The Spencer Dyke Quartet was a

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

active in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

through the 1920s. It was formed in 1918 and its personnel remained unchanged until August 1927 when

Bernard Shore Bernard Shore (17 March 1896 – 2 April 1985) was an English viola player and author. Early life Shore studied at the Royal College of Music from 1912, with Sir Walter Alcock (organ) and Thomas Dunhill (composition), but his time there was int ...

became the violist and Tate Gilder the second violin. It is best remembered now for a series of pioneering chamber music recordings made for the

National Gramophonic Society {{No footnotes, date=January 2024 The National Gramophonic Society (NGS) was founded in England in 1923 by the novelist Compton Mackenzie to produce recordings of music which was ignored by commercial record companies. The Society was proposed short ...

.''The Gramophone'', December 1925, p 323
/ref> At the time of the recordings, the Quartet members were Edwin Spencer Dyke (1st violin), Edwin Quaife (2nd violin), Ernest Tomlinson (viola) and Bertie Patterson Parker cello.

played viola in the last two recordings only.

Origins

Spencer Dyke was a Cornish

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, having been born at

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

on 22 July 1880. He won the Dove Scholarship at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

at the age of 17, and became a professor there in 1907. He was mainly concerned with chamber music, 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 Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...

founded the

for the recording and publication by subscription of classical music, principally chamber music, which was of limited circulation.Morgan 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 (11 July 184722 January 1937) was an English businessman, amateur violinist and an influential patron of British chamber music from the decade before World War I until his death in 1937. He was an innovative and astute b ...

, 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) *

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845–1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...

3 Noveletten, nos 1 and 3 (Vocalion D02155: 2 sides) * Dvořák String Quartet in F major op 96 (Vocalion K05132,K05133,K03154: 6 sides) *

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

String Quartet in D major op 64 no 5 (Vocalion X9554,X9555,X9556: 6 sides) *

McEwen MacEwen, MacEwan, McEwen, or McEwan may refer to: People * MacEwen (surname) Places *Castle MacEwen, Argyll, Scotland *MacEwan, Edmonton, a neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada *MacEwan Glen, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * ...

Suite of Old National Dances (String Quartet no 12) (Vocalion R6140: 2 sides) *

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

: String Quartet in E flat major op 74 'Harp' (NGS A,B,C: 6 sides) *

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

: String Quartet in G minor op 10 (NGS D,E,F: 6 sides) *

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

: Piano Trio in E flat major D 929 (Dyke and Parker with

Harold Craxton Thomas Harold Hunt Craxton (30 April 188530 March 1971) was an English pianist, teacher and composer. Early life Born in London, and growing up in Devizes, Craxton began studying piano with Tobias Matthay and Cuthbert Whitemore in 1907. Career ...

, piano) (NGS H,J,K,L,M+: 9 sides) *

Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-century classical music, ...

: Verklärte Nacht op 4 (string sextet version), with James Lockyer, viola and E.J. Robinson, cello (NGS M-,N,O,P: 7 sides) *

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

: Oboe Quartet in F major K 370, with

Leon Goossens Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

, oboe (NGS: Q,R,S+: 5 sides) *

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

: Cantata no 156, (i) Sinfonia, with Leon Goossens, oboe (NGS: S-, one side) *Beethoven: String Quartet in F major op 59 no 1 (NGS T,V,W,X,Y: 10 sides) *

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

: String Sextet no 1 in B flat major op 18, with J. Lockyer and E.J. Robinson (NGS Z,AA,BB,CC,DD+: 9 sides) * Tomlinson: A Lament (NGS EE+: 1 side) *

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

: Piano Quintet in A minor op 84, with Ethel Hobday, piano (NGS NN,OO,PP,QQ,RR: 10 sides) *Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in b minor op 115, with

Frederick Thurston Frederick John Thurston (21 September 1901 – 12 December 1953) was an English clarinettist. Career 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 D ...

, clarinet (NGS SS,TT,UU,VV,WW+: 9 sides) * Glière: String Quartet in A major op 2, (ii) Scherzo (NGS WW-: 1 side) *Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major K 581, with Charles Draper, clarinet (NGS XX,YY,ZZ,AAA+: 7 sides) *Mozart: Duo no 1 in G major K 423, (ii) Adagio (Dyke-Tomlinson) (NGS AAA-: 1 side) *Schubert: String Quartet no 13 in A minor D 804 (NGS HHH,JJJ,KKK,LLL,MMM+: 9 sides) *

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

: String Quartet in e minor op 44 no 2, (ii) Scherzo (NGS MMM-: 1 side) *Beethoven: String Quartet no 16 in F major op 135 (NGS NNN,OOO,PPP: 6 sides) * Dvořák: Piano Quintet in A major op 81 with Ethel Bartlett, piano (NGS 82,83,84,85,86+: 9 sides) * Joseph Speaight: Some Shakespeare Fairy Characters (1st series), no 2, 'The Lonely Shepherd' (NGS 86-: 1 side) *Brahms: Piano Quartet in C minor op 60, with Olive Bloom (and

, viola) (NGS 88,89,90,91: 8 sides) *Brahms: String Sextet no 2 in G major op 36, with J. Lockyer and E.J. Robinson (NGS 105,106,107,108: 8 sides)

References

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) *Frank Andrews, Keith Harrison, Tim Wood-Woolley, ''Vocalion Records'' (City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society Reference Series RS42, 2017) *N.T. Morgan, ''The National Gramophonic Society'' (Sheffield 2013 & 2016)

Origins

Recordings

References

Sources

See also