It is fairly natural that my writing should be casually appreciated because my personality, performances, music and legend get in the way. Some day, I suspect, when Jesus has definitely got me for a sunbeam, my works may be adequately assessed. (Coward, 1982, 307)

Introduction

Noël Coward was born on the 16 December 1899, just before the last Christmas of the nineteenth century; hence his name. Eleven years later he was on the stage in the first performances of a career in theatre, film, and television which spanned most of the twentieth century. He died in 1973, bequeathing a body of work which includes over 50 plays, musicals and operettas; over 300 songs; a novel; two volumes of autobiography (and a third partially completed); several volumes of short stories and one of

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Citation: Price, Christopher. "Noel Coward's Songs". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 August 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19520, accessed 18 April 2024.]