Cyril Scott

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Cyril Meir Scott (1879–1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He wrote about 400 musical works, including piano, violin, and cello concertos, symphonies, and operas, plus around 20 pamphlets and books on occult topics and natural health. He was born in Oxton, Cheshire, to Henry Scott, a shipper and scholar of Greek and Hebrew, and Mary Griffiths, an amateur Welsh pianist. Show­ing musical talent early, he studied piano at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt from age 12 and belonged to the Frankfurt Group under Iwan Knorr. When he was about 20, the German poet Stefan George helped arrange the premiere of his first symphony. In 1903 he played a Piano Quartet with Fritz Kreisler, Emil Kreuz, and Ludwig Lebell in St James’ Hall. He met pianist Evelyn Suart in 1902; she supported his music and introduced him to his lifelong publisher, Elkin. Suart, a Christian Scientist, influenced Scott’s interest in metaphysics, and he dedicated his Scherzo, Op. 25 to her. His experiments in free rhythm and expanding motifs, especially in the First Piano Sonata (1909), are thought to have influenced Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. He was once described as “the English Debussy.” Scott pursued interests in health foods, occultism, naturopathy, philosophy, and yoga, and wrote about natural remedies. He advocated alternative cancer treatments in his writings, urging people to trust diet and natural therapies. He also recommended black molasses and cider vinegar.