Louise Hanson-Dyer 1884-1962

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Her first project was the publication of the complete works of the composer François Couperin, timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of his death, 1933. Dyer’s definitive 12-volume edition was acclaimed for its impeccable scholarship, superb engraving and artistic design. In recognition of her work for French music, Louise Dyer was appointed a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1934.

By 1940, Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre had published around 40 volumes, including collections of sonatas by Purcell and Blow and the polyphonic music of the 13th century. Australian composers were not forgotten: Arthur Benjamin, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, John Tallis, Esther Rofe and Margaret Sutherland – including Sutherland’s settings of John Shaw Neilson poems. There was also The Melbourne Centenary Music Book, published to mark the city’s 100th birthday in 1934.

In 1939 Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre issued its first 78rpm gramophone recordings. Initially the repertoire illustrated or complemented the company’s published music, but soon the recordings assumed their own importance.

James Dyer died in 1938. The following year Louise married Joseph ‘Joe’ Hanson, an English literary scholar who had studied at the universities of Melbourne and Paris. She was 55; he was 30. During the war they lived in England. Hanson attended Balliol College, Oxford, while Louise continued to administer Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre from London.

After the war the couple moved to Monaco. The music publishing continued, as did the recording program. A trip to the United States convinced Louise of the advantages that the newly introduced long playing recordings could offer classical music. In 1949 Éditions de l’Oiseau-Lyre issued the first LP records in France. There followed a steady stream of superb recordings of mostly unfamiliar music, impeccably performed. The repertoire ranged from Monteverdi (the first ever recording of his Vespers) to ground-breaking works by Schönberg, Milhaud and Stravinsky. Oiseau-Lyre was responsible for two of Joan Sutherland’s earliest recordings: a recital of Handel arias in 1959 and his opera Acis and Galatea the following year. In 1957 the French Government promoted Louise to Officier of the Légion d’Honneur in recognition of her key role in the renewal of interest in and performance of Baroque music.