The early music revival Dolmetsch was employed for a short time as a music teacher at Dulwich College, but his interest in early instruments was awakened by seeing the collections of historic instruments in the British Museum, and, after constructing his first reproduction of a lute in 1893, he began building keyboard instruments. William Morris encouraged him to build his first harpsichord. He left England to build clavichords and harpsichords for Chickering of Boston (1905–1911), then for Gaveau of Paris (1911–1914). He went on to establish an instrument-making workshop in Haslemere, Surrey and proceeded to build copies of almost every kind of instrument dating from the 15th to 18th centuries, including viols, lutes, recorders and a range of keyboard instruments. His 1915 book The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIIth and XVIIIth Centuries was a milestone in the development of authentic performances of early music. In 1925 he founded an annual chamber music festival, the International Dolmetsch Early Music Festival, which is held every July at Haslemere, in the Haslemere Hall. Dolmetsch was active in the cultural life of London, and his friends and admirers included William Morris, Selwyn Image, Roger Fry, Gabriele d'Annunzio, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, George Moore, whose novel Evelyn Innes celebrates Dolmetsch's life and work, and W. B. Yeats. He was responsible for rediscovering the school of English composers for viol consort (including John Jenkins and William Lawes), leading to Sir Henry Hadow's tribute that Dolmetsch had "opened the door to a forgotten treasure-house of beauty". He was also largely responsible for the revival of the recorder, both as a serious concert instrument, and as an instrument which made early music accessible to amateur performers. He went on to promote the recorder as an instrument for teaching music in schools. In 1937 he received a British Civil list pension and in 1938 he was created a chevalier of the Legion d'honneur by the French government. The Dolmetsch family Arnold Dolmetsch was married three times. On 28 May 1878 he married Marie Morel of Namur, Belgium (a widow, ten years his senior) but was divorced in 1898. His second wife, to whom he was married on 11 September 1899, in Zurich, was Elodie Desiree, the divorced wife of his brother. This marriage ended in divorce in 1903. Thirdly, he was married on 23 September 1903 to Mabel Johnston, one of his pupils. Dolmetsch encouraged the members of his family to learn the skills of instrument-making and musicianship and the family frequently appeared together in concerts, playing instruments constructed in the Dolmetsch workshops. Following the death of Arnold Dolmetsch at Haslemere in 1940, his family continued to promote the building and playing of early instruments. Mabel Dolmetsch, his wife, was a noted player of the bass viol. Rudolph Dolmetsch, his son, was a gifted keyboard player, who lost his life during World War II. Nathalie Dolmetsch, his daughter, was a viol player and leading member of the Viola da Gamba Society. Carl Frederick Dolmetsch, his son, was a noted recorder player and took over the running of his father's instrument-making business. Cecile Dolmetsch, his daughter, was a viol player.

We set about informing the U.S. Government just who the Consulate in London was treating so rudely, and of the serious repercussions should Mrs. Poulton not be allowed to fulfill her engagement here. Following initial telegrams I called our two California U.S. Senators plus our Congressman who told me with whom to speak at the State Department. All were impressed and very helpful. Both Senators, the Congressman, and impor tant members of the State Department wired and called th e U.S. Consulate in London. Diana received a very po lite phone call from the Consulate who asked her kindly to return. The "red carpet" was rolled out. Where he r first visit culminated in rude treatment after standing i n line two or three hours, this second was the opposite. A receptionist met her, offered her seating, and call ed upstairs. The Consulate General himself came downstairs, greeted her, escorted her to his office , offered her tea, filled out the forms for her, issu ed the visa and treated her with the utmost courtesy and r espect. When she was home, she called again, related this remarkable turn of events and asked, "Whatever did you do?"
    The stories of Diana and Suzanne together in 1934/35 and 1974 could fill lots of pages, and I wo uld like to tell them to you at another time. Right no w let me focus on Diana.
     At the age of 7l, this was Diana Poulton's first, a nd only, visit to the United States. Her major study, John Dowland, had been published in 1972. Only two or three months following the 1974 ALS Lute Seminar and Master Class The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland (Diana Poulton with Basil Lam) was fmally published . Naturally a focus of Diana's teaching that summer w as on John Dowland and his works, though students quic kly realized there was far more to Diana Poulton than J ohn Dowland.
     Diana was born Edith Eleanor Diana Chloe Kibblewhite, 18 th April 1903, Storrington, Sussex, England. It was about the age of 15 that Diana firs t heard the lute. Diana's mother, Mrs. Ethel Kibblewhite, met and became acquainted with Arnold and Mabel Dolmetsch during the First World War. During the time just following the end of the War, Diana and her mother attended Arnold Dolmetsch's concerts at the Hall of the Artworkers' Guild in London, where they heard a var iety of instruments and music. Mr. & Mrs. Dolmetsch wou ld sometimes visit Diana's family in London, and Arnol d Dolmetsch would occasionally bring his lute. With a little enticement he would play for them. Arnold Dolmetsc h was at this time about 60 years of age. He spent a n enormous amount of time restoring and making early instruments and reviving music for keyboard instrum ents, viols, recorders and lutes. It is understandable t hat he did not have great technical facility upon the lute, bu t Diana related that when he played pieces within his capabilities he played with an extraordi narily beautiful tone and musical instinct that completely captivated her.
     After Diana expressed her desire to learn the lute, it took some time to find an acceptable and affordable lute. Mrs. Kibblewhite, while not actually a player of th e lute, had copied a number of pieces from the British Muse um and the University Library, Cambridge. She showed Diana how to read tablature. Diana then worked at learning the lute by herself, while attending the S lade School of Fine Art during the period of 1919-23. I t was there she met fellow student Thomas Poulton, whom s he said greatly encouraged her in learning the lute. Though he also became interested in early music, he entere d the profession of commercial art and illustration, keep ing music as an avocation. They were married in 1923.
     Diana told us that when she felt she had acquired enough facility on the lute, around 1922, she decid ed to ask to study with Arnold Dolmetsch. About the age o f 19 she began visiting Haslemere, Surrey for lessons. Dolmetsch did not posses the natural aptitudes of a good teacher. His notorious impatience and shouting had the very sensitive Diana in tears by the end of nearly every lesson. Around 1925 she could stand it no longer an d gave up, not playing at all for perhaps six months. Rudolph Dolmetsch, the oldest of Mabel and Arnold Dolmetsch's children, strongly encouraged her not t o give up the lute. He pointed out that his father ha d learned what he knew about lute technique and playi ng from reading books in the British Museum and she co uld do the same. That was Diana's entry into research. There she learned Arnold Dolmetsch had based his technique on that of Thomas Mace. She delved furth er back and discovered Adrian le Roy, Thomas Robinson, Jean-Baptiste Besard's "Necessary Observations" in Varietie of Lute Lessons, and others. She made considerable progress and began performing concerts with Rudolph and Millicent, his wife, who played ba ss viol.
     Diana made her first BBC broadcast in 1926 at the invitation of Julian Herbage, BBC Music Department. Eventually Diana performed in around 400 broadcasts , bringing lute music to listeners who otherwise woul d never have heard the lute. Diana and well-known si nger John Goss recorded what is likely the very first re cording of lute songs for His Masters Voice. Through Goss Diana met Peter Warlock who, though researching and editing lute songs for voice & pianoforte publicati ons, had never heard a lute until Diana played for him. He was so pleased he gave her approximately 300 copies of lute songs, with their tablature, which he and Phil ip Wilson had copied in pencil at the British Museum. This was a true treasure since hand copying from origina l sources was the only way to get them.
     Gradually, increasing work as a lutenist forced Diana's painting to second place in importance, and eventually performing work took over completely. S he performed solo and in ensemble in Shakespeare's pla ys for radio broadcasts, at Stratford-upon-Avon, the O ld Vic, and in the West End of London. Arnold Dolmets ch, upon hearing her play for the first time in five ye ars, invited her to play in all the Haslemere Festivals, as well as the London concerts. From the moment he accepte d her, Diana said he was completely kind and did all he could to help her. Diana has always expressed her gratefulness for the enormous amount Dolmetsch taug ht her about early music. She told of a particularly touching episode when Dolmetsch gave her a vihuela he had bu ilt immediately after she had played it in a Festival c oncert. Giving her the instrument, he told her that he woul d never be able to play it as well as she. That was the be ginning of her interest in and love for Spanish music. There is not space in this article to tell more of the Haslemere days and the many first performances of lute music in the 20 th Century. In this same issue of the LSA Quarterly, however, you can read of the adventures of Suzanne Bloch and Diana, together at Haslemere, in Suzanne's own words.
     Most today have been unaware of the young Diana's extensive and successful performing career. In add ition to Haslemere and her work with the BBC, she was very b usy giving a great many concerts and recitals all over Great Britain. Reviews of those performances are glowing . Here is one example from distinguished Sunday Times music critic, Hubert Foss, following a recital at t he Victoria and Albert Museum:
    What a musician versed in the technique could do .. . was beheld in the Fantasia of John Dowland -- a per fect little masterpiece. Miss Poulton's skill quite tran scends mere virtuosity. Her lute yielded a quality (or ra ther several qualities) of tone, as round and full as it s native refinement would permit; and out of them she spun t he golden music as if newly minted. She accompanied th e singer of the occasion delectably.
     During the 1930's Diana seriously began collecting Dowland's lute works, and her interest in him and t he period in which he lived increased almost to the po int of obsession. Engag- ing in research was not an easy proposition before microfilm, photocopies, and reference books citing locations of MSS and first editions. Existence and location of music had to be found in library catalo gs when obtainable. Copying had to be by hand in penc il. if music abroad were needed, it meant traveling there, ordering expensive photographs, or finding a local friend who would copy it. Diana's hand copied music, book s, documents, etc., filled stacks of notebooks. During WWII she, like everyone else, had to do other work, but still she was able to broadcast frequently for the BBC, and pursue her interest in Dowland. She put togeth er programs of Dowland's music and Elizabethan poetry and immersed herself in studies of 16th century lif e, thought, and Elizabethan literature.
     With the end of the War Diana's performing and lecture schedule again became very full. Concerts a nd recitals, including a lute and voice working partne rship with Ren~ Soames lasting many years, continued increasing along with the praise of music critics. One highlight, of many, was being asked by well known Shakespearean actor Robert Atkins to play in a masq ue presented before Queen Elizabeth II. After the performance celebrating the 1956 opening of Gray's Inn Hall, which had been rebuilt after its destruction in the war, Diana was presented to the Queen. This also l ed to Diana being asked by Robert Atkins to take charge o f the music for his summer productions of Shakespeare in the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, which she did un til his retirement.
     Other professional lute players began to appear after WWII: Walter Gerwig in Germany in the late ' 40s; and in England in the early '50s, Desmond Dupr~ and Julian Bream, both of whom became Diana's valued friends. Ian Harwood came to Diana for lessons. Upon seeing and hearing the difference between historic al instruments and the heavy German lutes then being b uilt, he became interested in building copies of historic al lutes. He became the first since Arnold Dolmetsch to retur n to authentic lute building. Interest in the lute grew at a surprising rate, and in 1956 Ian Harwood suggested to Diana they begin a lute society. The Lute Society w as founded that year by Diana Poulton and Ian Harwood with Diana as Chairman; Ian as Secretary; and Richard Ne wton, a fine scholar of English Lute Music, as Editor of the Journal. The Lute Society is the first of the lute societies and stimulated the founding of many other lute soci eties around the world. The Lute Society held its first Summer School in 1967 and it was at the third one at York University in 1969 (Iwas invited to lead the ensemb le class) I met Diana. Diana remained personally invo lved with The Lute Society until advanced age forced her to a more quiet role, but she remained President by the wish of the membership until her recent death.
     The importance of research on the lute and its musi c grew impressively. In 1957 Diana attended the colloque in Paris, sponsored by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique , returning on several occasions to play for Mme. Thibaut de Chambure. Around this time Diana realized that if she were to write a book on Dowlan d she would have to devote more time to research, which w ould take away her practice time. The number of student s coming to her was also growing, and as research and teaching began to affect her standard of playing sh e decided to withdraw from performing. Thus began th e part of Diana Poulton's life which most lutenists t oday are familiar with: her life as researcher, writer, teac her.
     The introduction of microfilm made research much easier. It made it possible to procure copies in f oreign libraries of important books and MSS. While Diana was working on the book about Dowland and his works, sh e and Basil Lam were also working on The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland which got finished first. Curiously, in the end it was John Dowland which got published first. Diana spent years on the research . She had to learn to read the old styles of hand writing in order to go through the endless letters and public, parish, university and court records to trace the facts of Dowland's life, as well as letters and MSS about th e music. To become fluent in reading the handwritten documents takes a lot of time. Diana was immersed so deeply in this for so long I remember her laughing and telling me how she caught herself writing dates lik e "1584" on her own correspondence, etc.
     Upon completion of these two books, Faber gave her contracts for other publications. She also was asked to write articles on 50 English lutenist composers, the article on the vihuela, and to collaborate with Ian Harwood on the article about the lute for The New Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Additionally during these years, she continued to research, write and publish journal articles on con tinental as well as English music, composers, and technique.
     In 1968 Diana was appointed the first Professor for the Lute at the Royal College of Music, London. Tw o years later they conferred on her the degree of Hon . R.C.M. She retired from that position in 1979. Sh e certainly did not retire, however, for materials an d MSS that had not been either available or discovered be fore publication of the Dowland books had made their appearance. Diana prepared second editions of both books. The Second Edition of The Collected Lute Music of John Dowland was published in 1978, just prior to her retiring from The Royal College, and the Second Edi tion of John Dowland was published in 1982.
      Diana was hoping that in her eighties she would get to retire to her cottage in Heyshott, but her commi tments to Faber and Schott kept her in London doing resear ch for publications. She wrote to me, "It is a terrib le nuisance being old. I get tired and can't work the long hours that I used to, so it takes me much longer to get through everything." Her eyes were bothering her a nd she had to have a tumor "cut out of her guts." But , she finished the very important Tutor for Renaissance Lute, published in 1991, before finally being forced phys ically to retire.
     There has been no other one person in the 20th century lute world who has reached so many people worldwide through performing, scholarship and teach ing. I did not study with Diana in the formal sense of t he word, but I learned so much from Diana that I have to consider myself her pupil. I am, indeed, grateful for her friendship, which has been an important part of my life. She continues to be alive in my heart and memory.
     Diana wrote in 1975, "Now at the age of 72, what has the lute meant to me all my life? I think at fi rst I regarded it more as a delightful relaxation after t he more serious work of the day was done. Gradually this attitude changed and it became to me a deep spiritu al refuge. The grace of its appearance, the quiet bea uty of its sound and the intellectual depth of its music seeme d to offer an experience in complete contrast to the eve r increasing materialism of present day society with the greed, noise and violence which surrounds us on all sides. Although it has been the means by which I have earn ed my living, I do not think financial gain has ever been the main incentive in my work since a very large amount of i t has been done without payment of any kind."
     Diana died peacefully at the age of 92, at 2:30am, December 15, 1995, in Heyshott, West Sussex, her home since 1927. Diana spent her last few years at her c ottage and with her daughter and son-in-law, Celia and Dou glas Clayton, in Heyshott. Mr. and Mrs. Clayton plan a commemoration service of Diana's life and work on o r near her birthday, April 18, 1996 in Heyshott.

     NOTE: While writing this Appreciation I referred to correspondence, personal notes, tape recordings, memories, photographs, American Lute Seminars recor ds, and an unpublished memoir by Diana Poulton which he r daughter, Celia Clayton, supplied to me along with other biographical information. An edited and less compl ete version of this memoir was printed in The Journal of the Lute Society, Vol. XXXIII, 1993.

    Here career as a lutenist was cut short in 1950's by repetitive stress syndrome brought on by the modern heavily built Hermann Hauser lutes that she played, but her condition allowed her to continue to play early keyboards and sing. She was one of the founding members of the Lute Society of America in the 1970s. Family Suzanne Bloch's marriage to mathematician Paul Smith ended in divorce. They had two sons, one of whom had autism. She raised their autistic son alone, and was able to help him gain nearly total social functionality through self-designed art therapy. He eventually became an independent artist-painter.