Composer, Poet and Philosopher

ED I TED BY A . EAG LEFI ELD H ULL DO C . O & O N . MU S . ( ) CYRIL SCOTT U N I FORM WI TH TH I S VOLUM E LI BRARY OF M U SI C AN D M U SI C IAN S ED I TED B Y L D L D x n. EAGL FI E H U L M us . oc o . E . O A , ( ) C rown 810 0 . O c c a si ona l l I l l us tra te d y . H L B RO MA I N RO A N D ANDE . y LL . TH OV B R O MA I N R O A N D . BEE EN . y LL TH E EAR L IER FR E N C H M U S I C IANS ( 1 63 2 B MA RY HA R RAV y G E . ' G R T R U SS I TON E P OET S C R I I A EA AN : AB N . B D R EAG LEF I ELD y . H U LL FR C M U S I C F T -D - B G . E N U B RY H O O AY . A EN y J A . M US O RG Y K . B S M . C ALVO C O RE S S I y D . R C : IS L I F O S B D R A LEFI ELD H H W RK . H A E AN D y . E G U LL . R EG AN PAU T REN H T RU B N ER 8: LTD C C o . L , , , . roa d wa H ouse 68 - C a rte r L a ne L ndon o E . C . B y , 74 , , Z C obm n Ph oto by A . C YRIL SCOTT C om ose r oe t a nd h i l oso h e r p , P P p A EA G LE FI ELD H U LL . O & O . M U S . D C . (O N ) / ' H z tb numer ous M usi ca l a nd otber I l l ustra ti ons S e c ond E d i t i on I O ND O N 1 ) KEGA N P A UL , FACULTY 0? MUSIC O I , 0 4 8 \ ( I L . CONTENTS ' C HAPTE R I INTR ODU CTORY TH E LI FE II I TH E M AN H I M SELF IV ORCHESTRAL AN D C HORAL WORK S v C HAM BER M U SIC VI P IANO WORK S VI I TH E LAR GER P I ANOFORTE WORK S VI II TH E SON G S I & TH E VIOLIN WORK S & H I S TECHNI &U E AN D H ARM ONY & I TH E F ORT AN D P HILOSO PHER C ONCLU SION A P P E N D I C E S LI ST OF M U SICAL C OM POSITIONS II LI TERARY WORK S LIST OF ILLUSTR ATION S PAGE P HOTO G RAPH ( by A l wyn La ngdon C oburn) F r onti sp i e ce ’ F C I M I OF C Y I SCOTT H D W I I G 1 916 A S LE R L S AN R T N , ( Rough Sk e tch of a n unpublished work) E & AM PLE OF ORCHESTRATI ON ( Fr om the Pi a noforte C once rto) 142- 3 INTR OD U C TOR Y C YRI L SC OT T CHAPTER I I NTRODUC T ORY ’ TH E dominant feature of Cyril Scott s music is its originality , that is to say , its modernity . We O of H e is an innovator . hear S much M Of odernism nowadays , and like most the other - art terms commonly bandied about , it seems to To sa have no very precise meaning . y that a musician i s a M odernist is about as enlightening s A ll as to ay he is an Impressionist . men Of worthy the name are modernists , all musical composers cannot be anything else but impres ion t M s is s . odernism is nothing more than F Ul tra - m d e rni sm if ~ an innovation . urther , o , y d e r e of thing , should express merely the g e the ’ orientation of the artist s outlook towards the future ; whereas it is Often applied to artists who are thought to have lost all touch with 4 CYRIL S COTT Th e i their age . word also s not infrequentl y used derisively by those critics who sprawl about with such vague catch - words as N e o S F Th e Impressionism , ymbolism and auvism . M term odernist then should , rightly speaking , be given only to the man who is progressive in — N e w idea and in style . wine cannot safely be put into ol d wineskins ; and SO it has come about that music has e fflore sc e d into innumerable S styles . ome composers , like Debussy , create a S n new harmonic system ; others , like criabin , i vent a new way of using harmony ; others (less Rimmin ton E successful) , like g and dison , are seeking closer analogies between sound and c ol r M its on s ou . ysticism has laid hold music a ’ D E r o on . well as painting and literature g , the B A S elgian theorist , calls coustic cience to the S S help of music , just as eurat and ignac have utilised the theories of scientific ch romati i c i sm in their pictures . N evertheless music s most i s its valuable when it used in purest mode , and it is found only at its highest powers l Il instru of mental forms . In these days analytical science i s and material aims , it refreshing to have to do on with so ideal an art , e which resists a surgeon like dissection just as much as it does a solution F or i s by chemical process . music entirely a O C S e s thing f the spirit , and when yril cott ass rt INTR OD U C TORY 5 that if a man is not musical he cannot be very no spiritual , he is in accord with less a mind than ’ G ’ S . hakespeare s iven perfect sincerity , a man s to music is the key his character , the reflection Of his soul ; it gives the most reliable index to the man who composes it , and also to the m an who interprets it . In studying C yril Scott ’ s music we shall find - there the key to his richly endowed personality , a c om personality modern , intuitive , sensitive , plex , unified and sincere . If cornered and compelled to classify himself , R for I believe he would call himself a omantic , I have read the exceedingly lucid chapter in his 1 Philosophy of M od e rni sm dividing the whole C R O field Of art into three camps ; lassicism , F Th h manticism and uturism . e latter sc ool he M onste rism A s rightly prefers to call . the C lassicist adhering blindly to tradition and con ve nti on regards even the Obvious as a virtue , the R Of omanticist aims at the creation a new style , always remembering the limits imposed by the of Th e F canons beauty and art . uturist struggling to be new at all costs , and without limits , is by that very fact imposing on himself a conv ention on C as shackling as the traditional e Of the lassicist . l Th e Ph i l osophy of M ode rni sm i n i ts Conne c ti on wi th M us ic Ke a n Pa ( g ul) . 6 CYRIL SCOTT ’ To use C yril Scott s own simile from the same C book , the lassicist is like a pedestrian who em barks on a wal kI ng tour with the firm intention of keeping entirely to the roads ; the F uturist is like a man who starts with the Opposite intention Of keeping entirely Off the roads thus both these pedestrians are the slaves Of their respective i n tentions , and only the man who starts out with a of r th perfect freedom choice , to follow o leave e road whenever he thinks fit , may be truly regard A nd d . a ed as unbound by fetters this man , justed to the plane Of art , is the true R oman ti i st c . C yril Scott has brought the sense Of new T ness into the art Of music afresh . his sense 1 is as difficult to d e fine as the sense Of sweetness would be to the man who has never tasted sugar or as the song of the nightingale to one wh o has never heard this true R omanticist - uch amongst the song birds . S a composer will to se ur be open be called a po ; but , as se ur o he says , the true po is rather the s C called lassicist , who regards dissimilitude as R bad taste , whilst the omanticist scorns simili as to tude Objectionable , a thing be avoided at all costs . l S c ott d e fine d i t onc e a s m e re ly th e i nt e ns i fie d c onsc i ous ne s s o f s uc h we a k ne s s a nd t e d i um a s a ri se s from re p e t it i on a nd i mit a ti on CHAPTER I I TH E LI F E A T C the time Of writing this chapter , yril S m cott , at y request , has come on a visit , in order to play me those particular works Of his which it were otherwise difficult to hear .

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