Stephen Dodgson

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Stephen Dodgson FRCM 1924 - 2013

We were sorry to hear of the death of RCM alumnus, former professor and RCM Fellow Stephen Dodgson, composer and champion of the classical guitar.

Stephen Dodgson was a student at the RCM from April 1947 to July 1949. His principal study was horn, which he studied with Frank Probyn, but he described his second study of composition – which he initially took with R.O Morris and then with Patrick Hadley – as his “real incentive”.

He won two composition prizes: the Cobbett Memorial Prize in 1948 for his Fantasy String Quartet, and the Sullivan Prize in 1949. He also won an Octavia Travelling Scholarship in the summer of 1949, enabling him to travel around Italy.

In 1956 he returned to the RCM as teacher and conductor of the Junior Orchestra. He was later appointed to the professorial staff, and taught composition and theory from September 1965 until he retired in July 1982 to devote more time to composition.

He was awarded the FRCM in 1981.

A full obituary is available on the Guardian website.