Les Sylphes

Susan was a fine violinist and during much of her career earned part of her income playing the violin or viola in ensembles, orchestras or as a soloist. The last instance that we know of her playing violin as a guest soloist with an orchestra is at a festival in Feltham in 1931 playing J.S. Bach’s Double Concerto in D Minor with her friend and fellow violinist Paul Belinfante.

Susan performed Les Sylphes, a short piece for solo violin and piano, at a concert organised by her husband Henry Gibson on 28 April 1910 in Hammersmith, London. She may have written it in that year or earlier. It is an entertaining piece that she wrote perhaps to demonstrate her skill as a violinist. Her husband was a good pianist and it’s likely that he accompanied her on the piano. A point of interest in the concert programme is that the soloist is indicated as “Mrs Henry Gibson” – Susan’s married name, but the composer is shown as “S. Spain-Dunk”, with the composer’s gender not indicated.

Les Sylphes was never published, but the other piece which Susan played at that concert was - the Romance from her Violin Sonata in B Minor which won a Supplementary Prize in the 1908 Cobbett Competition for a Sonata for Violin and Piano. This competition sponsored, by W. W. Cobbett, was administered by The Worshipful Company of Musicians who chose the first, second and third prize winners. However, Cobbett reserved the right to chose two “Supplementary” or “Consolation” prize winners himself and he often awarded them to women composers.

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Performed by Patrick Wastnage (violin) and Elizabeth Dunn (piano).

From the album Susan Spain-Dunk; Ruth Gipps: Music for Violin and Piano, Guild GMCD7827, 2022, available from Europadisc and Presto Music.