Walter Willson Cobbett

Walter Willson Cobbett (born Blackheath, Britain, 1847, died London 1937) was a British businessman and amateur violinist, and editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. Cobbett was an active supporter of music, and commissioned numerous works of chamber music from emerging and leading British composers of his time, including chamber works by Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, Eugène Goossens , and others.

Cobbett endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to Chamber Music. His two-volume encyclopedia of chamber music, published in 1929, is still considered the most comprehensive work on the subject today. His insightful, wry and occasionally caustic style make for enlightening and delightful reading.

The Cobbett Society, continuing his legacy, is an organization devoted to rediscovering forgotten works of chamber music.

External links

• Four Cobbett Prizes awarded to Frank Bridge