Roger Sacheverell Coke ( ("cook"); 20 October 1912 – 23 October 1972) was an English composer and pianist.
Life Roger Sacheverell Coke was from a wealthy family. He inherited the family estate of Brookhill Hall, Pinxton at the age of two, when his father, Lieutenant Langton Sacheverell Coke, died at the Battle of Ypres in October 1914. Coke began composing when he was at Eton College, where he was taught by Henry Ley, and was influenced to take up the piano by hearing Benno Moiseiwitsch. Coke's musical interests were strongly supported by his mother and for his 21st birthday, she had outbuildings on the family estate converted to a large music studio and performance space, equipped with a Steinway piano, and with capacity for an audience of several hundred. He pursued his study of composition and the piano seriously. He took piano lessons in London with Mabel Lander (herself a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky and teacher of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret) and was later a pupil of Alan Bush. He made his debut as a composer-pianist in 1932 with his first piano concerto, and formed the Brookhill Symphony Orchestra in 1940 to play his own and other neglected works.Obituary, Musical Times 1558 (May 1972) p 1226
Coke was homosexual, and a heavy cigarette smoker. Despite his freedom from financial concerns, he suffered from depression. However, in the safe isolation of his studio he composed a large corpus of works, with a strong emphasis on his own instrument, the piano. For the orchestra he wrote three symphonies, six piano concertos,Piano Concertos, reviewed by MusicWeb International two "vocal concertos" for soprano and orchestra and four symphonic poems. In the chamber music field there are sonatas for celloCello Sonatas, reviewed by MusicWeb International and for violin, as well as extended works for piano solo, notably the 24 Preludes24 Preludes, reviewed by MusicWeb International and 15 Variations and Finale, and around 100 songs. Despite the failure of any publisher to take up his works, some were performed around Britain, and occasionally broadcast. Coke bore the cost of those of his compositions that were published, and often also the costs of performance. Some works were taken up by leading musicians, including pianists Charles Lynch and Moura Lympany, and he counted Moiseiwitsch and Sergei Rachmaninoff amongst his friends.
In November 1959, Coke's three-act opera The Cenci, to his own libretto based on Shelley's verse drama, was given a single performance at the Scala Theatre in London, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Eugene Goossens. The critics were unanimously hostile and dismissive and Coke became seriously depressed. Coke died of a heart attack in 1972. A revival of interest in his work began in 2012 with a performance of his first violin sonata at the English Music Festival in Dorchester Abbey on 2 June 2012.Barnett, Rob. 'More Neglected Music Unveiled at the English Music Festival'. Seen & Heard, 2012. Many of his unpublished manuscripts are held at Chesterfield Library.Derbyshire County Council: Special Local Studies Collections, Coke-Steel Collection
Works Opus Name Year Dedicatee 1 Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor 1931 2 Romanza for piano trio 1931 Dorothy Coke 3 Fantasie for piano 1931 Frederick Lyne 4 Piano Concerto No. 2 in E minor 1933 Mabel Lander 5 Three String Pieces 1933 John Frederick Staton 6 Rhapsody for oboe, bassoon & piano 1933 A & I Winfield 7 Three Small Pieces for wind quartet - Gilbert Inglefield 8 Piano Quintet - Ethel Boileau 9 (not known) - - 10 Improvisata for violin & piano - - 11 (not known) - - 12 Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor 1935 George Chavchavadze 13 Symphony No. 1 in E minor 1934 - 14 (not known) - - 15 Variations and Fugue for piano in D minor 1935 - 16 Elegy for a Dead Musician for contralto, violin and orchestra (or piano) 1934 Bridget Tallents 17 (not known) - - 18 (not known) - - 19 Six Songs for soprano or tenor 1935 - 20 Two Songs for soprano or tenor and strings (or piano) 1935 - 21 Variations and Fugue for piano in D minor 1935 Alan Bush 22 Symphony No. 2 in G minor 1936 Sergei Rachmaninoff 23/3 Waltz for piano - - 24 Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor 1936 Dorothy Coke 25 Vocal Concerto No. 1 1934 Barbara Welby 26 Piano Sonata No. 2 in G 1936 Charles Lynch 27 Ballade in C for piano 1936 Griselda Gould 28 Piano Sonata No. 3 in A minor 1937 - 29 Cello Sonata No. 2 in C 1938 Alan Morton 30 Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat 1938 Charles Lynch 31 November Afternoon for soprano or tenor 1939 Natalia Satina 32 Elegiac Trio in C minor 1938 Bridget Jackson 33 Eleven Preludes for piano 1938 Dorothy Coke 34 Thirteen Preludes for piano 1941 Dorothy Coke 35 Sacred Concerto in A minor for soprano, cello, piano and oboe 1939 Princess Marina Chavchavadze 36 Poem for cello, piano and small orchestra 1939 Alan Morton 37 Fifteen Variations and Finale in C minor for piano 1939 Prince George Chavchavadze 38 Piano Concerto No. 4 in C sharp minor 1940 Eileen Joyce 39 Six Songs for soprano or tenor 1939 Guy Branch 40 Six Songs for contralto or bass 1939 Vera St. John 41 Prelude to 'The Cenci' for orchestra 1940 Richard Austin 41 The Cenci (opera in three acts) 1940 Richard Austin 42 Six Songs for contralto or bass 1941 Bridget Tallents 43 Eight Songs for soprano or tenor 1941 Barbara Welby 44 Cello Sonata No. 3 in A minor 1941 Kinkie Halswell 45 Symphonic Poem No. 1 'The Lotos Eaters' 1941 Brookhill Symphony Orchestra 46 Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor 1940 Raymond Mosley 47 Vocal Concerto No. 2 1942 Oliver Welby 48 Clarinet Sonata in C 1942 - 49 Six Songs for contralto or bass 1942 Marianne Mislap-Kapper 50 Four Songs for soprano or tenor 1942 Barbara Welby 51 Symphonic Poem No. 2 'Elegiac Ballade' 1942 The Pilots of the Royal Air Force 52 Variations on Rachmaninoff's Song, 'A Soldier's Wife' in G minor for piano 1943 - 53 Symphonic Poem No. 3 'Dorian Gray' 1943 Arnold Bax 54 Fourteen Songs, from Rhymes and Roundelayes for high voice 1948 Freda Orton 55 Violin Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor 1943 Jan Sedivka 56 Symphony No. 3 1948 William Leak or Eugene Goossens 57 Piano Concerto No. 5 in D minor 1947 F. Orton 58 Thirty Songs for low voice 1948 Frances and Ronald Coke-Steel 59 Trio in G for flute, viola and piano 1948 Ortina 60 Viola Sonata in C minor 1948 Gordon Fox 61 Variations on 'Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes' in B flat for piano 1949 Louis Kentner 62 Cello Sonata No. 4 in A 1949 - 63 Piano Concerto No. 6 in C minor 1954 John Williams (1965/66), Oliver Welby (1954/69) 64 (not known) - - 65 Piano Quintet 1970 Simon Holwell 66 String Quartet 1971 Clive Jones or the Alfreton Hall String Quartet 67 Six Songs for soprano or tenor 1954 Olive Wright 68 (not known) - - 69 (not known) - - 70 Six Songs for high voice 1956 Barbara Welby 71 Six Songs for high voice 1956 Cossack Shannon 72 Six Songs for high voice 1957 Doris 73 Variations in C sharp minor for piano 1957 Julie Marie Baud 74/1 Thule for soprano 1958 Barbara Welby 75 Cello Sonata 1962 - 76 (not known) - - 77 (not known) - - 78 (not known) - - 79 Piano Concerto No. 6 in C minor 1954 - 80 Violin Concerto 1960 Raymond Mosley 81 Four Songs 1966 Hugo Meynell 81 Three Songs for soprano 1960 Percy Young 82 Piano Quintet in F minor 1967 Patricia Hurst 83 Trio in G minor 1960 - Polichinelle & Inventions (in 2 parts) for piano 1936 Emanuel Yarovsky Berceuse for piano 1936 Griselda Brook Violin Sonata 1953 - Moment Musical for piano in D minor 1954 John Williams Song 1964 Julie Song 1964 Donald Grundy Piano Concerto in G minor 1970 - Piano Studies 1971 - Song for soprano or tenor 1966 Hugo Meynell Daffodils (song) - - Dearest Do Not You Delay Me (song) - - Isles of Greece (song) - -
Recordings Violin Sonata No 1 – Rupert Marshall-Luck (violin) and Matthew Rickard (piano) (EM Records, EMRCD018, 2013) 24 Preludes and 15 Variations and Finale for piano – Simon Callaghan (Somm Recordings, SOMMCD 0147, 2015) Piano Concertos No 3, No 4 and No 5 (surviving slow movement) – Simon Callaghan (piano), Martyn Brabbins, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Hyperion Records, CDA68173, 2017) Cello Sonatas, Raphael Wallfisch (cello), Simon Callaghan (piano) (Lyrita SRCD.384, 2020)
References