Original light music "Serenade" composed by Ernest Tomlinson

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This is a serenade composed by Ernest Tomlinson, performed by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1996. This sweet, delicate piece is one of the light music composer's most popular works. The tune was composed in 1955 for the radio drama Cinderella's Tale, accompanied by a moment when Prince Charming met Cinderella and was impressed by her beauty and charm. Tomlinson then became an independent, widely acclaimed concert program.

Ernest Tomlinson

Ernest Tomlinson (19 September 1924 – 12 June 2015) was a British light music composer. Tomlinson is primarily known for his light orchestral compositions, composing a large number of overtures, suites, rhapsodys and small works, the most popular of which may be serenades and lyrics. There are also choreographers of some British folk dances. Tomlinson also created larger forms, including works in the style of symphonic jazz, such as Symphony No. 62, which won the Italian "Symphony of Rhythms" competition. There are also two symphonies and concertos.

Born into a musical family in Rothenburgstal, Lancashire, England, Tomlinson became a choir chaplain at Manchester Cathedral at the age of nine and was eventually appointed chief boy in 1939. He later attended grammar schools in Bacup and Rawtenstall, where he received a scholarship at the age of 16 to study at the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester Conservatory of Music. For the next two years, he studied composition. He began his service in 1943 and returned to England in 1945 to continue his studies, graduating in 1947 with a Bachelor of Music in Composition and becoming a Fellow of the Royal Organist's College and an Associate Of Fellow at the Royal Manchester Conservatory of Music.

Tomlinson left the north of England for London, where he worked as an arranger for arcadia and Mills music publishers, providing sheet music for radio and television broadcasts as well as stage and recording studios. He continued to be interested in the organ and held a position in a church in Mayfair.

In 1949, Tomlinson's first production aired on the BBC, and by 1955 he had formed his own orchestra, the Ernest Tomlinson Light Orchestra. From 1951 to 1953, he was music director of the Cheong Phuc Amateur Theatre and Opera Association. In 1966, Tomlinson conducted his Symphony No. 65 at moscow's Tchaikovsky Hall, performed by the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Orchestra, the first time Soviets heard a symphonic jazz work. In 1976, he took over the command of the Rosendale Boys' Choir from his father, holding the position for five years, during which time the choir won the title for three consecutive years in the BBC's "Big Singing" competition. He is also the founder of the Northern Music Orchestra and has given numerous broadcasts and concerts with the orchestra. He was the principal consultant for Marco Polo Records and appeared several times on Brian Kay's lighting shows.

In 1984, After discovering that the BBC was working on their light music archives, Tomlinson set up the Light Orchestra Library, located in the barn of his family's farmhouse near Longridge, Lancashire. The library currently has about 50,000 items in its collection, including many that could be lost.