Editing Arnold Dolmetsch

{{Short description|French-born musician and instrument maker (1858–1940)}}{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox person
| image              = Arnold Dolmetsch.jpg
| caption            = Portrait of Arnold Dolmetsch playing a recorder, by [[Alvin Langdon Coburn]], 1916
| birth_name         = Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch
| birth_place        = [[Le Mans]], France
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1858|2|24|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Surrey]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1940|02|28|1858|02|24|df=yes}}
| alma_mater         = {{ubl|[[Royal College of Music]]|[[Brussels Conservatoire]]}}
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Marie Morel|1878|1898|end=div.}}
* {{marriage|Elodie Désirée|1899|1903|end=div.}}
* {{marriage|Mabel Johnston|1903}}
}}
| children           = 4
| awards             = Chevaliers of the [[Legion of Honour]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Musician|instrument maker}}
}}
'''Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch''' (24 February 1858{{sndash}}28 February 1940), was a French-born musician and instrument maker who spent much of his working life in England and established an instrument-making workshop in [[Haslemere]], Surrey. He was a leading figure in the 20th-century [[early music revival|revival]] of interest in [[early music]].

==Early life==

The Dolmetsch family was originally of Bohemian origin, but Dolmetsch was born in [[Le Mans]], on 24 February 1858, the son of Rudolph Arnold Dolmetsch and his wife Marie Zélie (née Guillouard), where the family had established a piano-making business. It was in the family's workshops that Dolmetsch acquired the skills of instrument-making that would later be put to use in his early music workshops.

He studied music at the [[Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles|Brussels Conservatoire]] and learnt the violin with [[Henri Vieuxtemps]]. In 1883, he travelled to London to attend the [[Royal College of Music]], where he studied under [[Henry Holmes (composer)|Henry Holmes]] and [[Frederick Bridge]] and was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree in 1889.

==The early music revival==
[[File:Arnold Dolmetsch piano.jpg|left|thumb|A harpsichord spinet with Arnold Dolmetsch's inscription, in the studio of Swiss luthier, Claude Lebet]]
[[File:Horniman instruments 08.jpg|thumb|Instruments built and restored by Dolmetsch in the Horniman museum, London, UK.]]
Dolmetsch was employed for a short time as a music teacher at [[Dulwich College]], but his interest in early instruments was awakened by seeing the collections of historic instruments in the [[British Museum]]. After constructing his first reproduction of a [[lute]] in 1893, he began building keyboard instruments. William Morris encouraged him to build his first [[harpsichord]]. In 1900, he conducted the orchestra at [[Carpenters' Hall|Carpenter’s Hall]] playing 17th century instruments in a revival of the [[First Quarto of Hamlet|First Quarto]] version of Hamlet by the [[Elizabethan Stage Society]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 February 1900 |title=Summary of News - Domestic |pages=9 |work=The Manchester Guardian}}</ref> He left England to build [[clavichord]]s and harpsichords for [[Chickering & Sons|Chickering]] of Boston (1905&ndash;1911), then for [[Gaveau]] of Paris (1911&ndash;1914).

During Dolmetsch's time at Chickering, he resided in a house in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], partially of his own design, with the aid of architects Luquer and Godfrey.<ref>{{cite web|website=Dolmetsch Online|title=The Dolmetsch Story|last=Blood|first=Brian|archive-date=June 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602211739/https://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworks.htm|url=https://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworks.htm|publisher=Dolmetsch Organization}}</ref> It was through Dolmetsch's work in Cambridge that a wealthy benefactress, Miss [[Belle Skinner]], was able to restore a number of rare instruments, including a [[spinet]] owned by [[Marie Antoinette]], which today comprise the founding collection of [[Yale University|Yale's]] [[Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments|Collection of Musical Instruments]].<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Fanny Reed Hammond | time =6:16 (Track 1, Side A) | year=1958 | title=The Belle Skinner Collection of Old Musical Instruments | medium=LP | location=Holyoke, Mass. | publisher=Privately pressed|oclc=79919027|quote=Miss Skinner was fortunate in having close at hand, in our Cambridge, the foremost genius of the century, in making and restoring old musical instruments, Arnold Dolmetsch. Who, with his gifted family, lived over here during the First World War.}}</ref>

He went on to establish an instrument-making workshop in [[Haslemere]], Surrey, and proceeded to build copies of almost every kind of instrument dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, including [[viol]]s, [[lute]]s, [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]]s and a range of keyboard instruments. His 1915 book ''The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries'' was a milestone in the development of '[[authentic performance]]s' of early music.

In 1925, he founded an annual chamber music festival, the International Dolmetsch Early Music Festival, which is held every July at Haslemere in the Haslemere Hall.

Dolmetsch settled in Dulwich (at 'Dowlands', 172 Rosendale Road) and was active in the cultural life of London. His friends and admirers included [[William Morris]], [[Selwyn Image]], [[Roger Fry]], [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]], [[George Bernard Shaw]], [[Marco Pallis]], [[Ezra Pound]], [[George Moore (novelist)|George Moore]], whose novel ''Evelyn Innes'' celebrates Dolmetsch's life and work, and [[W. B. Yeats]].

He was responsible for rediscovering the school of English composers for viol [[Consort of instruments|consort]] (including [[John Jenkins (composer)|John Jenkins]] and [[William Lawes]]), leading to [[William Henry Hadow|Sir Henry Hadow]]'s tribute that Dolmetsch had "opened the door to a forgotten treasure-house of beauty". He was also largely responsible for the revival of the [[Recorder (musical instrument)|recorder]], both as a serious concert instrument, and as an instrument which made early music accessible to amateur performers. He went on to promote the recorder as an instrument for teaching music in schools.

In 1937, he received a British [[Civil list]] pension and in 1938 he was created a chevalier of the [[Légion d'honneur]] by the French government.

==Dolmetsch family==
[[File:Cécile Dolmetsch and family.png|thumb|Arnold Dolmetsch and his family: c.1928 Back row: Leslie Ward (Cécile’s husband), [[Carl Dolmetsch|Carl]], Rudolph, Millicent Wheaton–Dolmetsch, George Carley. Front row: [[Mabel Dolmetsch|Mabel]], Nathalie Dolmetsch–Carley, Arnold, [[Cécile Dolmetsch|Cécile Dolmetsch-Ward]], Christopher Ward - Arnold and Mabel Dolmetsch's family outside Jesses]]
Arnold Dolmetsch was married three times. On 28 May 1878, he married Marie Morel of [[Namur, Belgium]] (a widow, ten years his senior) but was divorced in 1898. His second wife, to whom he was married on 11 September 1899, in [[Zürich]], was Elodie Désirée, the divorced wife of his brother. This marriage ended in divorce in 1903. Thirdly, he was married on 23 September 1903 to Mabel Johnston, one of his pupils.

Dolmetsch encouraged the members of his family to learn the skills of instrument-making and musicianship and the family frequently appeared together in concerts, playing instruments constructed in the Dolmetsch workshops. Following the death of Arnold Dolmetsch at Haslemere in 1940, his family continued to promote the building and playing of early instruments.

* [[Mabel Dolmetsch]] (1874–1963), his third wife, was a noted player of the bass viol. She wrote "Dances of England and France 1450 - 1600" which includes tunes set by Arnold Dolmetsch.
* [[Cécile Dolmetsch]] (1904–1997), his daughter, was a soprano and specialist of the [[pardessus de viole]].
* [[Nathalie Dolmetsch]] (31 July 1905{{snd}}14 Feb 1989),{{r|Grove-Dolmetsch}} his daughter, was born in Chicago to Dolmetsch and his wife Mabel. Nathalie continued her mother's tradition of early dancing and specialised in playing the viola de gamba. She founded the Viola da Gamba Society in 1948 and edited music and wrote on the viols.{{r|Campbell-Dolmetsch|p=298}} Her publications include ''Twelve Lessons on the Viola da Gamba, with Advice by [[Christopher Simpson (musician)|Christopher Simpson]] (1659), [[Thomas Mace]] (1676), [[Marin Marais]] (1686), [[Jean Rousseau (violist)|Jean Rousseau]] (1687), and [[Hubert Le Blanc]] (1740)'' (Schott & Co., London, 1950), and ''The Viola da Gamba: its Origin and History, its Technique and Musical Resources'' (Hinrichsen, London, 1962, Hinrichsen No. 759).{{r|Jisc-NDolmetsch}}
* [[Rudolph Dolmetsch]] (1906–1942), his son, was a gifted keyboard player, gamba player, and composer, who died in the sinking of the [[SS Ceramic|SS ''Ceramic'']] in 1942. His Concerto for clarinet, harp and orchestra (1939) was revived and recorded in 2019.<ref>[https://signumrecords.com/product/rediscovered-british-clarinet-concertos-by-dolmetsch-maconchy-spain-dunk-wishart/SIGCD656/ ''Rediscovered: British Clarinet Concertos'', Signum Classics SIGCD656 (2021)]</ref>
* [[Carl Dolmetsch]] (1911–1997), his son, was a noted recorder player and took over his father's instrument-making business.

== Books and Writings ==

* "The Interpretation of Music From The 17th and 18th Centuries" (1915/1946)
* "Select English songs and dialogues of the 16th and 17th centuries" (1954)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dolmetsch, Arnold, 1858-1940 {{!}} The Online Books Page |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Dolmetsch,%20Arnold,%201858-1940 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu}}</ref>
* "The Viols," ''The Consort'' (1982): 467–471.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dolmetsch Online - Dolmetsch Viol Writings |url=https://www.dolmetsch.com/dolviolwritings.htm |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=www.dolmetsch.com}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of historical harpsichord makers]]
* [[John Challis (harpsichord)]], apprentice of Dolmetsch whose instruments gradually incorporated modern mechanics with traditional construction

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Campbell-Dolmetsch>{{cite book 
 |last1=Campbell 
 |first1=Margaret 
 |title=Dolmetsch: The Man and His Work 
 |year=1975 
 |publisher=Hamilton 
 |location=London 
 |url=https://archive.org/details/dolmetschmanhisw0000camp 
 |accessdate=2020-12-04 
 |url-access=registration 
 |isbn=978-0-241-89176-6 
 |via=The [[Internet Archive]] }}</ref>
<ref name=Grove-Dolmetsch>{{cite web 
 |last1=Campbell 
 |first1=Margaret 
 |title=Dolmetsch family 
 |website=Grove Music online 
 |year=2001 
 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.07949 
 |isbn=9781561592630 
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.07949 
 |accessdate=2020-12-04 }}</ref>
<ref name=Jisc-NDolmetsch>{{cite web 
 |title=Search Results for author: dolmetsch, nathalie 
 |website=Library Hub Discover 
 |url=https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?q=author%3A+dolmetsch%2C+nathalie 
 |accessdate=2020-12-04 }}</ref>
}}

* H. C. G. Matthews and Brian Harrison (editors): ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-19-861366-0}}
* [[Percy Scholes]]: ''[[The Oxford Companion to Music]]'', 10th edition, Oxford University Press, 1970

== External links ==
* [http://www.dolmetsch.com/Dolworks.htm The Dolmetsch Story] at dolmetsch online, accessed 2 March 2005
* [http://www.dhds.org.uk/ The Dolmetsch Historical Dance Society], founded 1970 in memory of Mabel Dolmetsch
* Jannis Wichmann, Art. [https://www.sophie-drinker-institut.de/dolmetsch-familie Dolmetsch, Familie], in: Lexikon "Europäische Instrumentalistinnen des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts", hrsg. von Freia Hoffmann, 2013/2023.
* {{IMSLP|id=Dolmetsch, Arnold}}

{{Historically informed performance|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolmetsch, Arnold}}
[[Category:1858 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Le Mans]]
[[Category:19th-century French violinists]]
[[Category:19th-century French male musicians]]
[[Category:French male classical violinists]]
[[Category:British classical musicians]]
[[Category:French multi-instrumentalists]]
[[Category:French recorder players]]
[[Category:British multi-instrumentalists]]
[[Category:French performers of early music]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music]]
[[Category:Royal Conservatory of Brussels alumni]]
[[Category:French people of German descent]]
[[Category:French emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Belgium]]
[[Category:British performers of early music]]
[[Category:Recorder makers]]