Sat, 8 June 2024 - Sat, 1 February 2025, All Day
Holst Victorian House
Louise Dyer, who lived in Melbourne, London and Paris, was an important patron of the arts, particularly music. Her impact on Holst’s music cannot be underestimated, and this exhibition explores their friendship, revealing how it supported Holst creatively during a crucial period in his life.
‘It was the first music I had written for 13 months and the first song for 13 years and the first song with piano accompaniment for 20 years…’ wrote Gustav Holst to his Australian-born friend Louise Dyer, following their meeting in 1924.
The Holst Victorian House Museum acquired The Louise Dyer Archive in 2023, thanks to generous grants from the V&A/ACE Purchase Grant Fund, the Friends of the National Libraries, and our Friends and supporters. Our Free exhibition ‘in a Parisian Salon’ is the first time that treasures from the Archive, such as the autograph manuscript of the ballet music from ‘The Perfect Fool’, will be on display.
Co-curated by Holst scholar Philippa Tudor, the exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated booklet and a special children’s trail.
Image: Louise Dyer in Paris 1929. Reproduced with kind permission from the University of Melbourne.