The Chamber Music of Mary Dickenson-Auner

Abstract

This project unveils Irish composer Mary Dickenson-Auner’s solo and chamber music through a series of new critical editions and recordings, while also adding greater depth to our understanding of her life and her contributions to music and music education. I will also explore her work from a violinist’s perspective, examining how her own virtuosity on the instrument affects the experience of the performer. In tandem with this, I will work with other violinists in a masterclass setting to workshop her compositions, which will promote fresh interest in her works and develop the language by which I can best share her unique sound world with other musicians.

Very little information is readily available for anyone interested in Dickenson-Auner (1880-1965), which is a significant motivating factor in my research. I have always dedicated a portion of my studies in performance to simultaneously researching the work of women composers whose careers were buried during and after their lifetime. Dickenson-Auner was a prolific composer with a fascinating life history and a huge catalogue of unpublished work spanning many forms, but with a particular focus on repertoire featuring the violin. Personally, I am always intrigued to see how different composers push the performer in new ways, often mentally by challenging our imagination, but sometimes presenting new physical challenges as well. This project is an exciting opportunity to learn and grow from performing a new(ly uncovered) compositional voice.

One significant result of this project will be a CD recording of a selection of Dickenson-Auner’s chamber music, alongside critical editions of these works. The recording will encompass her three string quartets and clarinet quintet, with the possible inclusion of a few smaller works for violin and piano. The recording and editions will both promote her work and encourage others to perform it. I will also hold masterclasses on Dickenson-Auner’s music with students from the Royal Academy of Music to share ideas on how to convincingly perform her compositions. These masterclasses will also serve to develop the descriptive language that can be used to teach and explain her work.

The written portion of the project will expand our understanding of Dickenson-Auner’s life through conversations with her family and her own autobiographical manuscripts. Although a thorough biography is not within the scope of this project, it is necessary to delve into her life if we are to begin to understand her music. I will also include a musical analysis of her chamber music, exploring the work itself and how it may have been received by her Viennese contemporaries. I will further investigate how she connected with her Irish identity while living in Vienna, and how that affected her musical output, as many of her works bear both Irish titles and themes.

Mary Dickenson-Auner, although virtually unknown, lived an extraordinary life and left behind a rich legacy of compositions waiting to be brought back into performers’ repertoires. Over the next several years I will bring a few of these works to light, but there will remain a huge amount to still be uncovered. I hope this project will not just bring Dickenson-Auner to the fore, but also add to the discussion of how the life experience of the composer can challenge and inspire the performer in new ways.

Main image: Mary Dickenson-Auner, 1906.

Bio

Erin Hennessey performs as a soloist, orchestral, and chamber musician across the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. As a freelance violinist, she works with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, RTE Concert Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Irish Baroque Orchestra, and is an avid chamber musician. In 2021, she received the Gaiety Bursary to typeset, perform, and record Ina Boyle’s Phantasy for violin and chamber orchestra, which she premiered in November 2021. She is also passionate about a student-centred and compassionate approach to excellence in music education and co-developed the group violin pedagogy now used by the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Erin lives in London where she is a PhD researcher at the Royal Academy of Music, studying and performing the music of Irish composer Mary Dickenson-Auner. She studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where she taught violin and chamber music until 2023. Her teachers include Marilyn McDonald, Ida Haendel, Lorenz Gamma, Sarah Sew, and Mia Cooper.