Cecil Frederick Coles was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 composer who was killed on active service in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

Coles was born in Kirkcudbright

Kirkcudbright

Kirkcudbright, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.The town lies south of Castle Douglas and Dalbeattie, in the part of Dumfries and Galloway known as the Stewartry, at the mouth of the River Dee, some six miles from the sea...

, and educated at George Watson’s School, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. In 1907 he went to the Royal College of Music

Royal College of Music

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...

 on a scholarship. He later studied at Edinburgh University and Stuttgart Conservatory. On completion of his studies, he became assistant conductor to the Stuttgart Royal Opera and was organist of St. Katherine's, an English church in the city. He married Phoebe Relton, and returned to the UK in 1913. When war broke out, he joined the Queen's Victoria Rifles and became their bandmaster. While on active service, he sent manuscripts home to his friend Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....

. He was killed by German sniper fire on the Western Front

Western Front (World War I)

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...

, while helping recover casualties. He was buried at Crouy

Crouy

Crouy is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France.-Population:...

.

Coles' work was "rediscovered" in a 2001 recording.

His music was used as the opening and closing title music for a documentary series entitled The First World War. The piece of music was Cortège, arranged by Orlando Gough

Orlando Gough

Orlando Gough is a British composer, educated at Oxford, and noted for projects written for ballet, contemporary dance and theatre. Collaborators have included Siobhan Davies, Alain Platel, Shobana Jeyasingh and Ashley Page of The Royal Ballet. He is artistic director of The Shout, which he...

. Cortège is one of the two surviving movements of a suite composed by Coles called Behind the Lines.

Orchestral

• From the Scottish Highlands (suite) (1906–1907)
• Fra Giacomo (dramatic scena for baritone and orchestra, to a poem by Robert Williams Buchanan
  Robert Williams Buchanan
  Robert Williams Buchanan was a Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist.- Early life and education :He was the son of Robert Buchanan , Owenite lecturer and journalist, and was born at Caverswall, Staffordshire, England...
  
  ) (1914)
• Scherzo in A minor
• Overture: The Comedy of Errors
• Sorrowful Dance
• Behind the Lines