Walter Gaze Cooper

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Walter Thomas Gaze Cooper (11 June 1895 – 28 March 1981) was a British pianist, teacher and composer who helped shape Nottingham’s music scene in the mid-20th century. He founded the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra and wrote more than 100 works, including nine symphonies. He was nicknamed "GC" by colleagues.

He was born in Long Eaton, Derbyshire. His early teachers were Arthur Eaglefield Hull (composition) and Frederick Dawson (piano). Before World War I he worked in a legal office, then served as an Army driver. After a gas attack he was invalided out.

Cooper studied at the Royal Academy of Music with pianist Frederick Moore and composer Benjamin Dale. He earned extra income from private teaching, and in 1925 joined the Midland Conservatoire of Music as a teacher. He founded the conservatoire orchestra in 1933, which became the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra in 1942. He conducted the orchestra for 26 years and attracted guest soloists such as John Brecknock and Florence Hooton. He also lectured at University College, Nottingham, and led the Derby Philharmonic Orchestra for eight years.

As a composer he wrote for his own players but his music reached audiences in London and beyond. His early success came with Piano Concerto No. 1, influenced by Rachmaninoff, performed in 1923 in Bournemouth. His major works include nine symphonies, four piano concertos (Nos. 2 and 3 were premiered in 1961 and 1954), a Violin Concerto (1945) and a Viola Concerto (1962), plus a Serenade for Strings and a set called Five Nocturnes. His choral Symphony No. 4, The West Wind, was premiered in Nottingham’s Albert Hall in 1951; Missa Brevis had a Nottingham premiere in 1956. The Concertino for oboe and strings (1956) was written for Evelyn Rothwell.

Cooper supported music from behind the Iron Curtain; his Seventh Symphony, The Szezecinie, was premiered in Poland in 1962 with him conducting, and English performances followed in 1965 in Nottingham. One of his late works was a Bassoon Concerto, finished in 1977 when he was 83. A modern recording of his work exists.

He married Frances Lucy Kirkland and they had a daughter, the artist Sylvia Pike. Cooper loved collecting ancient art. He lived for many years at 247 Tamworth Road, Long Eaton. After his wife died in 1975 he moved to Dolphin Cottage, Hawksworth, where he died aged 86. His scores are kept in the Nottinghamshire Archive.