The Caribbean Dance, Italian Dance, Danza Gaya and Valse française were all written from around 1959 onwards; the date of the Valse française is the most unclear, but it was not published until 1980. Shortly before Dring’s death, pianists Eugene Hemmer and Leigh Kaplan suggested a disc of her two-piano works,
including some of these dances. Dring wrote to Hemmer in 1976 that ‘I am thrilled to think I may be put on record. It has cheered me up a lot.’ She sent him the Valse française saying that she ‘wrote it some time ago and then put it in an ivory-tower until I felt an understanding sort of person would find some use for it! So there its been awaiting you like ye Princess.’ With the Danza Gaya she included the note: ‘I haven’t put a metronome indication (always enough to bring me out in a rash!) — its quite a romantic piece (surprize, surprize) — & can be played either with a slightly lazy feel or a little faster.’ (The spelling and grammar is Dring’s own — her spelling was atrocious, but I suspect that the misspelling of surprise here is deliberate.) Sadly Hemmer died before the disc could be made, but Kaplan did later record all four of these dances and the Tarantelle.
Leah Broad 2023
