Lance Dossor
Encyclopedia
Lance Dossor was a British
-born concert pianist and teacher who emigrated to Australia
.
He was born Harry Lancelot Dossor in Weston-super-Mare
, United Kingdom
, the third child of a jeweller who was also a distinguished amateur tenor.
He was educated at Seaford College
and marticulated at the University of London
. In 1932 he obtained an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music
where he studied piano with Herbert Fryer and composition with Herbert Howells
. In 1936 he was awarded the Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians
, given only every three years to the most outstanding student. He won the 1936 Franz Liszt
Prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition, and in the following year the Sonata Prize and overall Fourth Prize in the 1937 International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition. In 1938 he was awarded fourth prize in the Ysaye Competition
in Belgium - the first three places going to Emil Gilels
, Moura Lympany
and Yakov Flier
.
He later recounted the tale that while he was still a student, he obtained entry to a rehearsal of one of Sergei Rachmaninoff
's concerts in London. He was introduced to Rachmaninoff afterwards by the British pianist Cyril Smith
as " ... a very promising young pianist who has recently been successful in the Chopin prize". Rachmaninoff responded in his heavy Russian accent "Ah, but who were the judges?".
During the Second World War
, Lance Dossor served in the Royal Artillery
in the Middle East, Italy and Germany, where, because of health problems, he was transferred to ENSA
to help provide concerts of classical music for the services.
After the war, he became a member of the Royal College of Music's teaching staff and resumed his performing career (solo recitals, concertos and chamber music) playing with the leading British Orchestras under the batons of Sir John Barbirolli
, Sir Adrian Boult
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
, Rafael Kubelík
, Nikolai Malko
and many others. He was a soloist for the Royal Philharmonic Society
, the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts
and in 1950 was invited to Israel
for ten performances of the Brahms
Second Piano Concerto
with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
. In 1947 he replaced Dinu Lipatti
, who had been taken ill prior to his first London concert.
In 1953 he accepted a three-year appointment as principal teacher of piano at the Elder Conservatorium of Music
, University of Adelaide
from 1953, a post in which he remained until his retirement in 1979. Lance Dossor was well known in Australia as a soloist and also in chamber music, notably in an 18-year partnership with expatriate British cellist James Whitehead. Together with the violinist Ladislav Jasek they performed as the Elder Trio. He also performed in a piano duo with Romola Costantino
and served as president of the Adelaide Branch of the Australian Society for Keyboard Music for a number of years.
His refined sense of colour was used to exquisite effect in his performances of Chopin
, while his affinity with the Russian repertoire was revealed in his greatly admired performances of Rachmaninoff. His impact on the musical life of Australia, and Adelaide in particular, was considerable, both through his performances and his numerous students. He was associated with all the Australian state orchestras and took part in festivals in Sydney
, Melbourne
, Perth
and Adelaide
.
He did not leave many recordings, as he felt that a recording was only how he had performed on a particular day, and not necessarily the best performance that he could give. The ABC
recorded a number of his concert broadcasts, but few were issued on record.
Lance Dossor had very decided ideas on music. He loved Schubert
and Brahms, but had no patience with Bruckner
. His ideal composer was Bach
. He said "If I had to make do with only one composer for the rest of my life, it would have to be Bach. His works are pure music". In 2003, the University of Adelaide gave him a Distinguished Alumni award "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the university and to his profession as performing artist and teacher."
Although officially retired, Lance Dossor carried on teaching part-time and occasionally performing until 1999, when increasing deafness forced him to give up. He died in Adelaide at the age of 89.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born concert pianist and teacher who emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
He was born Harry Lancelot Dossor in Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare is a seaside resort, town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which is within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. It is located on the Bristol Channel coast, south west of Bristol, spanning the coast between the bounding high ground of Worlebury...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the third child of a jeweller who was also a distinguished amateur tenor.
He was educated at Seaford College
Seaford College
Seaford College is an independent co-educational boarding and day-school located at East Lavington, south of Petworth, West Sussex, England. The College was founded in 1884, and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The college sits in the Lavington Park, in nearly in an...
and marticulated at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. In 1932 he obtained an open scholarship to the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
where he studied piano with Herbert Fryer and composition with Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
. In 1936 he was awarded the Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians
Worshipful Company of Musicians
The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of music making in London moved from the City to the...
, given only every three years to the most outstanding student. He won the 1936 Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
Prize at the Vienna International Piano Competition, and in the following year the Sonata Prize and overall Fourth Prize in the 1937 International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition. In 1938 he was awarded fourth prize in the Ysaye Competition
Queen Elisabeth Music Competition
The Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, a founding member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions has been, since its foundation, considered the world over to be one of the most prestigious and most difficult. It is devoted to violin , piano , to composition and to singing...
in Belgium - the first three places going to Emil Gilels
Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.-Biography:...
, Moura Lympany
Moura Lympany
Dame Moura Lympany DBE was an English concert pianist.She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone at Saltash, Cornwall. Her father was an army officer who had served in World War I and her mother originally taught her the piano...
and Yakov Flier
Yakov Flier
Yakov Vladimirovich Flier was a Russian concert pianist and teacher.Flier was born in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Russia. He studied piano at the Moscow Conservatory with Konstantin Igumnov. By the 1930s he had become one of the most prominent Russian concert pianists...
.
He later recounted the tale that while he was still a student, he obtained entry to a rehearsal of one of Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
's concerts in London. He was introduced to Rachmaninoff afterwards by the British pianist Cyril Smith
Cyril Smith (pianist)
Cyril James Smith OBE was a virtuoso concert pianist of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and a piano teacher.-Personal life:...
as " ... a very promising young pianist who has recently been successful in the Chopin prize". Rachmaninoff responded in his heavy Russian accent "Ah, but who were the judges?".
During the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Lance Dossor served in the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in the Middle East, Italy and Germany, where, because of health problems, he was transferred to ENSA
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
to help provide concerts of classical music for the services.
After the war, he became a member of the Royal College of Music's teaching staff and resumed his performing career (solo recitals, concertos and chamber music) playing with the leading British Orchestras under the batons of Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
, Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
, Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
, Nikolai Malko
Nikolai Malko
-Biography:Malko was born in Semaky, Ukraine. His father was Ukrainian, his mother Russian. He studied philology at St Petersburg University. He published articles on music criticism in the Russian press and performed as a pianist and later a conductor. In 1906 he completed his studies in history...
and many others. He was a soloist for the Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
, the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
and in 1950 was invited to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
for ten performances of the Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
Second Piano Concerto
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 by Johannes Brahms is a composition for solo piano with orchestral accompaniment. It is separated by a gap of 22 years from the composer's first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near...
with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...
. In 1947 he replaced Dinu Lipatti
Dinu Lipatti
Dinu Lipatti was a Romanian classical pianist and composer whose career was cut short by his death from Hodgkin's disease at age 33. He was elected posthumously to the Romanian Academy.-Biography:...
, who had been taken ill prior to his first London concert.
In 1953 he accepted a three-year appointment as principal teacher of piano at the Elder Conservatorium of Music
Elder Conservatorium
The Elder Conservatorium of Music is Australia's senior academy of music and one of the country's most distinguished institutions for comprehensive education, professional training, and research in music...
, University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
from 1953, a post in which he remained until his retirement in 1979. Lance Dossor was well known in Australia as a soloist and also in chamber music, notably in an 18-year partnership with expatriate British cellist James Whitehead. Together with the violinist Ladislav Jasek they performed as the Elder Trio. He also performed in a piano duo with Romola Costantino
Romola Costantino
Romola Helen Louise Costantino OBE was a noted Australian pianist, accompanist and teacher, who also worked as a music, film and theatre critic....
and served as president of the Adelaide Branch of the Australian Society for Keyboard Music for a number of years.
His refined sense of colour was used to exquisite effect in his performances of Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, while his affinity with the Russian repertoire was revealed in his greatly admired performances of Rachmaninoff. His impact on the musical life of Australia, and Adelaide in particular, was considerable, both through his performances and his numerous students. He was associated with all the Australian state orchestras and took part in festivals in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
and Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
.
He did not leave many recordings, as he felt that a recording was only how he had performed on a particular day, and not necessarily the best performance that he could give. The ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
recorded a number of his concert broadcasts, but few were issued on record.
Lance Dossor had very decided ideas on music. He loved Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
and Brahms, but had no patience with Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
. His ideal composer was Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
. He said "If I had to make do with only one composer for the rest of my life, it would have to be Bach. His works are pure music". In 2003, the University of Adelaide gave him a Distinguished Alumni award "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the university and to his profession as performing artist and teacher."
Although officially retired, Lance Dossor carried on teaching part-time and occasionally performing until 1999, when increasing deafness forced him to give up. He died in Adelaide at the age of 89.