The Three Idylls were dedicated to Ethel Elmore Sinclair, an Australian who played alongside Bridge in the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and later became his wife.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bridge's early chamber music shows significant French influence, with his piano writing owing much to Fauré and his melodic integration inspired by the French tradition.
Composer Biography
For the last two decades of his life, Frank Bridge was supported by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a pre-eminent American patron of chamber music, who commissioned works from him.
Composition History
Bridge's Piano Quintet in D minor, originally composed in 1905, was extensively revised in 1912, transforming it from an unwieldy work into something more refined.
Historical Context
The First World War profoundly impacted Bridge, shattering his musical horizon and leading to a dramatic change in his compositional style.
Cultural Impact
The second of Frank Bridge's Three Idylls became the theme for Benjamin Britten's Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge for string orchestra, Op. 10.
Composer Biography
Frank Bridge's music, particularly his early romantically inclined works and later radical pieces, had largely fallen out of the repertoire by the time of his death in 1941.
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