Dorothy Silk

Dorothy (Ellen) Silk (born Kings Norton, Worcestershire, England 4 May 1883 - died Alvechurch, Worcestershire 30 July 1942) was an English soprano.

She studied in Birmingham, then in Vienna under Johannes Ress.^[1] She made her London debut at Queen's Hall.^[2] She particularly built her reputation as a Bach singer, and gave pioneering chamber concerts (1921-6) in which she performed cantatas by Schütz and Tunder.^[1] She also sang at the Royal Albert Hall, Aeolian Hall and provincial centres.^[2] She was professor of singing at the Royal College of Music.^[2] She sang in the public premiere of Gustav Holst’s Savitri, and was much admired by the composer who expressed a preference for her as soloist for his Choral Symphony. She also sang the premiere of Holst's Humbert Wolfe songs, which took place on 9 November 1929 at Louise Hanson-Dyer's house-warming in Paris.^[3] Although Silk's voice, described as ‘light’ and ‘flexible’,^[1], was considered ideal for Bach, she also made a fine impression singing the soprano solo part in Verdi’s Requiem.

References

• Capell, Richard & Shawe-Taylor, Desmond. “Dorothy Silk”, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan (1980).
• Davidson, Jim. Lyrebird Rising. Melbourne University Press (1994).
• Short, Michael. Gustav Holst: The Man and his Music. London: Oxford (1990).

1. ^ ^{a b c} Capell & Shawe-Taylor, New Grove 1980
2. ^ ^{a b c} Short, p.471
3. ^ Davidson, p.171

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Name	Silk, Dorothy
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Date of birth	4 May 1883
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Date of death	30 July 1942
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