A 269TH GARLAND OF BRITISH LIGHT MUSIC COMPOSERS
We start with the obscure figure of Wilson G Smith,
active perhaps between the wars and possibly even Transatlantic in origin,
but known over here for his orchestral suite At the Bal Masqué
in four movements individually titled Mélodie Érotique,
Promenade, Danse Exotique and Pierrot’s Sadness.
Almost as obscure is Eustace Pett, who certainly
lived in London and who composed lightish songs –The Benedict’s Lament
and Enchantment, both published, and at least one to words by
Rudyard Kipling, which was not published.
Cecil Coles (1888-1918), a battle victim of
the Great War, was educated in Edinburgh, London and Stuttgart and achieved
some fame as a conductor. His compositions included some vocal pieces
and also several orchestral works which we can reckon as light or lightish:
Suite From the Scottish Highlands (1907), a suite, Behind
the Lines, written while on active service and of which just two
movements survive, a Shakespearean overture, the Comedy of Errors
and a Scherzo in A Minor. This music has been recorded on a recent Hyperion
CD.
Finally, Lawrence Arthur Collingwood (1887-1982),
educated at Westminster Abbey Choir School and Exeter College, Oxford,
was a répétiteur, then Conductor at the Old Vic and Sadler’s
Wells (Conductor 1940-47). He was long associated with EMI {HMV} and
also composed – operas, piano sonatas, chamber music, a Piano Concerto
and some songs, a number of them ballads and a few to French words originally.
Examples are Good Day to You My Sweetheart, Little Woodland Bird,
Paradise, When Sunday Morning Broke so Fair and The Wood of Flowers.
Philip L Scowcroft
May 2002
Philip's book 'British Light Music Composers' (ISBN 0903413 88 4) is
currently out of print.
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