Cyril Scott

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, née Griffiths. The father was a businessman and lover of Greek culture, the mother amateur pianist. Cyril got early piano lessons, and attending a concert by Paderewski in the near Liverpool gave him for the rash to become a musician. Age of twelve he traveled in 1891 ( accompanied by an English tutor ) to Germany and studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt piano with Lazzaro Uzielli ( a pupil of Clara Schumann ) and theory with Engelbert Humperdinck. In 1893, he returned to Liverpool to continue his general education, but still had piano lessons.

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

During a trip to Paris 1903/ 04 Scott also got to know Debussy and Ravel; Debussy wrote of him: " Cyril Scott is one of the most exceptional artists of the present generation ." To further prominence with which Scott used relationships were HG Wells, George Bernard Shaw and Stefan George. With the latter, Scott developed a close friendship; Scott should also transmit poems of George into English later. In London, Scott concluded, among other things under the influence of Annie Besant, the theosophical movement and joined with psychics and occultists in contact. In 1909 he took on six separate pieces for Welte - Mignon.

1913 Scott traveled at the invitation of Alma Mahler to Vienna and performed in Frankfurt and Cologne. In 1920 he undertook a concert tour in the United States and Canada. 1921 Scott married his first wife, Rose Allatini. The couple had two children: Vivian Mary Scott ( b. 1923 ) and Desmond Cyril Scott ( b. 1926 ). He completed a second marriage later with Marjorie Hartston.

The reception of Scott's compositions was limited by the initial successes at the beginning of the 20th century after the First World War, more and more on his piano music, while larger -scale works hardly came to the performance. 1962 John Ogdon played the 3rd piano sonata at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1969, the 90 -year-old Scott an honorary doctorate from the Chicago Conservatory of Music, an award that has eluded him in his own country.

Musical work

Scott wrote about 400 works, including four symphonies, three operas, two piano concertos, 4 oratorios, concertos for violin, cello, oboe and harpsichord, overtures, symphonic poems and numerous chamber music and songs. Scott also wrote some little pieces for the piano, including the series " Zoo, Animals for Piano " (1930 ), which he composed for his two children Mary and Desmond.

The assessment of the music of Scott fluctuates between the apostrophizing for " Grieg English ", " English Debussy " and a " father of modern British music " (Eugene Goossens ). Based on the romantic, Scott was strongly influenced by Impressionism, especially by Debussy, but developed a personal, the euphony committed sounded quaint and sometimes " exoticizing " acting style. Another source was the musical melody of the English and Irish folk song for Scott.

Literary work

Cyril Scott has also emerged in literature, both as a separate opera librettist, writer of poems, as well as an author of 41 books, in addition to music (eg Music: Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages, 1933), topics from philosophy, the esoteric include (for example, Outline of Modern Occultism, 1953), alternative medicine as well as their own lives.

Works (selection)

• Music: Its Secret Influence Throughout the Ages. 1933 Music: its secret influence throughout the ages. 2nd edition, Munich, Hirthammer, 1991. ISBN 3-88721-045- X

• The Insider: Impressions of a large soul. From d Amerikan. by Karl Friedrich horns. 2 volumes, Munich, Knaur, 1985 ISBN. 3-426-04133-2 ISBN 3-426-04163-4 and