Cyril Scott

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Cyril Scott 1907

Cyril Meir Scott (born September 27, 1879 in Oxton , Cheshire , † December 31, 1970 in Eastbourne , Sussex ) was an English composer , pianist and writer .

Life

Cyril Scott was the third child of Henry Scott and Mary, b. Griffiths. The father was a businessman and lover of Greek culture, the mother an amateur pianist. Cyril took piano lessons at an early age, and a visit to a concert by Paderewski in nearby Liverpool was the decisive factor for him to become a musician. At the age of twelve he traveled to Germany in 1891 (accompanied by an English tutor) and studied piano with Lazzaro Uzielli (a student of Clara Schumann ) and theory with Engelbert Humperdinck at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt . In 1893 he came back to Liverpool to continue his general schooling, but continued to take piano lessons.

The 16-year-old Scott went back to Frankfurt and studied composition with Iwan Knorr for three years . Here he came into contact with Roger Quilter , Percy Grainger and Balfour Gardiner (who with him belonged to the so-called Frankfurt Group ). In 1898 Scott returned to Liverpool again, gave concerts as a pianist and gave piano lessons. He also began to make a name for himself as a composer. His 1st symphony was premiered in Darmstadt in 1900 , Hans Richter conducted his Heroic Suite in Manchester in 1901 and Fritz Kreisler took over the violin part in the London performance of his piano quartet in G minor in 1902 .

During a trip to Paris in 1903/04, Scott also met Debussy and Ravel ; Debussy wrote about him: "Cyril Scott is one of the exceptional artists of the current generation". Other celebrities Scott had relationships with included HG Wells , George Bernard Shaw, and Stefan George . Scott was close friends with the latter; Scott would later translate George's poems into English. In London, Scott joined the theosophical movement , including under the impression of Annie Besant , and made contact with clairvoyants and occultists . In 1909 he recorded six of his own pieces for Welte-Mignon .

In 1913 Scott traveled to Vienna at the invitation of Alma Mahler and also gave concerts in Frankfurt and Cologne . In 1920 he went on a concert tour to the USA and Canada . In 1921 Scott married Rose Allatini's first marriage. The marriage had two children: Vivian Mary Scott (* 1923) and Desmond Cyril Scott (* 1926). He later married Marjorie Hartston a second marriage.

After the initial success at the beginning of the 20th century, after the First World War, the reception of Scott's compositions was increasingly limited to his piano music, while larger-format works were rarely performed. In 1962 John Ogdon played the 3rd piano sonata at the Royal Academy of Music . In 1969, 90-year-old Scott received an honorary doctorate from the Chicago Conservatory of Music , an award he was denied at home.

Musical work

Scott composed around 400 works, including four symphonies , three operas , three piano concertos , four oratorios , solo concertos for violin , cello , oboe and harpsichord , overtures , symphonic poems and numerous chamber music works and songs . Scott also wrote some easy works for piano lessons, including the cycle Zoo, Animals for Piano (1930), which he composed for his two children, Mary and Desmond.

The assessment of Scott's music fluctuates between the apostrophes to "English Grieg ", "English Debussy" and a "father of British modern music" ( Eugene Goossens ). Starting from the Romantic period, Scott was strongly influenced by Impressionism , above all by Debussy, but developed a personal writing style that was dedicated to euphoria, sound painterly and at times "exoticizing". Another musical source for Scott was the melody of the English or Irish folk song.

Literary work

Cyril Scott has also emerged literarily, both as his own opera librettist , as the author of poems, and as the author of a total of 41 books, which in addition to music (e.g. Music: Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages , 1933) also cover topics from philosophy , esotericism (e.g. Outline of Modern Occultism , 1953), alternative medicine and one's own biography.

Works (selection)

  • Music: Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages . 1933
    • Music: its secret influence through the centuries . 2nd edition Munich, Hirthammer, 1991. ISBN 3-88721-045-X
  • The tragedy of Stefan Georges: a memory picture and a walk through his work . Eltville am Rhein, Hempe, 1952
  • An outline of modern occultism . 1953. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1974.
  • The initiate: some impressions of a great soul . First publ. 1920. Rep. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Scott, Cyril
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Scott, Cyril Meir
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English composer, pianist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Oxton , Cheshire
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1970
Place of death Eastbourne , Sussex