Vivian Dunn
| Sir Vivian Dunn | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Francis Vivian Dunn |
| Born |
24 December 1908 Jabalpur, India |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Died | 3 April 1995 (aged 86) Haywards Heath, Sussex, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Military |
| Occupation(s) | Royal Marines Director of Music, conductor and composer |
| Years active | 1920s–70s |
| Notable instruments | |
| Piano, Violin | |
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Vivian Dunn KCVO OBE FRSA (24 December 1908—3 April 1995) was the Director of Music of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines from 1931 to 1953 and Principal Director of Music of the Royal Marines from 1953 to 1968. He was the first British Armed Forces musician to be knighted.
Francis Vivian Dunn was born in Jabalpur, India. His father, William James Dunn, was bandmaster of the Second Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps and later director of music of the Royal Horse Guards. Dunn studied piano with his mother, Beatrice Maud, and undertook choral studies in Winchester. He attended the Hochschule für Musik Köln in 1923 and, two years later, the Royal Academy of Music. He studied conducting with Henry Wood and composition with Walton O'Donnell. As a violinist, he performed in the Queen's Hall Promenade Orchestra (under Wood), and in 1930 was a founding member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (under several conductors).
Dunn was released from his contract with the BBC and on 3 September 1931 commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Marines to be director of music for the Portsmouth Division of the Corps. His duties included directing the Royal Marines Band on the Royal Yacht. He participated in the royal tour of South Africa onboard HMS Vanguard in 1947 and a Royal Marines band tour of the United States and Canada in 1949.
...
Wikipedia