Forsyth Cecil
Forsyth Cecil
Forsyth, Cecil, English composer and writer on music; b. Greenwich, Nov. 30, 1870; d. N.Y., Dec. 7, 1941. He received his general education at the Univ. of Edinburgh; then studied at the Royal Coll. of Music in London with Stanford and Parry. He joined the viola section in the Queen’s Hall Orch. He also was connected with the Savoy Theatre, where he produced 2 of his comic operas, Westward Ho! and Cinderella. After the outbreak of World War I, he went to N.Y, where he remained for the rest of his life. He composed a Viola Concerto and Chant celtique for Viola and Orch.; also songs, sacred music, and instrumental pieces. He was the author of a comprehensive manual, Orchestration(N.Y, 1914; 2nd ed., 1935; reprinted 1948); Choral Orchestration (London, 1920); also a treatise on English opera, Music and Nationalism (London, 1911). He publ. (in collaboration with Stanford) A History of Music (London, 1916) and a collection of essays, Clashpans (N.Y., 1933).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire