Born Phillip Heseltine, Warlock was an English composer known mostly for his songs. He had no formal music education, but an interest in music became apparent at his preparatory school at Broadstairs and was cultivated at Eton by Colin Taylor. His introduction to Delius, a minor English composer, by his painter uncle, caused Warlock's interest in music to bloom. Warlock learned by making arrangements of Delius' scores and in 1923 Warlock published a book on Delius. Later influenced by composer Van Dieren, Warlock began a renewed compositional course. Under Van Dieren, Warlock's part-writing developed, as evidenced in the song cycle Saudades. He escaped WWI as a concientious objector in Ireland. When he returned in 1918, he brought several songs including As Ever I Saw and My Gostly Fader. These were published in 1919 under the pseudonym Peter Warlock. The two names are apparently representative of a dichotomy of his personality; the gentle, introspective Heseltine and the cynical, extroverted Warlock, composer of drinking songs. In addition to his compositional work, Warlock had some achievement in literary and editorial areas. His psychological problems ended in an apparent suicide by gas poisoning in 1930. Renewed interest in his music was stimulated by the formation of the Peter Warlock Society in 1963. ~ Lynn Vought, Rovi