This composer webpage is in the process of being created. In time we will have further details about the availability of scores and performing material for the majority of works listed here. In the meantime, should you have any particular enquiry about any of the music listed here, then please contact either the publishers whose names are given or Bardic Edition for all other general enquiries.
Cecil Frederick Coles was born at Kirkudbright, Scotland on 7th October 1888 and was educated at George Watson’s School, Edinburgh where in 1907 he won a scholarship to study at the London College of Music. He later joined the Morley College Orchestra where he met Gustav Holst who was teaching music at the newly formed educational college for workers. After attending Edinburgh University he won a scholarship for composition at the Stuttgart Conservatory and it was here that some of his early compositions were first performed. At the end of his studies he was appointed assistant conductor at the Stuttgart Royal Opera where he met many of the day's leading musicians whilst taking a leading part in the city's English community. He became organist and choirmaster at the English church St. Katherine's and it was here that he met his future wife, Phoebe Relton. Returning to England in 1913, work was hard to find and for a time he toured with the Beecham Opera Company eventually settling down in London where he rejoined Morley College as a teacher of elementary harmony and sight-singing. In July 1914 his dramatic cantata “Fra Giacomo” was performed at the Queen‘s Hall. At the outbreak of the First World War he was immediately called up being already in the Queen‘s Victoria Rifles in which he was regimental Band Master. He continued to compose even during action, sending manuscripts back to Holst, whenever possible. During a period of withdrawal, a shell destroyed all the bands instruments (and some of his manuscripts) and on 26th April, 1918 he was killed by a German sniper whilst on active duty retrieving the wounded.
Piano Music
Five little variations on an original theme (1908) [BDE 869]
Five sketches [BDE 1034]
Gavotte (Revised version of
Trianon Gavotte - see below)
Intermezzo (1911)
Nocturne in G minor (1904)
[Piano duet]
Rondo in A minor (1909)
Sauteuse, La (Trianon Gavotte) (Date
?)
Sonata in C minor
(Date ?)
Sorrowful Dance (1917) [complete
piano sketch by the composer with orchestral markings]
Trianon Gavotte
Triste et Gai op. 10 (1908) [BDE 868]
Valse
Variations on an original theme
(1908) [BDE 870]
Organ Music
Two Fugues
(1910) [BDE 103]):
1. Fugue on
the choral “Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten”
2. Fugue on
“The Old Hundredth”
Voice and piano
Benediction (1917)
- ‘Grow old along with me’ (Robert
Browning)
Du bist wire eine blüme
(Heinrich Heine) (Date ?)
Elegy (Thomas Moore) (1907)
Fra Giacomo (1914)
[transcription by Jeremy Dibble]
Gladsome fray, The (Cecil
Coles) for baritone and piano (Date ?)
Glückes genug (1909) (Detler
von Liliencron)
Homeward bound (1906) for baritone
and piano (Words ?)
Hör ich das liedchen telingen
(Heinrich Heine) (Date ?)
In absence (Arthur Weir) (Date ?)
Invocation (1906) [Scene from
Goethe's Faust] (Part 2, Scene 1 intended for soprano and orchestra)
Love that Murmurs, The (Thomas Moore)
(Date ?)
Moissons, Les (Alfred de
Musset - English text by Florence Gillham) (Date ?)
Neuer frühling (1909)
(Heinrich Heine)
Sea shadows (Fred Anderson) (Date ?)
Sigh not thus (1907) (Thomas
Moore)
Tis love that murmurs (Thomas
Moore)
Choral Music
Festival Te Deum for SATB soli, SATB choir
and organ (1911)
Mass (Date ?)
Chamber Music
From the Scottish highlands
for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello and piano
In the cathedral
(1907): Poem for Violin, Viola and Cello
In the cathedral (1907): Reverie for
Piano (harp) and Strings
Marquise, La [Morceau
Gracieux] (1909) for Violin and piano
Reverie “The sorrows of
Werthe” (1907) for Violin and piano
Sonatina in B
flat (1906) for Violin
and piano
String Quartet (Date ?) for 2 Violins,
Viola and Cello
Triste et Gai
(1908) for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Cornet (Trumpet) and 2 Violins
Military Band
‘Kitchener’s Army’: March for military band (1915)
Orchestral Music
Adagio in A flat for winds, strings and piano
Allegro agitato for orchestra (Part
of Opera ‘Fra Giacomo’)
Concerto Overture in E minor for
orchestra (1904)
Cortège arranged for large orchestra by Martyn Brabbins [Behind the Lines Mvt.
2] (1917-18)
Cortège arranged for small orchestra
[Behind the Lines Mvt. 2] (1917-187)
Estaminet de Carrefour for small
orchestra [Behind the Lines Mvt. 1] (1917-18)
Fantasy in C for large orchestra (1905)
Four Verlaine Songs for soprano and orchestra
(1. Fantastic in appearance; 2. A slumber vast and black; 3. Pastoral: The sky
above the roof; 4. Let’s dance the jig) (1909)
Fra Giacomo: Scena for baritone and
large orchestra (1914)
From the Scottish Highlands: Suite
for orchestra (1907) (1. Prelude: Presto scherzoso; 2. Allegro maestoso; 3.
Idyll (Love scene): Larghetto; 4. Lament: Adagio non troppo e ben marcato)
Introduction and Allegro from Piano Concerto in F sharp minor (1905)
Overture: The Comedy of Errors (1911)
Piano
Concerto in F sharp minor for piano and orchestra (1905)
Rabbi Ben Ezra (Robert Browning) for solo voice, SATB choir and orchestra (piano
sketch only)
Rumours (Scherzo) [Behind the Lines
Mvt. 4] (1917-18)
Scherzo in A minor for large
orchestra (1910)
Sorrowful Dance arranged for small
orchestra by Barry Peter Ould [in preparation] (1917) - Coles's last surviving
composition dedicated to his wife Phoebe
Wayside
Shrine, The {Behind the Lines Mvt. 2] (1917-18)
Titles shown in
italics are considered to be lost
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