Request Checked Items. Also present are manuscripts and clippings of his poetry, short stories, reviews, articles, and lectures; papers related to his involvement with various arts organizations; and his personal correspondence, diaries, notebooks, photographs, and similar material. Click here to explore. Biographical Sketch Musicologist, composer, translator, editor, poet, writer, and arts administrator Eric Walter White was born in Bristol, England, on September 10, He was the first of three sons born to Percy Walter White, a doctor, and Ethalind Charlotte Chambers White, a singer before her marriage.
After receiving his B. Through Hagen, White met silhouette artist and filmmaker Lotte Reiniger and collaborated with her on her films Harlequin , for which White arranged and scored the musical accompaniment; The Little Chimney Sweep , for which White arranged the musical accompaniment and wrote the scenario; and Galathea , for which White composed the score.
White published the scenario of The Little Chimney Sweep and wrote Walking Shadows , a book-length essay on Reiniger's silhouette films, which brought her to the attention of the British public. White also published a book on the cinema, Parnassus to Let: An Essay about Rhythm in the Films , and published the first essay in English on filmmaker Bertolt Brecht.
From to , White worked as a translator and minute-writer at the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, before returning to England. In , he began working as an administrative officer in the Rural Department of the National Council of Social Service. In , White was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, and he continued in that office when it became the Arts Council of Great Britain in until his retirement in From to , he also served as the Arts Council's first Literature Director.
He wrote numerous articles, reviews, entries in reference works, program notes for musical performances, and liner notes; lectured widely on topics relating to music and the Arts Council; organized music festivals; and contributed to several radio programs. White also had an interest in poetry; he served as a founder, first secretary , and chair of the Poetry Book Society and was involved with festivals such as the Cambridge Poetry Festival and Ilkey Literature Festival.
