Stanley Bate

Swilly was the name enjoyed by a suburb of Plymouth situated near the head of Keyham Creek within the Norman manor of Stoke. Its name has pejorative overtones but etymologically it refers to "a hollow place". The name Swilly has largely disappeared from modern usage and in its place the area has become North Prospect. The area was still known by its perfectly respectable original name in 1911, the year of the birth of Stanley Bate. Stanley Richard Bate was born on 12 December 1911 (not 1910, 1912 or 1913 as claimed by some authorities). The family home was Hazeldene, 2, West Down Road, Milehouse, which his mother continued to occupy for the rest of her life. Bate was one of several children; the other being a sister Dorothy (later Dorgan). Bate attended Sutton High School. His musical talents blossomed early and his first attempts at composition were made at the age of seven. He was almost completely dependant for his musical education and entertainment on his own piano playing. He had no access to the wireless and visiting orchestras were a rarity. While having no affinity with the organ, he procured a position as organist at Plymouth's Herbert St Methodist Church. This was in 1923 at the age of 12. The next year he forsook the Herbert St appointment for a larger pipe organ at a Methodist Church just across the river Tamar at Torpoint in Cornwall. This would have involved him in taking the Torpoint ferry adjacent to the bustle of the Royal Naval Dockyards. Bate studied composition with an eminent teacher and local composer, Harold C. Lake and piano with Douglas Durston. In 1928 he wrote an opera: a Christmas piece entitled The Forest Enchanted which was locally produced by the Tamaritan Quartette, directed by the composer. Lake then assisted the budding composer to write his first landmark work. This was the opera All for the Queen - 'a faerie phantasy'. Bate himself provided the libretto. It was Lake who guided Bate on the orchestration of the piece. The composer conducted the première at The Globe Theatre, Royal Marine Barracks, Stonehouse, Plymouth on 30 November 1931. Early in 1991 the autograph manuscript working score was discovered in a car boot sale in Plymouth. This indicated an earlier date for the first performance quoting 3-4 April 1929. The cover of the score contains a quotation the attribution of which has been corrected from Walter de la Mere to John Drinkwater. The performance came about through Lake's encouragement. Bate also had the active support of a group of very talented local amateurs although the lead was taken by a professional soprano. The piece was apparently "a gay and lively operetta somewhat in the style of Merrie England " (the only opera which Bate had heard at that stage in his career) and it was certainly an outstanding success running for a week and turning in a substantial profit. A contemporary review had it that: "if ... the 19 year old Plymouth musician continues as he has begun, he will one day make his name as a composer." An approach has been made by Lilian Martin to Opera South West in the hope of a revival. In 1928 Bate entered the Daily Express National Piano Playing Competition. This was recalled by fellow competitor, Lilian Russell Martin, a piano teacher living at Yelverton. Bate was a good organist and pianist but did not do as well as Miss Martin and so lost the opportunity of gaining the regional prize of a Broadwood piano. This went instead to Eileen Tombe, former leader of the Plymouth Symphony Orchestra. Miss Martin recalls Bate's consideration in telling her "You could have won on the way you played in the morning." The adjudicator was John Ireland. In 1959, the year of Bate's death, Miss Martin and Evelyn Rogers played two movements of the Op. 38 Suite for two pianos at a Memorial concert of the Plymouth Music Society. Lake was not Bate's only supporter. He attracted the attention of a wealthy Plymothian philanthropist, Casanova Ballard, whose surname now graces a s