Thomas Dunhill is a composer with whom
I can do business. For over forty-odd years many of his attractive piano pieces
have never been far from my side. And it is not just because some of them are
relatively easy to play!
Over recent years a number of the
composer’s larger works have appeared on CD including the Violin Sonata, the B
minor Piano Quartet, the overture to Tantivy
Towers and perhaps, most importantly, the Symphony in A minor. Dunhill’s
son David has written the only biography of the composer to be published so
far. It is a fascinating tale, but of necessity it is not a comprehensive study
of the man and his music.
The
critic Marion Scott described Dunhill’s music (in 1922): “as companionable as
the South Downs on a sunny day”. Vincent writes that ‘…working across many
styles and genres, his formidable knowledge of the classical composers as well
as first-hand experience of the leading musical influences of his day, informed
Dunhill’s oeuvre which is characterised by fine melody and exceptional
workmanship’.
Unfortunately, Thomas Dunhill suffers
from being best known for a single song – ‘Cloths of Heaven’ from the song-cycle The Wind among the
Reeds, Op. 30. It is a
beautiful piece but belies the composer’s huge achievement.
Paul Vincent (a grandson of the composer) in his new website seeks to
remedy this perception by creating an impressive selection of web pages. It promises
to be progressively more in-depth as time allows.
Vincent has written that ‘The Thomas
Dunhill Connection encourages interest in the work of composer Thomas F.
Dunhill (1877 – 1946) and the musical world he inhabited’. He hopes that ‘it
will be a useful resource for students, musicians, musicologists – and anyone
interested in the cultural life of Britain from the late Victorian period
through to the end of the 2nd World War.’
Fortunately the Dunhill scholar has a superb resource in so far as the
composer maintained a diary for most of his life. Vincent has promised to provide
quotes and extracts from these in the coming months.
The website
already includes samples of the composer’s music, biographical material, a
listing of compostions and a selection of historic texts. There is an excellent short biography which allows the
reader a good introduction to the composer’s life and works.
The Thomas Dunhill Connection can be accessed here. [Dead Link at 27 July 2018]
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