{{Short description|English ballad composer (1819–1878)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} '''Ellen (Elizabeth) Dickson''' (1819 – 4 July 1878), also known as '''Dolores''', was an English ballad composer. She was born in Woolwich, England southeast of London. Ellen was the third daughter of General Sir Alexander Dickson. She had been physically disabled since a young age, and her chosen Latin pseudonym, Dolores, which means sorrows and bodily pains, reflects that aspect of her personal life.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/old/A_lexartikel/lexartikel.php%3Fid=dick1819.html|title=Ellen Dickson|last=Wenzel|first=Silke|website=Musik Und Gender im Internet}}</ref> Ellen inherited her father's talents for mathematics and his analytical intellect.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 20, 1878|title=Death of "Dolores"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJEPAAAAYAAJ&q=Woolwich+Ellen+Dickson&pg=PA465|journal=The Musical World|volume=56|pages=465}}</ref>
She lived most of her life and died in Lyndhurst, England.<ref>{{cite book |title=Composers on record: an index to biographical information|author=Greene, Frank|year=1985}}</ref>
==Musical career== Dickson began making her reputation in the late 1850s, composing drawing-room ballads in a style similar to that of Maria Lindsay. She began by setting Longfellow poems in 1854. From then, Dickson published, partly under the name Dolores, a tremendous plethora of songs in renowned London music publishing companies. Approximately 65 songs have survived. These works include settings for poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Adelaide A. Procter, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Alfred Tennyson, and many others. Ellen Dickson achieved a high level of awareness with her song "The Bridge", lyrics by Longfellow, which was first published by Charles Jefferys in 1857.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/dbscott/3.html|title=The Rise of the Woman Ballad Composer|last=Scott|first=Derek B.|date=2012|website=VictorianWeb.com}}</ref>
== Known Compositions == Dickson's songs are often characterized by unusual permutations of broken chord patterns and delicate use of grace notes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Derek B.|title=From the Erotic to the Demonic: On Critical Musicology|url=https://archive.org/details/fromerotictodemo00scot_102|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fromerotictodemo00scot_102/page/n220 212]}}</ref> Her setting of Tennyson's ''<nowiki/>'The Brook''', published in 1857, shows individuality with its delicate use of grace notes to suggest the rippling water.<ref name=":0" /> Dolores also tends to rely on various permutations of broken-chord patterns for her accompaniments. In her case, they are often unpredictable in shape and rhythm. Her song ''"The Land of Long Ago"'' offers a good example.
She provides an example of the union of the beautiful melody and ornamental accompaniment in ''"Clear and Cool."''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scott|first=Derek B.|date=1994|title=The Sexual Politics of Victorian Musical Aesthetics|journal=Journal of the Royal Musical Association|volume=119|pages=91–114|doi=10.1093/jrma/119.1.91|jstor=}}</ref> When the words call for loudness, the pitch of the accompaniment ensures balance in the composition. The morally uplifting words of the song, taken from Charles Kingsley's ''"The Water Babies,"'' are addressed to a mother and child.
Dolores released a songbook called "Dream" that contained her arrangements of Anne Proctors' works. The book was published in Philadelphia in 1867.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22Dickson,%20Ellen,%201819-1878.%22&type=author&inst=|title=HathiTrust Digital Library}}</ref>
Dickson composed mainly parlor music,<ref>{{cite book |title=Women making music: the Western art tradition, 1150-1950|url=https://archive.org/details/womenmakingmusic00bowe|url-access=registration|first1=Jane|last1=Bowers|first2=Judith|last2=Tick|year=1987|publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252014703 }}</ref> which, in historical context, was the main type of music socially acceptable for women composers. Her other works include: * ''Good night, beloved'' (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) * ''Old clock on the stairs'' (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) * ''The bridge'' (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) * ''The brook'' (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson) * ''The open window'' (Text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) * ''Turn, fortune, turn'' (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson) * ''Vivien's song'' (Text: Lord Alfred Tennyson)
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickson, Ellen}} Category:1819 births Category:1878 deaths Category:19th-century English classical composers Category:English women classical composers Category:19th-century English women composers {{UK-composer-stub}}