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Royal College of Music

DUNHILL, Thomas Frederick (1877-1946)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1249 Dunhill

Held at: Royal College of Music

Title: DUNHILL, Thomas Frederick (1877-1946)

Date(s): 1912-1944

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 3 boxes

Name of creator(s): Dunhill | Thomas Frederick | 1877-1946 | composer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Thomas Frederick Dunhill, born, London, 1 Feb 1877; entered the Royal College of Music, 1893; studied composition with Charles Stanford and piano with Franklin Taylor; first RCM student to win the Tagore Gold Medal, 1899; assistant music master at Eton College, 1899-1908; taught harmony and counterpoint at the RCM from 1905; founded a series of chamber concerts devoted to the works of British composers, 1907; first recipient of the Cobbett Chamber Music Medal, 1924; wrote much educational music and was an adjudicator and examiner; published texts on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1927), Sir Arthur Sullivan (1928) and Sir Edward Elgar (1938); editor of the RCM Magazine; awarded an honorary DMus by Durham University, 1940; elected FRCM, 1942; Director of the Royal Philharmonic Society and Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of London; died Scunthorpe, 13 March 1946. Publications: Chamber Music (London, 1913); Mozart's String Quartets (London, 1927 and 1970); Sullivan's Comic Operas (London, 1928 and 1981); Sir Edward Elgar (London, 1938).

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Thomas Frederick Dunhill, comprising personal and business correspondence, 1912-1944 (mainly 1931-1940), including correspondence relating to performances of the comic opera Tantivy Towers by Dunhill and Alan P Herbert; notebooks of lectures by Dunhill, including 'British music of today', lecture for the Royal Albert Institute 11 Mar 1913, 'Sir Hubert Parry' to the British Music Society 8 Mar 1922, and 'The importance of the British composers of the later 19th century' to the Society of Women Musicians, 7 Jul 1922; musical notebooks; lists of Dunhill's compositions; manuscripts of articles and talks by Dunhill, including 'The chamber music of Anton Dvorak', and `English comic opera'; correspondence with the BBC regarding talks by Dunhill, including a version of Dunhill's Tantivy Towers for broadcast, 1937, 1941, 1945; correspondence regarding finances of the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, 1937-1938; correspondence with B W Smith and F J Whitmarsh on their proposed operetta 'Something in the city', 1937-1939s; cuttings of articles by or on Dunhill, 1915-1938; programmes featuring Dunhill's music; obituaries, 1946.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English.

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Usual conditions of the Library of the Royal College of Music apply. See the RCM website or contact the RCM Library for details.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying is permitted at the discretion of the Archivist for research purposes only.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

The material is uncatalogued.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Donated by the executors of John Wilson, 1990s.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

RCM also holds printed music of Dunhill (with some manuscript music material); papers of Herbert Howells, containing correspondence from Dunhill.

British Library holds correspondence with League of Dramatists, 1933-1947 (Ref: Add MSS 63374), correspondence with the Society of Authors, 1912-1945 (Ref: Add MSS 56696-98) and manuscript of Capricious variations on an Old English tune (Ref: Add MS 57297).

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Compiled by Robert Baxter as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project. Source: article on Dunhill by Beryl Kington, Grove Dictionary of Music.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Jun 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Classical music | Musical styles
Composers | Musicians | Performers | Artists
Musical comedy | Opera | Theatre | Performing arts
Musical performances | Music | Performing arts

Personal names
Dunhill | Thomas Frederick | 1877-1946 | composer
Dvorak | Antonin Leopold | 1841-1904 | Czech composer
Parry | Sir | Charles Hubert Hastings | 1848-1918 | Knight | composer and musical writer

Corporate names
BBC | British Broadcasting Corporation x British Broadcasting Corporation
Musicians' Benevolent Fund

Places