Dorothy Agnes Alice Erhart

[giles.enders]

Dorothy Agnes Alice Erhart  Born Chelsea, London  5.1.1894  Died London  14. 4.1971

She initially had private music lessons with Dr H A Harding and then went on to study at The University of Birmingham under Granville Bantock and for conducting under Adrian Bolt. Her compositional output was small.  For most of her career she was a harpsichordist.

Orchestral

Variations for piano and orchestra  1929

Chamber

Piano Quintet in D major  1917
Quintet for Oboe, harp, violin, viola and cello
Piano trio

Song

Old May Song  for men's voices, two part choir  pub. by Oxford University Press
The Excelling Season  for two part choir  words by H C Bradby  pub. by Oxford University Press
Green Grass for men's voices,  two part choir  pub. by Oxford University Press
Little Gaddesden  pub. by Oxford University Press 
The Spotted Cow  pub. by Oxford University Press
Three Polish carols: Little Jesus, Cradle-song, The Star.  pub. by Oxford University Press

Parents:
Albert Frederick Ehrhardt  1863-1929
Agnes Perry  1863-1940

[Gareth Vaughan]

I see from COPAC that most of the part songs listed were printed and there are copies in the British Library, but do any of the other works survive? Incidentally, I wonder if the quintet for oboe, harp violin, viola and cello is, in fact, the same as the quintet in F major for oboe, violin, viola (or viola da gamba), violoncello and harpsichord (or pianoforte), by J.C. Bach (edited by Dorothy Erhart) pub. Schott. 1953.

[eschiss1]

Libraries in Canada and Switzerland with copies of the D major piano quintet, as described in their library catalogs. (Published by Chester, 1917. The JC Bach adaptation you mention, in F major, was, yep, published by Schott and AMP in 1953, right, and is also mentioned in Worldcat a few times.) (Also see: here  - the British library has the piano quintet too, but with her surname a bit off.)

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks, Eric. Very helpful. I'd be interested to see that D major quintet.

[eschiss1]

The Library of Congress may also have the D major quintet (it's a "unk" listing, suggesting they probably don't, though as Aramiarz found out in researching Scharwenka, the "unk"(nown) doesn't actually and with certainty imply that they do or don't one way or the other- further research, further research, emails, etc. ...) Anyhow, yep, I'd like to too

[Martin Eastick]

I have this work in my collection (with the composer's name as D.Ehrhardt), although having now just had another look at the score, I am not quite sure why I decided to keep it! perhaps as a curio item at best. It has, IMHO, very little going for it, and I can't quite work out why Chester published it in the first place! It is dull, with much rambling, inane and, at times, semi atonal passagework, and no melody worthy of the name!  I cannot seem to liken this work to anything else from this period, which is probably just as well. Still, as I say, I kept it as a curiosity rather than for any meaningful musical content! However, perhaps there may be other differing opinions..........?

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thanks, Martin. I am happy to accept your opinion of this work. As we know, not everything unsung is unjustly unsung!

[eschiss1]

"rambling, inane, and at times, semi atonal passagework" - reminds me of something from tvtropes- what was it?- murder, genocide and jaywalking? - except jaywalking is still a crime, and "semi atonal" is downright intriguing or at worst, value-neutral, just as "tonal" is...