Roger Sacheverell Coke

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 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. 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. Coke was homosexual, and a heavy cigarette smoker. two “vocal concertos” for soprano and orchestra and four symphonic poems. In the chamber music field there are sonatas for cello and for violin, as well as extended works for piano solo, notably the 24 Preludes and 15 Variations and Finale, and around 100 songs. Many of his unpublished manuscripts are held at Chesterfield Library. Works Recordings *Violin Sonat