Sue Young Homeopathy

Cyril Meir Scott 1879 – 1970 was an English composer, writer, and poet.

Cyril Scott published widely on both musical and non-musical subjects, including homeopathy, philosophy, occultism and theology.

Cyril Scott’s own personal interests encompass several apparently unrelated disciplines, and he is perhaps the most prolific and indeed successful author of any major composer, at least in areas other than music.

He published forty books (only four of which are on music) and hundreds of other articles in no fewer than six quite different fields of inquiry, including homeopathy, occult philosophy, poetry, literary translation, theology, humour, ethics, and music…

As a deemed authority on spiritualism and homeopathy, Scott provided introductions to several books by other authors. In the case of David Anrias’s Through the Eyes of the Masters: Meditations and Portraits, Scott’s introduction comprises over half the volume.

Cyril Scott was born in Oxton (Merseyside) in northern England, United Kingdom, to Henry Scott, a shipper and scholar of Greek and Hebrew, and Mary Scott (née Griffiths), an amateur pianist.

He showed a talent for music from an early age and was sent to the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, Germany to study piano in 1892 at age 12. He belonged to the Frankfurt Group, a circle of composers who studied at the Hoch Conservatory in the late 1890s. His first symphony was performed nine years later. In 1909 he recorded 6 of his own works for Welte-Mignon.

Scott married Rose L. Allatini in May 1921. They had two children: Vivien Mary Scott (born 1923) and Desmond Cyril Scott (born 1926). He separated from Rose following World War II. In 1943, he met Marjorie Hartston, who remained his companion until his death.

He composed up until the last three weeks of his life, dying at the age of 91. By the time of his death Scott was little regarded. Now his work is coming strongly back into favour. He was romanticist with some impressionist qualities. His harmonic treatments and piano works depict the exotic.

As a composer, Scott wrote around four hundred works, including four symphonies, three operas, two piano concertos, four oratorios, four concertos (for violin, cello, oboe and harpsichord) and several overtures (Nativity Hymn (1913), Mystic Ode (1932), Ode to Great Men (1936), and Hymn of Unity (1947), as well as tone poems, chamber music and songs.

Between 1903 and 1914 Scott wrote more works for the piano than any other composer with the exception of Scriabin. He was called the “Father of modern British music” by Goossens, and was admired by Debussy, Goossens, Grainger, Sorabji, Strauss and Stravinsky. He was sometimes referred to as “the English Debussy.”

The record label Chandos is planning to record all Scott’s major orchestral compositions. So far, they have released three CD’s: The first volume containing the tone poem Neptune (1935), Symphony No. 3 The Muses (1939) and the second piano concerto (1958). The second volume containing the tone poem “Early One Morning” (1931) , Symphony No. 4 (1952) and the first piano concerto (1914). The third volume containing the violin concerto, “Festival Overture”, “Aubade” and “Three Symphonic Dances”.

Scott’s works for piano were recorded for the ABC Classics Eloquence label by Dennis Hennig in 1991. In 2001, a piece thought for many decades to be lost, the Sonatina for guitar (1927), was discovered by Angelo Gilardino in the archives of Andrés Segovia, for whom the piece was originally written. It has since been recorded by the German guitarist Tilman Hoppstock, among others.

His Pastoral and Reel for cello and piano was recorded by Julian Lloyd Webber and John Lenehan for Philips Classics in 1994. His Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra (1937) has recently been reconstructed by Jory Vinikour and will be given its first hearing since its premiere by the Orion Chamber Orchestra, Toby Purser conducting, at St. John’s, Smith Square with Jory Vinikour as soloist in September of 2008.

In addition to his work as a composer and performer, Scott wrote poetry and prose. He was highly interested in the occult and in health foods. He described his beliefs as a blend of science, philosophy, and religion.