Dora Estella Bright 1862-1951

[giles.enders]

Dora Estella Bright (Knatchbull)  Born 16.8.1862 Sheffield, England    Died 16.11.1951 Babington, Somerset, England

Her father, Augustus, was an excellent amateur musician from whom she received her initial training. Later a pupil at the Royal Academy, London from 1881-88.  She studied piano under Walter Macfarren and harmony and counterpoint under Ebenezer Prout.  As a concert pianist she was the first to give concerts of exclusively English music.  She wrote a series of ballets for Adelina Genee.  From 1931 she resided in Hendon, Middlesex until a few weeks before her death when she returned to her late husband's estate in Somerset..

She married Wyndham Knatchbull 1829-1900, an army captain on 22.3.1892 at St. Andrews Church, West Kensington.

Orchestral

Concertstuck in C# for piano and orchestra  1885
Piano Concerto No.1 in A minor  1888 (played at Crystal Palace concert 1892)
Air with variations  for orchestra  1890
Suite for orchestra  1891
Fantasia in G minor for piano and orchestra  1892
Piano Concerto No.2 in D minor  1892
Liebeslied for orchestra  1897
Theme and Variations for piano and orchestra  1909
Concertstuck for six timpani and orchestra  1915
Suite Bretonne for flute and orchestra  1917
Suite of Eighteenth century dances for piano and orchestra  1918
Suite of Russian Dances for orchestra 
Variations on an original theme for orchestra 
 
Chamber Music

String Quartet  1888
Romance and Seguidilla for flute and piano  1891   pub. by Rudall, Carte & Co.
Five pieces for violin and piano  1891   pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
Piano Quintet in D  1891
Piano Quartet in D 1893
Two pieces for violin and piano  1931
Suite for flute and piano   pub. by Rudall & Carte

Piano

Two sketches for piano  1884   pub. by Stanley Lucas, Weber & Co.
Three pieces - 1. Berceuse  2. Liebeslied 3. Tarantella  1889  also arranged for flute & piano pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
Romanza and Scherzetto  1889   pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.
'La Camargo' four pieces from the ballet:  Gavotte, Passpied, Sarabande & Flemish Dance.  pub. by Elkin & Co.
Eighteen variations on an original theme, for two pianos   pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd.

Song

'Wither'  words by Longfellow   pub. by Shepherd & Kilner
Six songs from the Jungle Book - 'Night song in the Jungle, 'Seal Lullaby', 'The Mother Seal's song', 'Tiger, Tiger !', 'Road song of Bandar-log', The song Toomai's  Mother', 'Song to the Baby'  words by Kipling   pub. by Elkin & Co.
'The Ballad of the Red Deer'  words by F H 1903   pub. by Elkin & Co.
'Messmates'  baritone soloist with male voice obligato  words by H Newbolt  1907   pub. by Elkin & Co.
'To Daffodils'  words by R Herrick  1903 pub. by Elkin & Son
'I know a lady sweet and kind'  words by R Herrick  1913   pub. by Chappell
'The Donkey'  words by G K Chesterton  1936   pub. by Elkin & Co.
'When all the world is young, lad'  words by Charles Kingsley
'Finland Love Song'  words by Thomas Moore
'Colinette' - chansonette from 'The Portrait' 1911words by Dora Bright   pub. by Joseph Williams Ltd.

Ballet

The Dryad 1907 (Danced by Adeline Genee in 1907)   pub. by Elkin & Co.
The Faun  1911
La Danse  1912 (Premiered at The Metropolitan Opera, New York)
La Camargo   Gavotte, Passepied, Sarabande, Flemish Dance.  1912   pub. by Edwin Ashdown Ltd
The Princess and the Pea  1915
A Dance Adventure 1915
The Dancing Girl and the Idol 
The Love Song 1932

Stage - Incidental music

Uncle Silas  1893
Scrooge  1901
The Portrait 1910

Mime drama - The Abbe's Garden  1911
Music Drama - In Haarlem there dwelt  1912
 
Opera

There are three operas

[Gareth Vaughan]

Alas, none of her orchestral music seems to have survived, apart from the 1st piano concerto and the Theme and Variations for piano and orchestra (MSS in the RAM) and the 2-piano version of the Macfarren variations. Very disappointing.
Incidentally Rudall, Clarke & Co. should read "Rudall, Carte & Co." as, similarly, later, "Rudall & Carte".

[giles.enders]

The tragedy is that she has only been dead for just over sixty years.  At least we know what we are looking for if anything should appear.  She had family and surely they had some sort of responsibility or does it all come down to money and immediately realisable assets!

[piano888]

The piano concerto and also the Variations for Piano and Orchestra were recorded on the SOMM label, along with Ruth Gipps' piano concerto. https://somm-recordings.com/recording/piano-concertos-by-dora-bright-and-ruth-gipps/
I was told that the heir was so furious when he discovered that Dora had spent all the income from the estate on music projects, rather than maintenance of the house, that he destroyed as many manuscripts as he could. Current family are more interested, but they don't have anything. So alas, money and assets - for once - don't come into it. Not now, at any rate.

[rosflute]

several articles have been written about her that also include erroneous facts. I have corrected them (to my knowledge) in my article about her based on my research.   https://www.trubcher.com/blog/dora-bright
There have been several performances of her Romance & Seguidilla, although none has yet been recorded, so the audio sample that you can hear from the link in the page is only a sampled one.

[Alan Howe]

erroneous facts

or maybe 'alternative facts'? 

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, please. Let's not go there.

[Alan Howe]

No, quite!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I was told that the heir was so furious when he discovered that Dora had spent all the income from the estate on music projects, rather than maintenance of the house, that he destroyed as many manuscripts as he could.

My contempt for such people is unfathomably profound and very, very bitter. I will say no more.

[semloh]

And, what a productive soul she was. I love the last line of the list of works... "there are three operas"!

The two works on Somm are most enjoyable. The liner notes say that it appears much of her music is lost, and Gareth wrote that none of her orchestral music seems to have survived. If it is just the Concerto and the Variations, that is a tragedy.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm afraid so. A tragedy indeed - and all due to the pointless spite of a selfish relative.

[FBerwald]

Would you elaborate on that Gareth?

[Mark Thomas]

See piano888's post above, Feby.