The Battle of the Somme film tour featuring live score

The Battle of the Somme is one of the most famous military events in history – synonymous with huge loss of life and costly failure.

The start of the battle was captured on film by British official cinematographers Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell. The huge volume of footage they produced became one of the most successful feature films ever made – an estimated 20 million tickets were sold in Britain in the first two months after its release.

The pioneering battlefield documentary brought the realities of the Western Front to the British public just a couple of months after the events it depicted

It included scenes that were entirely new to them. The film makers followed British troops as they prepared for the battle; launched a huge preliminary bombardment; and went into attack. Controversially, it depicted dead and wounded soldiers.

The enduring popularity of the film was such that in 2006, the film was digitally re-mastered and rereleased to mark the 90^th anniversary of the battle. Composer Laura Rossi was commissioned by IWM to write a new score to accompany the debut screening.

While researching the battle, she discovered that one of the many British soldiers at the Somme was her great uncle, stretcher-bearer Fred Ainge – who kept a diary of his wartime experiences.

Laura read his diaries and visited the battlefield to help her write her soundtrack – which received a five-star review in The Times.

Now, a tour will present the film and live music together for the first time since 2006, in performances from Leicester to London.

The details for the tour are:

12 November 2011: Leicester Symphony Orchestra – De Montfort Hall, Leicester – Book tickets

20 November 2011: Wessex Concert Orchestra – The Corn Exchange, Devizes, Wiltshire – Information

25 February 2012: Philharmonia Britannica – St John’s Church, Waterloo, London

10 March 2012: Ealing Symphony Orchestra - St Martin’s Church, London W3

You can order a DVD of The Battle of the Somme and see a preview of it here.

Learn more about the film here.