Joseph Horovitz (26 May 1926 – 9 February 2022) was an Austrian-born British composer and conductor best known for his 1970 pop cantata Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo, which achieved widespread popularity in schools.
[2] Horovitz was born in Vienna, Austria, into a Jewish family who emigrated to England via Belgium in 1938 to escape the Nazis.
He was Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music from 1961, and a Council Member of the Composers' Guild of Great Britain from 1970.
[13] Horovitz claimed that the composers Peter Warlock, E J Moeran, Frederick Delius, and Bernard van Dieren were his influences.
[1] Ad Astra for concert band was commissioned by the RAF in 1990 and drew on the composer's memory of London in The Blitz.
[17] The first three string quartets were student works (the third accepted as the final part of his Oxford Bachelor of Music degree in 1948).
[20][18] The children's "pop cantata" Captain Noah and His Floating Zoo (1970) was his biggest popular success.
The piece was first recorded by the Kings Singers in 1972 on an Argo LP,[22] and a new orchestral version by the composer was conducted by John Wilson in 2018.
[23] His music for television included Lillie, Rumpole of the Bailey, The Search for the Nile, The Fight Against Slavery, Wessex Tales and Partners in Crime.