Dora Bright

Dora Estella Bright, later known as Dora Estella Knatchbull, (16 August 1862 – 16 November 1951) was an English composer and pianist. She composed works for orchestra, keyboard and voice, and music for opera and ballet,^[1] including ballets for performance by the dancer Adeline Genée.^[2]

Biography

Bright was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. While at the Royal Academy of Music during 1881–89,^[2] her teachers included Walter Macfarren and Ebenezer Prout.^[3] She was the first woman to receive the Charles Lucas prize for musical composition, for her Air and Variations for String Quartet in 1888.^[1]

In 1892 she married Wyndham Knatchbull (1829–1900), a captain of the 3rd Dragoon Guards and a great-grandson of Edward Knatchbull, 7th Baronet of Mersham Hatch.^[4] Thereafter she lived at Babington, Somerset. From around this time she started to compose works for dramatic performances.^[2]

She was also the composer for ballets created with Adeline Genée,^[2] in a collaboration which also involved the designer C. Wilhelm. These ballets included The Dryad, La Camargo and La danse. As well as dancing these in London, Genée performed them during her successful tours of America, Australia and New Zealand.^[5]

She died at Babington in 1951.^[2] Many of her works have not survived.^[6]

Works

Genée in La Camargo, c. 1912

Selected works include:

Ballets

• The Dryad (1907)
• The Faun (1911)
• La Camargo (1912)
• La danse (1912)
• A Dancer's Adventure (1915)

Piano with orchestra

• Piano concerto No. 1 in A minor (1888)
• Piano concerto No. 2 in D minor (1892)
• Fantasia in G minor (1892)

Piano

• Variations on an Original Theme of Sir G. A. Macfarren (1894), duet

Songs

• Twelve Songs (1889) (text by Shakespeare, Herrick and others)
• Six Songs from the Jungle Book (1903) (text by Kipling)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Fuller, Sophie (2001). "Bright (Knatchbull) Dora (Estella)". In Sadie, Stanley. New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 4. London: Macmillan. pp. 353–354. ISBN 0-333-60800-3. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Fuller, Sophie (2004). "Bright (married name Knatchbull), Dora Estella". In Matthew, H.C.G.; Harrison, Brian. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 7. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 617–618. ISBN 0-19-861337-1. 
3. ^ Burton, Nigel (1994). "Bright, Dora (Estella)". In Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian. New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. London: Macmillan. pp. 84–85. ISBN 0-333-515986. 
4. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed (1999). "Brabourne". Burke's Peerage and Baronetage. 1. Switzerland: Burke's Peerage. pp. 348–349. ISBN 2-940085-02-1. 
5. ^ Pritchard, Jane (2004). "Genée (married name Isitt), Dame Adeline". In Matthew, H.C.G.; Harrison, Brian. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 21. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 741–744. ISBN 0-19-861371-7. 
6. ^ Fuller, Sophie (1994). Pandora Guide to Women Composers. London: Pandora. pp. 72–74. ISBN 0-04-440897-8. 

Persondata
Name	Bright, Dora Estella
Alternative names	Knatchbull, Dora Estella
Short description	Composer and pianist
Date of birth	16 August 1862
Place of birth	Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Date of death	16 November 1951
Place of death	Babington, Somerset, England