LONDON,
England – Ask a man, whose ideas of British music were formed from concert
programs, ‘Who is Thomas Dunhill?’ and he would probably reply, ‘a well-known
composer who has written a number of fine works himself and has consistently
championed his fellow-composers by giving concerts of their works’. That would
be a true, but not an exhaustive answer, for though Dunhill is above all things
a composer, composition being to him what the keystone is to an arch, his gifts
and abilities are of many kinds. He is an accomplished pianist and conductor,
is on the teaching staff of the Royal College of Music, is an examiner for the
Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music; has
edited several series of pieces by British composers; is an experienced
organizer and concert-giver; lectures admirably; is a director of the Royal
Philharmonic Society; and is a most successful adjudicator at competitive
festivals.
Editor and
Contributor
Along with his
musical gifts he possesses the literary faculty. His book on chamber music is a
model of its kind, and has already become a standard work. He has edited the
Royal College of Music magazine for five years with conspicuous ability, and is
a frequent contributor to the Monthly Musical Record, and other journals. A man
of large endowments, he has used them lavishly and unselfishly in the service
of music. Well-known as he is, he might be receiving still wider recognition
had he devoted his time to furthering personal interests, but instead he has
helped literally hundreds of other people in their careers, and it is no
unusual thing to hear his students say quickly, when his name is mentioned, ‘Mr.
Dunhill? Oh! He’s splendid.’
Thomas Frederick
Dunhill is a Londoner, a member of that nation within a nation, and possesses
as by right of heritage the Londoner’s optimism and pluck. Interestingly enough
he arrived at music by a detour. As a child he wrote plays to perform with his
toy theater, composing the music for them himself; later he did musical plays
which he acted with his friends. To this day he retains a keen interest in the
drama, though, with the exception of incidental music to The King’s Threshold by W. B. Yeats, the overture in which was
rescored for large orchestra, and played at the Queen’s Hall Promenade Concerts
in 1913, he has not included dramatic work in his mature output.
Composition
as Vocation
Once started on
the path of composition, it was clear that his vocation lay along it. He was
sent to school at Hampstead, and in 1893 entered the Royal College of Music,
where he remained for seven years, first as a student, then as the holder of an
open scholarship, Sir Charles Stanford being his professor for composition, and
Franklin Taylor for pianoforte. Here Mr. Dunhill speedily came to the front,
and in addition to outstanding excellence in his own subjects, he took a
leading part in the general activities of the place. His scholarship came to an
end in 1900, and the same year saw him appointed as assistant music master at
Eton College. Five years later he was also appointed to the staff of the Royal
College of Music, to teach harmony, counterpoint, analysis, and so forth,
besides composition and orchestration, and his classes there have grown
steadily in size and popularity.
In 1907 he
founded the Thomas Dunhill Chamber
Concerts, with the object of producing new works by British composers and
giving second performances to works already produced elsewhere – a most
practical help to native art, for good compositions were often shelved at that
time, after one appearance. These concerts were always an artistic success and
ran for a number of years, even though in their early days many difficulties
had to be encountered.
It must have
been somewhere around 1907 that Dunhill resigned his Eton post. He had already
been round the world in 1906 on an examining tour for the Associated Board; in
1908 he made the trip again, while in 1912 he went to Canada. Many other
shorter journeys have been made before and since on the same errand, and few
British composers can possess a wider experience of travel than he has.
In 1914 he
married Miss Mary Penrose Arnold, great-grand-daughter of Dr. Thomas Arnold of
Rugby, and grandniece of Matthew Arnold, the poet, and their home has become
the center of a charming circle of friends, literary and musical. After the war
broke out Dunhill joined the volunteer force, and later, on the age limit being
raised, he served in the Irish Guards. Most happily for British music, the
military authorities kept him in England, and soon after the armistice he was
demobilized.
Such, then, is
Dunhill’s career up to the present. It remains now to speak of his
compositions. His only large choral work is an early affair, Tubal Cain, a ballad for chorus and
orchestra, but in the region of orchestral music he has written a good deal.
There is the rhapsody in A minor. Composed years ago, containing right good
stuff, though perhaps too well controlled to fit the title; a suite for small
orchestra called The Pixies,
published by Ascherberg; a concertstück; and a Manx fantasia for violin and orchestra;
while for ‘cello and orchestra there is the charming set of Capricious Variations, on an old English
tune, published also with piano accompaniment.
A Song-Cycle
A song-cycle
called The Wind Among the Reeds,
written by invitation of the Royal Philharmonic Society for their centenary
season of 1911-12, and sung by Gervaise Elwes, is one of Dunhill’s best known
works, and deservedly so, while the dance suite for string orchestra, recently
produced at a promenade concert, is both delightful, direct and distinctive.
But his biggest orchestral works are not yet public property. The new symphony
which occupied his thoughts for three years, 1913 to 1915, will be rehearsed
this winter by the Patron’s Fund, and he is at present at work upon a set of elegiac
variations for full orchestra, designed as a tribute to that noble composer,
Sir Hubert Parry, for whom Dunhill had so deep an affection, and who in return
held the younger man in such warm regard.
His Chamber
Music
From what has
been said of Dunhill’s book on chamber music and his series of concerts it will
be already clear that he has rendered signal services to chamber music, but the
most valuable of all his contributions to this cause are his own compositions.
There is the quintet in E flat for violin, violoncello, clarinet, horn and
pianoforte, Op. 3, a youthful work, but young only in the best sense; clear,
clean music, unclouded by any vacillation, the unusual combination of
instruments being treated with happy effect. Then there is a quintet for
strings and horn, also a student work, and a quintet in C minor for strings and
piano, which has more intensity and breadth of idea than his technique at that
time could completely express, though the quintet is excellent. The quartet in
B minor for pianoforte, violin, viola and violoncello is wholly delightful,
brimming over with melody, and strong also on the intellectual and constructive
side, very grateful to play or hear. The fantasia-trio in E flat for
pianoforte, violin and viola commissioned by W. W. Cobbett, is full of delicate
poetry, a valuable addition to the limited literature for this combination of
instruments. It is published in the Cobbett Series No. 6, by Stainer and Bell.
A fantasia quartet for strings, not written in connection with any phantasy
competition, but just because it came so to the composer, must also be
mentioned.
There are
several good solos for violin, or violoncello and piano, notably the variations
on an original theme, Op. 13, for the latter two instruments, but the violin
sonatas stand out above them all, indeed, they occupy a commanding place in his
chamber music, for they best represent his mature thoughts. The first violin
sonata in D minor is a strong, inspiring work, with unflagging melodic and
harmonic charm, but the second sonata in F major is better still, stronger,
deeper, more tender, and speaking thoughts which perhaps only music can utter.
Altogether a most notable work, and an honor to British art.
Besides the
compositions already mentioned, Dunhill has done any number of songs, part
songs, piano solos, etc., and has a special gift for writing children’s music.
In surveying his work as a whole, one can trace a steady evolution of style
most interesting to watch. He is not one of those composers who come to their
zenith suddenly in youth, set the world talking with a few brilliant successes,
and then decline away from their own best standard. Rather is he one who
gathers strength with each passing yea, whose thoughts deepen and broaden,
whose powers are enriched by experience. His earlier compositions, though very
fresh and delightful, do not move in the same region as his later ones. He has
always possessed a conspicuous gift for form in music, a power of lucid and
engaging exposition, but in early days this clear-cut music was like a crystal
goblet filled with water from the sunlit pools of a river; now it is filled
from the main current itself, the swift onward rush of humanity.
Marion M
Scott: The Christian Science Monitor Saturday, January 24, 1920
With thanks
to Pamela Blevins for permission to publish this article.
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