Eric Coates

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Eric Francis Harrison Coates (born August 27, 1886 in Hucknall , † December 23, 1957 in Chichester ) was an English composer and violist .

life and work

Eric Coates was the son of a doctor and showed an early interest in music. In Nottingham he received lessons first on the violin , then on the viola from Georg Ellenberger (himself a student of Joseph Joachim ), and also in harmony with Ralph Horner . From 1906 he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where Lionel Tertis became his viola teacher, but Coates also received composition lessons from Frederick Corder at the instigation of the institute's director, Alexander Mackenzie , who recognized his talent . From 1912 to 1919 Coates was first violist in the Queen's Hall Orchestra under Henry Wood , and in other orchestras under numerous well-known conductors. He represented Lionel Tertis on a concert tour of the Hamburg String Quartet to South Africa. However, Coates gave up playing the viola in 1919 due to neuritis in his left hand and devoted himself entirely to composition.

Commemorative plaque for Eric Coates in Selsey , West Sussex

As a composer, Coates became known as early as 1909 with the song Stonecracker John, based on a text by Frederic Weatherly , with which he would be linked by a lifelong collaboration. In 1911 Wood added his Miniature Suite to the Proms' program . As a result, Coates developed into one of the most important representatives of so-called " British Light Music " as the composer of numerous catchy orchestral suites, fantasies, marches and waltzes. There were also around 160 songs, including texts by his wife Phyllis Black or by Arthur Conan Doyle . Stylistically, he was initially influenced by Arthur Sullivan , but he also took on influences from German music, such as Richard Strauss , as his orchestral works with color shows.

Some of Eric Coates' compositions became signature tunes for British radio and television programs, such as the March Knightsbridge from the London Suite (1933) to the BBC program "In Town Tonight" for almost 30 years. The Calling All Workers march opened the program “Music While You Work” during World War II. The program Desert Island Discs , which has been broadcast weekly in the BBC's cultural program since 1942 , continues to this day (as of 2012) with the orchestral piece By the Sleepy Lagoon by Coates. Halcyon Days from The Three Elizabeths Suite became the posthumous (1967) theme song for the BBC television series The Forsyte Saga . Coates also wrote parts of the music for the film The Dam Busters .

Eric Coates was a founding member and director of the Performing Right Society , appeared as a conductor of his own music and in 1953 published his autobiography under the title "Suite in Four Movements". His son Austin Coates (1922-1997) also emerged as a writer.

Coates was in the Golders Green Crematorium in London cremated , where his ashes is located.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Coates, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coates, Eric Francis Harrison (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English composer and violist
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Hucknall
DATE OF DEATH December 23, 1957
Place of death Chichester