Stanley Bate

Stanley Bate (12 December 1911 – 19 October 1959) was an English composer and pianist. Education and early career Bate was born at Milehouse in the County Borough of Devonport, and received his first musical education from local teachers. He took to the piano early and by the age of 12 had secured a post as organist at Herbert Street Methodist Church in Devonport. His first opera, The Forest Enchanted, was completed in 1928 when he was 17, and produced locally with Bate conducting. Winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, he studied under Ralph Vaughan Williams, R.O. Morris, Gordon Jacob, and Arthur Benjamin. Compositions from this time include the String Quartet No 1 (1936) and the Symphony No 1 in E, which was first performed at the College in 1936. Bate also began writing incidental music for theatre director Michel Saint-Denis (including productions of Twelfth Night and The Cherry Orchard) and produced two ballet scores - Perseus for Les Trois Arts and Cap Over Mill, for Ballet Rambert. Marriage and wartime travel While at the College Bate met Australian-born fellow student and composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks. Although Bate was openly homosexual they married in 1938