View source for George Dyson (composer)

{{short description|English composer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
[[File:Sir-George-Dyson.jpg|thumb|Dyson as Director of the Royal College of Music, 1952, by [[Anthony Devas]]]]
'''Sir George Dyson''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KCVO}} (28 May 1883{{spaced ndash}}28 September 1964) was an English musician and composer. After studying at the [[Royal College of Music]] (RCM) in London, and army service in the [[First World War]], he was a schoolmaster and college lecturer. In 1938 he became director of the RCM, the first of its alumni to do so. As director he instituted financial and organisational reforms and steered the college through the difficult days of the [[Second World War]].

As a composer Dyson wrote in a traditional idiom, reflecting the influence of his teachers at the RCM, [[Hubert Parry]] and [[Charles Villiers Stanford]]. His works were well known during his lifetime but underwent a period of neglect before being revived in the late 20th century.

==Life and career==
===Early years===
Dyson was born in [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]], Yorkshire, the eldest of the three children of John William Dyson, a blacksmith, and his wife, Alice, ''née'' Greenwood, a weaver.<ref name=dnb>Foreman, Lewis. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32950 "Dyson, Sir George (1883–1964)"], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 20 November 2017 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> Dyson senior was also organist and choirmaster at a local church, and both parents were members of amateur choirs. They encouraged their son's musical talent, and at the age of 13 he was appointed as a church organist. Three years later he secured an FRCO (Fellowship of the [[Royal College of Organists]]), and in 1900 he won an open scholarship to the [[Royal College of Music]] (RCM) where he studied composition with [[Charles Villiers Stanford|Sir Charles Villiers Stanford]].<ref name=dnb/> He supported himself during his years studying at the RCM by working as assistant organist at [[St Alfege Church, Greenwich]].<ref>Spicer, p. 15</ref>

He won the [[Arthur Sullivan]] prize for composition<ref>Spicer, p. 35</ref> while still an RCM student, and in 1904 was awarded a [[Mendelssohn Scholarship]],<ref name=who>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U50025  "Dyson, Sir George"], ''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2017 {{subscription required}}</ref> which enabled him to spend three years in Italy, Austria and Germany. He met leading musicians including [[Richard Strauss]], whose style is believed to have influenced Dyson's early compositions.<ref name=grove/> His [[symphonic poem]] ''Siena'' (1907) was considered by ''[[The Times]]'' to stand out from many works by other young composers,<ref>"Music", ''The Times'', 21 May 1909, p. 1</ref> but the score has not survived.<ref name=grove>Foreman, Lewis. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/08459  "Dyson, Sir George"], Grove Music Online, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 November 2017. {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.com/2008/07/george-dyson-siena-overture.html|title=British Classical Music: The Land of Lost Content: George Dyson : Siena Overture|last=France|first=John|date=2008-07-29|website=British Classical Music|access-date=2020-01-09}}</ref>

When he returned to Britain in 1907 Dyson was appointed director of music at the [[Royal Naval College, Osborne]], on the recommendation of [[Hubert Parry|Sir Hubert Parry]], director of the RCM.<ref name=grove/> From there he moved to Marlborough College in 1911.<ref name=who/>

[[File:Grenade-warfare-dyson.png|thumb|Dyson's first publication: notes on grenade warfare, 1915]]
On the outbreak of the [[First World War]] in 1914 Dyson joined the [[Royal Fusiliers]], becoming [[grenadier]] officer of the 99th infantry brigade. In that role he wrote a training pamphlet on [[grenade]] warfare for which he became well known. In 1916, incapacitated by [[shell-shock]], he was invalided back to England. Parry recorded in his diary how shaken he was when he saw Dyson, "a shadow of his former self".<ref name=naxos>Foreman, Lewis. Notes to Naxos CD 8.557720 (2004)</ref>

In November 1917 Dyson married Mildred Lucy Atkey (1880–1975), daughter of a London solicitor.  They had a son, [[Freeman Dyson|Freeman]], who became a noted theoretical physicist and mathematician, and a daughter, Alice. In 1917 Dyson received the degree of [[Doctor of Music|DMus]] from the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name=dnb/>

After a long convalescence Dyson was commissioned as a [[Major (rank)|major]] in the newly formed [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF), serving until 1920.<ref name=who/> In this capacity,  organising RAF bands, he completed the [[Sheet music#Other types|short score]] of [[Henry Walford Davies]]'s [[Royal Air Force March Past|RAF March Past]], adding a slow middle section and fully scoring the whole piece.<ref name=dnb/>

===Schoolmaster and professor===
In 1920 Dyson's composing career advanced when his Three Rhapsodies for string quartet were chosen for publication under the [[Carnegie United Kingdom Trust|Carnegie Trust]]'s publication scheme.<ref name=naxos/> In 1921 he took up the posts of music master at [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]] and professor of composition at the RCM. In 1924, while remaining at the RCM he switched schools, moving to [[Winchester College]]. His biographer [[Lewis Foreman]] comments that it was during his dual tenure at the RCM and Winchester that "the various strands of his mature career as a composer developed".<ref name=dnb/>

In addition to teaching at the RCM and Winchester and directing the school's music, Dyson was conductor of an adult choral society, and a visiting lecturer at [[University of Liverpool|Liverpool]] and [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]] universities;<ref name=who/> composing had to be fitted into what spare time he had.<ref name=naxos/> Works from this period include the [[cantata]] ''In Honour of the City'' (1928), described by ''[[The Musical Times]]'' as "a virile fantasia for chorus and orchestra [which] illustrates memorably the composer's talent for diatonic melody of impressive eloquence, his predilection for enharmonic modulation contrived with apposite ingenuity, and his accomplished handling of orchestral subtleties."<ref>Hull, Robert H. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/918238 "George Dyson"], ''The Musical Times'',  September 1933, pp. 800–801 {{subscription required}}</ref> Foreman writes that the cantata was so successful that Dyson soon produced a more ambitious piece, [[The Canterbury Pilgrims (Dyson)|''The Canterbury Pilgrims'']] (1931) "a succession of evocative and colourful Chaucerian portraits … and probably his most famous score".<ref name= dnb/>

British choral festivals commissioned new works from Dyson. For the [[Three Choirs Festival]] he composed ''St Paul's Voyage to Melita'' (1933) and ''Nebuchadnezzar'' (1935) and for [[Leeds Festival (classical music)|Leeds]], ''The Blacksmiths'' (1934). Purely orchestral works included a Symphony in G (1937), which ''The Times'' praised for originality, underivative nature and avoidance of "the freakishly obscure or the pompously grandiose".<ref>"Queen's Hall: Dr Dyson's New Symphony", ''The Times'', 17 December 1937, p. 14</ref>

From the early 1930s Dyson and others had been concerned about the future of amateur music making in Britain, which was under increasing pressure from the [[Great Depression]] and what Dyson called "the invasions of mechanical music" – the [[phonograph record|gramophone]] and the radio.<ref name=nfms>Dyson, George. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/918994 "Towards National Co-operation: An Outline and a Policy"], ''The Musical Times'', February 1936, pp. 121–125 {{subscription required}}</ref> With the aid of the Carnegie Trust Dyson co-founded the [[Making Music (organisation)|National Federation of Music Societies]] in 1935 as an umbrella organisation and financial bulwark for music groups and performing societies.<ref name=nfms/>

===RCM director and later years===
[[File:Royal College of Music - April 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Royal College of Music]], London]]
In 1938 Dyson was appointed director of the RCM on the retirement of [[Hugh Allen (conductor)|Sir Hugh Allen]]; he took great pride in being the first former student of the RCM to become its director.<ref name=naxos/> He secured funding for the college from the [[University Grants Committee (United Kingdom)|University Grants Committee]], and set up a pension scheme for the staff. He instituted an overhaul of the college's facilities, from rehearsal space down to lavatories, to provide a better working environment for the students.<ref>Spicer, p. 238</ref> He also modernised the curriculum and examination system of the college.<ref>Spicer, p. 240</ref> He held the strong view that with first-rate performances of music now easily and regularly available on radio and record, people now coming into the musical profession needed to attain the highest standards if they were to compete.<ref>Spicer, p. 242</ref> His emphasis on technical excellence led to criticism; ''The Times'' said that he "reversed the humanistic trend that had been the ideal of the college".<ref name=times>"Obituary: Sir George Dyson", ''The Times'', 30 September 1964, p. 17</ref>

When the [[Second World War]] began in 1939 many educational and other organisations were evacuated from London to avoid the expected bombing. Dyson was adamant that the RCM should remain in its home in [[South Kensington]].<ref>Spicer, p. 245</ref> His decision had important consequences beyond the college, as other institutions followed suit, with the result that continuity of training was possible and standards were maintained.<ref name=times/> At the RCM, [[Malcolm Sargent]] took charge of the college orchestra, and [[Karl Geiringer]], displaced by the [[Nazi]]s from the [[Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde]] in Vienna, joined the faculty.<ref>Spicer, p. 247</ref>

After the war, Dyson had to deal with a surge in demand for places at the college: students who had interrupted their studies to join the armed forces and the post-war generation of new applicants swelled the numbers of applicants, and Dyson and his board were obliged to make the requirements for entry more stringent.<ref>Spicer, p. 272</ref> His emphasis on practical musicianship led him to cull the college's library and archives, disposing of many old books and manuscripts, to the outrage of some colleagues.<ref>Spicer, pp. 276–277</ref>

Dyson's encouragement of talent sometimes showed itself in a willingness to depart from normal practice when he felt it necessary. Although [[Colin Davis]], as a clarinet student, was not allowed to take part in the conducting class because his pianistic skills were judged inadequate,<ref>Blyth, p. 8</ref> [[Malcolm Arnold]] fared better: even though he decamped from the college, Dyson encouraged him to return and smoothed his path in doing so;<ref>Spicer, p. 232</ref> for [[Julian Bream]] Dyson made special arrangements to enable him to pursue his guitar studies, not hitherto part of the college's curriculum.<ref>Spicer, pp. 295–296</ref>

Dyson received a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] in the [[1941 New Year Honours|1941 New Years Honours List]] and was appointed [[Royal Victorian Order|Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]] (KCVO) in 1953. He held [[Honorary Degree|honorary degrees]] from the universities of [[University of Aberdeen|Aberdeen]] and [[University of Leeds|Leeds]] and honorary fellowships of the [[Royal Academy of Music]] and [[Imperial College London]].<ref name=who/>

In 1952 Dyson retired from the RCM. He moved to [[Winchester]], and enjoyed what Foreman describes as "a remarkable Indian summer" of composition, although by this time his music seemed old-fashioned to some listeners. His late works were published and performed, but did not, according to Foreman, "have quite the immediate following" of the music from earlier in his career.<ref name=dnb/>

Dyson died at his home in Winchester on 28 September 1964, aged 81.<ref>Spicer, p. 394</ref>

==Music==
Dyson said of himself as a composer, "My reputation is that of a good technician … not markedly original. I am familiar with modern idioms but they are outside the vocabulary of what I want to say".<ref name=times/> The music critic of ''The Times'' remarked that Dyson's works had a certain ambiguity, "due probably to the fact that great musical skill was allied, exceptionally, with an extrovert temperament." The same writer observed that although everything Dyson wrote was well made, he never developed a personal idiom, "nor engendered much emotional sap in his larger works".<ref name=times/>

Dyson's biographer [[Paul Spicer (musician)|Paul Spicer]] writes that of the composer's works only ''The Canterbury Pilgrims'' and two sets of evening [[canticles]] in D and F are performed with any frequency.<ref>Spicer, p. 1</ref> Dyson himself chose to include the following works in his ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]'' entry: ''In Honour of the City'', 1928; ''The Canterbury Pilgrims'', 1931; ''St Paul's Voyage'', 1933; ''The Blacksmiths'', 1934''; ''Nebuchadnezzar'', 1935''; Symphony, 1937; [[Quo Vadis (Dyson)|Quo Vadis]], 1939; Violin Concerto, 1942; ''Concerto da Camera'' and ''Concerto da Chiesa'' for Strings, 1949; ''Concerto Leggiero'' for Piano and Strings, 1951; ''Sweet Thames Run Softly'', 1954; ''Agincourt'', 1955; ''Hierusalem'', 1956; ''Let's go a-Maying'', 1958; and ''A Christmas Garland'', 1959.<ref name=who/>

In addition to those mentioned by the composer, the Dyson Trust lists the following compositions as available as at 2017: ''A Spring Garland'', ''Children's Suite'' for orchestra, Evening Service in C Minor, Evening Service in D, Morning Service in D, ''Prelude, Fantasy and Chaconne'' for cello and orchestra, ''Te Deum Laudamus'', and ''Three Rhapsodies'' for string quartet.<ref>[http://www.dysontrust.org.uk/works.html "Works"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031611/http://www.dysontrust.org.uk/works.html |date=1 December 2017 }}, Sir George Dyson Trust. Retrieved 22 November 2017</ref> The Trust has published a full list of works, totalling nine orchestral works, seven chamber works, thirteen pieces or sets of pieces for piano, four solo organ pieces, twenty works for chorus and orchestra, seventy-nine works for chorus with piano, or organ or unaccompanied, five hymns, six songs, and thirteen lost or destroyed works from the composer's early career.<ref>[http://www.dysontrust.org.uk/assets/dysonworks2007.pdf "Sir George Dyson: List of Works"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231180634/http://dysontrust.org.uk/assets/dysonworks2007.pdf |date=31 December 2016 }}, Sir George Dyson Trust. Retrieved 22 November 2017</ref>  In 2014, to mark the 50th anniversary of Dyson's death, Ben Costello produced an arrangement of ''In Honour of the City'' for two pianos and percussion. 

==Legacy==
Foreman writes that a revival of Dyson's music was started by [[Christopher Palmer]], who published ''George Dyson: a Centenary Appreciation'' (1984) and ''Dyson's Delight'' (1989), a selection of Dyson's uncollected articles and talks on music, and also promoted the first modern recordings of Dyson's music.<ref name=dnb/> The Sir George Dyson Trust was established in 1998, with the declared aim of advancing public education in the understanding and appreciation of Dyson's music, and making available his manuscripts, writings, scores, drafts and memoranda for the encouragement of the study of his work.<ref>[http://www.dysontrust.org.uk/ "Welcome"], Sir George Tyson Trust. Retrieved 22 November 2017</ref> The late [[Freeman Dyson]] was also a champion of his father's music.<ref>'[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/28/science/freeman-dyson-dead.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur Freeman Dyson, Math Genius Turned Visionary Technologist, Dies at 96'] in the ''New York Times'', 28 February 2020</ref>

==Books by Dyson==
* ''[http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/82596 Grenade Warfare: Notes on the Training and Organisation of Grenadiers]'' (1915)
* ''The New Music'' (1924)
* ''The Progress of Music'' (1932)
* ''Fiddling While Rome Burns'' (1954)

==References==
===Notes===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book | last= Blyth | first= Alan|authorlink=Alan Blyth|year= 1972| title= Colin Davis | location= London | publisher= Ian Allan | oclc=675416}}
* {{cite book | last=Spicer | first=Paul | title=Sir George Dyson: His Life and Music | year=2014 | location=Woodbridge | publisher=Boydell Press | isbn= 978-1-84383-903-3}}

==External links==
{{Commonscatinline}}
*[http://www.dysontrust.org.uk/ Sir George Dyson Trust]
*{{ChoralWiki|George_Dyson|George Dyson}}
*{{YouTube|mF3TPceozys|Performance of Dyson Fantasy for cello and orchestra}} by [[Julian Lloyd Webber]] and the [[Academy of St Martin in the Fields]] conducted by [[Neville Marriner]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110714013213/http://www.cardiffmetropolitancathedralchoir.macwebsitebuilder.com/f/08_Dyson_-Magnificat_in_F.mp3 Audio track of Dyson Magnificat in F available from Cardiff Cathedral Choir.org]
{{RCM Directors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, George}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Halifax, West Yorkshire]]
[[Category:20th-century English composers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Music]]
[[Category:Directors of the Royal College of Music]]
[[Category:Instructors of the Royal Naval College, Osborne]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Composers awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:Freeman Dyson]]
[[Category:Pupils of Charles Villiers Stanford]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Fusiliers officers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force musicians]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British military musicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Independent Society of Musicians]]
[[Category:Choral composers]]