Dale showed compositional talent from an early age and went on to write a small but notable number of works. His best-known composition is probably the large-scale Piano Sonata in D minor he started while still a student at the Royal Academy of Music, an institution where he became very much 'part of the brickwork' so to speak.
By 1909, Dale had established himself as a successful composer and teacher. His output was well balanced in all fields of composition. He was appointed Professor of Harmony at the RAM in this year.
However the outbreak of World War One caught Dale traveling to the Bayreuth Festival on one of his holiday trips to Germany. In November, he was interned in the civilian internment camp at Ruhleben, near Berlin, along with several other prominent musicians, including fellow composer and RAM professor, Frederick Keel, who was in the same barracks. Dale was one of the musicians who helped recreate the score of The Mikado from memory for a full performance in the camp.
Dale died in July 1943 in London, aged only 58, collapsing after having conducted a rehearsal for the première of The Flowing Tide, his large orchestral tone poem.
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The two vignettes for orchestra entitled "A Holiday Tune" and "Prunella" both originally set for violin and piano were orchestrated in 1924.
Prunella or "Love in a Dutch Garden" was a play written by Laurence Housman and Harley Granville-Barker. It tells the story of Prunella, a young woman sheltered in her garden, who encounters a traveling troupe of players, including the captivating Pierrot. The play explores themes of love, awakening, and the contrast between sheltered life and the outside world. It was first published in 1906.
It's a two minute piece which is basically a graceful minuet. The lower strings are doubled to enrich the texture. The melody is initially simple in this quasi-minuet and is introduced first on the upper strings. The development of this theme grows throughout the music.
