Spencer Dyke Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Spencer Dyke Quartet was a string quartet
musical ensemble
active in England
through the 1920s. It is best remembered now for a series of pioneering chamber music recordings made for the National Gramophonic Society.
1st violin:
Spencer Dyke
2nd violin:
Edwin Quaife
viola:
Ernest Tomlinson
Bernard Shore appears in some recordings
violoncello:
Brian Patterson Parker
violin
ist, having been born at St Austell
on 22 July 1880. He won the Dove Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music
in London
at the age of 17, and became a professor there in 1907. He was mainly concerned with chamber-music, and with teaching and editing. By 1924 he had written violin pieces and studies, had published editions of the classics and a book of Scales. In October 1923, Compton Mackenzie
founded the National Gramophonic Society for the recording and publication by subscription of classical music, principally chamber music, which was of limited circulation. The Spencer Dyke Quartet was by then already well-known: Spencer Dyke joined the advisory board for the selection of material for the Society, together with Walter Willson Cobbett
, and others. Cobbett had founded the Cobbett Competition in 1905 for a short form of String Quartet composition or 'Phantasy', and for other short chamber works. The Society was intended to develop the taste for modern chamber music. The Spencer Dyke Quartet, together with various other instrumentalists in ensemble, appeared on many of the recordings, and his position on the committee therefore probably signified the original intention of the founders to employ his musicians for the project.
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
active in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
through the 1920s. It is best remembered now for a series of pioneering chamber music recordings made for the National Gramophonic Society.
Personnel
At the time of the recordings, the Quartet comprised the following:1st violin:
Spencer Dyke
2nd violin:
Edwin Quaife
viola:
Ernest Tomlinson
Bernard Shore appears in some recordings
violoncello:
Brian Patterson Parker
Origins
Spencer Dyke was a CornishCornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, having been born at St Austell
St Austell
St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...
on 22 July 1880. He won the Dove Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the age of 17, and became a professor there in 1907. He was mainly concerned with chamber-music, and with teaching and editing. By 1924 he had written violin pieces and studies, had published editions of the classics and a book of Scales. In October 1923, Compton Mackenzie
Compton Mackenzie
Sir Compton Mackenzie, OBE was a writer and a Scottish nationalist.-Background:Compton Mackenzie was born in West Hartlepool, England, into a theatrical family of Mackenzies, but many of whose members used Compton as their stage surname, starting with his grandfather Henry Compton, a well-known...
founded the National Gramophonic Society for the recording and publication by subscription of classical music, principally chamber music, which was of limited circulation. The Spencer Dyke Quartet was by then already well-known: Spencer Dyke joined the advisory board for the selection of material for the Society, together with Walter Willson Cobbett
Walter Willson Cobbett
Walter Willson Cobbett CBE was a British businessman and amateur violinist, and editor/author of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music. He also endowed the Cobbett Medal for services to Chamber Music....
, and others. Cobbett had founded the Cobbett Competition in 1905 for a short form of String Quartet composition or 'Phantasy', and for other short chamber works. The Society was intended to develop the taste for modern chamber music. The Spencer Dyke Quartet, together with various other instrumentalists in ensemble, appeared on many of the recordings, and his position on the committee therefore probably signified the original intention of the founders to employ his musicians for the project.
Recordings
(Including related ensemble recordings)- Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major op 74 'Harp' (NGS: A,B,C: 6 sides)
- Debussy: String Quartet no 1 in G minor op 10 (NGS: D,E,F: 6 sides)
- Schubert: Trio in E flat major op 100 (Dyke and Parker with Harold CraxtonHarold CraxtonThomas Harold Hunt Craxton, OBE was an English pianist and composer.Craxton studied piano at the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School and made a name for himself early in his career as an accompanist with performers such as Dame Nellie Melba, Dame Clara Butt, Lionel Tertis and John McCormack.In 1919...
, piano) (NGS H,J,K,L,M: 9 sides) - SchoenbergSchoenbergSchoenberg is the surname of several persons:* Arnold Schoenberg , Austrian-American composer* Claude-Michel Schoenberg , French record producer, actor, singer, popular songwriter, and musical theatre composer...
: Verklärte Nacht (original sextet version), with James Lockyer, viola and E.J. Robinson, cello (NGS M,N,O,P: 7 sides) - Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F major K 370, with Leon GoossensLéon GoossensLéon Jean Goossens CBE, FRCM was a British oboist.He was born in Liverpool and studied at the Royal College of Music...
, oboe (NGS: N,O,P: 5 sides) - BachBạchBạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
: Cantata no 156, Arioso, with Leon Goossens, oboe (NGS, one side) - Beethoven: Quartet in F major op 59 no 1 (NGS, 10 sides)
- Brahms: String Sextet no 1 in G major op 18, with J. Lockyer and E.J. Robinson (NGS, 9 sides)
- TomlinsonTomlinsonTomlinson may refer to:*Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council, an English court case in Occupiers' LiabilityAs a surname, Tomlinson may refer to:*Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson, founder of the Church of God of Prophecy....
: A Lament (NGS: 1 side) - Elgar: Piano Quintet in A minor op 84, with Ethel HobdayEthel HobdayEthel Hobday, née Sharpe was an Irish pianist, who became famous in chamber-music recitals especially in England, and was married to the violist Alfred Charles Hobday....
, piano (NGS: 10 sides) - Brahms: Clarinet Quintet op 115, with Frederick ThurstonFrederick ThurstonFrederick John Thurston was an English clarinettist.From the age of 7 he was taught by his father and he won an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music, becoming a pupil of Charles Draper...
, clarinet (NGS: 9 sides) - Glière: String Quartet in A major op 2, Allegro (NGS: 1 side)
- Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major K 581, with Charles Draper, clarinet (NGS: 7 sides)
- Mozart: Duet no 1 in G (Dyke-Tomlinson) (NGS: 1 side)
- Schubert: Quartet no 13 in A minor op 29 (NGS: 9 sides)
- MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
: Quartet in A minor op 42 no 2, Scherzo (NGS: 1 side) - Beethoven: String Quartet no 16 in F major op 135 (NGS: 6 sides)
- DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
: Piano Quintet in A major op 81 with Ethel Bartlett, piano (NGS: 9 sides) - Joseph Speight: Shakespeare Fairy Characters 1st series no 2, 'The Lonely Shepherd' (NGS: 1 side).
- Brahms: Piano Quartet in C minor op 60, with Olive Bloom (and Bernard Shore, viola) (NGS 88-91)
- Brahms: Sextet for strings no 2 in G op 36, with J. Lockyer and E.J. Robinson (NGS 105-108)
Sources
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York 1936).
- Recordings of the National Gramophonic Society.
See also
- Ronald Russell, Discography of the National Gramophonic Society http://tim78rpm.com/NGSdiscog.htm