Cecil Coles
Cecil Frederick Gottlieb Coles (born October 7, 1888 in Kirkcudbright , † April 26, 1918 near the Somme , buried in Croury-Sur-Somme ( Picardy )) was a Scottish composer .
Live and act
Cecil Coles was the son of a landscape painter and archaeologist; he attended George Watson's College in Edinburgh from 1899 and began studying music at Edinburgh University in 1905 . In 1906 he won a scholarship to the London College of Music . In London Coles became a member of the Morley College Orchestra and made the acquaintance of Gustav Holst , who worked there as musical director from 1907 and promoted him. In 1908 Coles received a scholarship to study composition at the Stuttgart University of Music . After completing his studies, he became assistant conductor at the Royal Opera in Stuttgart in 1911 , as well as organist and choirmaster at the English Church of St. Katherina , Stuttgart. Some of his compositions were performed in the Stuttgart Liederhalle . In Stuttgart he also met his future wife, Phoebe Relston. In 1913 Cecil Coles returned to England, where he went on tour as a choir conductor with the Beecham Opera Company for a while, before taking up a position as a music teacher at Morley College in London, where he also temporarily represented Gustav Holst. He was also the band master of the Queen Victoria's Rifles (London Regiment). In 1914 his dramatic monologue for voice and orchestra, Fra Giacomo, was premiered in Queen's Hall .
Immediately after the outbreak of the First World War , Cecil Coles was called up for military service. He continued to compose on the overseas front in France and sent manuscripts to Holst. Several of his compositions were lost as a result of the war. In April 1918, Cecil Coles was killed by German fire during a wounded recovery on the Somme . His grave is in the Croury British Cemetery in Croury-sur-Somme .
His extant oeuvre includes piano music, songs and chamber music as well as orchestral works, including the overture The Comedy of Errors (premiered in Cologne in 1913), the Suite From the Scottish Highlands and the Suite Behind the Lines for chamber orchestra (originally in 4 movements, 2 Sentences lost).
reception
In 1919 Gustav Holst dedicated his Ode to Death to Cecil Coles and other friends who died in the war. Cecil Coles' work has remained almost unknown since then; In 2002 Hyperion Records released a CD with the first commercial recordings of his compositions.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Short biography and list of works, Bardic Edition (Engl.)
- Biography, Robert Weedon (engl.)
- Short biography CD41 Recordings (Engl.)
- John Purser: CD booklet Hyperion CDA67293, Cecil Coles: Diverse Werke, BBC Scottish Symph. Orch. U. a., Head Martyn Brabbins, 2002
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Coles, Cecil |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Coles, Cecil Frederick Gottlieb (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 7, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kirkcudbright |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1918 |
| Place of death | near Croury-Sur-Somme ( Picardy ) |