000£6.75
Words: Elsa Corbluth
Forces: Voice, Guitar, Piano
FM066El Tango Ultimo
(Tango cromatico)
for symphony orchestra
2¼ mins2000
Purchase options
Forces: Orchestra
FM237Fanfara Pian’ e Forte
Echo-Fanfare
for three trumpets, three trombones and side drum
½ minute9th December 2021£5.50
Forces: Three Trumpets, Three Trombones, Side drum
FM275Girl FridaySound
for Piano and String Orchestra
2½ mins12th November 2023
Purchase options
Forces: Piano, String orchestra
FM027In the Spice Markets of Zanzibar
for Brass Quintet
(with optional tambourine)
2¼ mins1999£9.45
Forces: Two Trumpets, French horn, Trombone, Tuba, Tambourine
FM228Lyrics from the Chinese
Seven Songs for High Voice and Piano
18¼ mins10th October 2020£9.95
Forces: High voice, Piano
FM056Lyrics from the EastSound
Five Miniatures
for tenor and piano
D to A5 mins2000£7.45
Words: Anonymous • Words: Bengali folk-poem • Words: Omar Khayyam • Words: Sappho
Forces: Tenor, Piano
FM028Shadow-Play
(Wayang Kulit)
for four or eight flutes (four alto flutes and two piccolos optional)
4 mins2000£12.45
Forces: Four Flutes, Eight Flutes
FM026The ’Cellist and the Nightingale
for ’cello and piano
1994£5.45
Forces: ’Cello, Piano
FM236The 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 mins9th December 2021£3.50
Forces: Choir (SATB)
FM110The Christ Church CarolSound
(To Bethlehem)
for SATB
3 mins2002£3.00
Forces: Choir (SATB)
FM171The Christmas Spirit
Three Carols
for SATB and string orchestra
4½ mins4th June 2011
Purchase options
Words: Peter Westmore
Forces: Choir (SATB), String orchestra
FM170The Christmas SpiritSound
Three Carols
for two equal voices and piano
4½ mins4th June 2011£5.95
Words: Peter Westmore
Forces: Two voices, Piano
FM172The Christmas Spirit
Three Carols
arranged for SATB and piano
4½ mins5th July 2011£5.95
Words: Peter Westmore • Edited by Richard Hallas
Forces: Choir (SATB), Piano
FM067Vale, Diana!
for string orchestra
2000£12.50
Forces: String orchestra
FM274Valse MusetteSound
for Accordion, Harp and String Orchestra
2 mins12th November 2023
Purchase options
Forces: Harp, Accordion, String orchestra
FM071War Song of the SaracensSoundVideo
for SATB and piano
2½ mins1999
Purchase options
Words: James Elroy Flecker
Forces: Choir (SATB), Piano

Arranger…

  AttributionWorkVocal rangeDurationPublishedPrice
FM133 Traditional
arr. Carey Blyton
The Ash Grove
Welsh folksong
for string orchestra
2004£11.50
Forces: String orchestra
FM038Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
arr. Carey Blyton
The Rose and the NightingaleSound
Eastern Song
for soprano, flute or alto flute and harp (with words in English and French)
F to F'2½ mins1996£7.45
Words: M.-D. Calvocoressi • Words: Rosa Newmarch
Forces: Soprano, Flute, Alto flute, Harp
FM240 Traditional Welsh
arr. Carey Blyton
Three Welsh Folk SongsSound
arranged for Voice and Harp (or Piano)
,A to F'7 mins1st January 2022£8.50
Words: Welsh traditional • Edited by Richard Hallas
Forces: Voice, Harp, Piano

Author…

  BookPublishedPrice
FM093Collected Short Stories
and Summer in the Country (Autobiography)
ISBN 0-9535125-4-1
2002£14.00
Edited by Peter Thompson
FM089Composer Interviews no 1
Carey Blyton, interviewed by Peter Thompson
ISBN 0-9535125-2-5 (second edition)
19th May 2012£7.00