George Theophilus Miles FRCO (23 February 1913 – 26 March 1988) was an English organist and organ teacher based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Education

He was educated at

King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for 13 to 18 year old pupils) in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's ...

and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

from 1931 to 1935, where he studied with George Thalben-Ball. He studied with

Karl Straube Montgomery Rufus Karl Siegfried Straube (6 January 1873 – 27 April 1950) was a German church musician, organist, and choral conducting, conductor, famous above all for championing the abundant organ music of Max Reger. Career Born in Berlin, ...

at the Kirchenmusikalisches Institut in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. He applied to study with Straube for his main study, Organ; but also composition under the Austrian composer Johann Nepomuk David and piano under Prof Robert Teichmueller, who was a pupil of Reinecke and taught Karg-Elert and others. Miles signed up on 28 September 1935. He remained in Germany for a few years, as he is documented living in Mittelweg, Hamburg a year or so later and did some translating work in an advisory capacity for C.F.Peters.

Career

From the 1930s, through recitals and in particular broadcasts, he was virtually alone in representing the continental style of organ playing in Britain, especially in Bach.The Musical Times, Vol 129, Jul 1988 He was consulted by

Ralph Downes Ralph William Downes CBE KSG (16 August 1904 – 24 December 1993) was an English organist, organ designer, teacher and music director and was Professor of Organ in the Royal College of Music. Biography Downes was born in Derby and studied ...

on the design of the new organ for the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

. Soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he became established as a devoted and respected teacher through his hundreds of pupils from

Birmingham University , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

and the

Birmingham School of Music The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly re ...

. He was organist at

St. Peter's Church, Harborne Saint Peter's is the ancient parish church of Harborne, Birmingham, England. Background There has been a church on the site since Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times and St Chad is even thought to have preached there. The base of an early preaching cross ...

from 1946 to 1988.

Personal life

He was born on 23 February 1913 to Canon Joseph Henry Miles (1856 - 1935) (Curate of

Castlerea Castlerea (; ) is the third largest town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located in the west of the county and had a population of 1,992 at the 2016 Census. Roughly translated from Irish, Castlerea is generally thought to mean 'brindled ca ...

1882 - 1883, Canon of

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Christ Church Cathedral, more formally The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, is the cathedral of the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough and the cathedral of the ecclesiastical province of the United Provinces of Dublin and Cashel in the ( ...

1883 - 1896, Rector of

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a village hall. Outside its grouped developed area is an in ...

1896 - 1913, Curate of

West Teignmouth West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

1918 - 1919,

Benenden Benenden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald, to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street settlem ...

1919-1922, Chaplain of

Faversham Almshouses Faversham Almshouses are Grade II listed Almshouses in Faversham, Kent. History Almshouses for six widows were founded and endowed by Thomas Mendfield in 1614. In 1721 Thomas Napleton founded and endowed houses for six men. In 1840, Henry W ...

1922 - 1930) and Helen J Kolb in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. His half brother Harry Godfrey Massy-Miles died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He married Margarete Böhm.Who's Who in Music. First Post War Edition. 1949-50 They had one son, George Christopher Miles (1942 – 1994). He died in

on 26 March 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, George English classical organists 1913 births 1988 deaths People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of the Royal College of Music Fellows of the Royal College of Organists Musicians from Kent 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century English musicians 20th-century organists 20th-century British male musicians English male classical organists Academics of the Birmingham School of Music