3 - The Mendelssohn Scholarship, 1904-7

Summary

Finding his feet in Italy

The Honorary Secretary of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Committee was J. Edward Street who lived in Caterham in Surrey. It was up to him to organise the trip with Dyson. A lively correspondence between them has been preserved, giving us a real insight into Dyson's thoughts, influences and activities during the coming three years.

The compositions which Dyson submitted to the judges were the Piano Trio and the Cello Sonata described above, together with a setting for chorus and orchestra of Tom Hood's humorous poem Faithless Nelly Gray. This work has long since disappeared along with Dyson's other juvenilia. Parry and Stanford both provided testimonials in support of his application, and Sir Walter Parratt and Sir Frederick Bridge wrote further references. The award, when it came, was initially for one year (with the possibility of an extension) to the value of £100 (this is roughly equivalent to £10,000 today).

In a letter to Street dated 13 June 1904 Dyson writes:

… he [Stanford] strongly advises me to go to Italy, at any rate for some time. He says that in his opinion it is not so much a musical centre that would have the best effect on my work, as an absolute change of atmosphere and environment, and a place of residence where I could assimilate all that is great in other branches of Art.