Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer
- Author: Brister, Wanda
- Author: Rosenblatt, Jay
Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer
- Author: Brister, Wanda
- Author: Rosenblatt, Jay
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Madeleine Dring: Lady Composer is a biography that examines the British composer's life and music, supported by extensive archival research and primary sources. With London at its center, the story of Dring’s life follows her through formal training in the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, the horrors of World War II, the lively atmosphere of revues in the West End, the lack of recognition during her final years, and her premature death from a brain aneurysm at the age of fifty-three. Her contributions to the diverse musical worlds of popular song, serious music, radio, and television are surveyed, with attention to the qualities that characterize her distinctive musical style. The narrative arc is compelling: education as a classical composer, success on the popular stage, return to “serious” composition, and death when her art was at the highest level. An underlying theme is the encouragement and success Dring experienced in a profession that is typically the domain of men. Her achievement as a composer is due to the excellence of her music, which is increasingly being appreciated for its imagination and sophistication, as evidenced by numerous performances and recordings.
Contents
- Acknowledgments ix
- List of Illustrations xiii
- List of Musical Examples xvii
- List of Tables xix
- Prologue: In Search of the Lady Composer 1
- 1 The Lady Composer Makes Her Entrance: Youth and Formative Years (1923–33) 7
- 2 The Lady Composer Takes Her First Steps: Junior Exhibitioner (1933–41) 19
- Interlude: The Lady Composer in Her Own Words: Diaries (1935–43) 55
- 3 The Lady Composer Learns Her Craft: The Royal College of Music (1941–45) 87
- 4 The Lady Composer Steps Out: First Professional Engagements (1946–52) 115
- 5 The Lady Composer in Demand: Composing, Acting, Singing (1953–67) 1496 The Lady Composer at the End: The Last Ten Years (1967–77) 205
- Coda: The Lady Composer in Print 255
- Epilogue: The Lady Composer Rediscovered 259
- Appendix A: Catalog of Works 263
- Appendix B: Personnel in West End Revues 289
- Notes 293
- Index of Works 343
- General Index 351
