The Canterbury Pilgrims

After the writing of another successful book, and buoyed up by the success of In Honour of the City, it wasn't long before Dyson's thoughts returned to composition and the possibility of another choral work. Given his great gift for orchestration, his sense of fun in music, and his sense of humour (hidden to many but often described as a defining characteristic by those who knew him well), it is not surprising that he should alight on one of the most famous pieces of mediaeval English literature, Chaucer's (c. 1343-1400) Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. The whole idea of the enterprise fascinated him and, in the end, was the closest he ever came to writing an opera. This motley company of people of all sorts and conditions inspired him to write a work which became one of the most successful new choral works of his time. It was performed all over the world, both complete and abridged. One movement, ‘The Wife of Bath’, was performed for years as a standalone item at the Proms, so popular had it become. This was Dyson's moment. The time, the place and the people had all conspired to bring him to this point from which he never looked back.

The background to Chaucer's remarkable, imaginative work was the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in December 1170 by four knights who believed that they were acting on the wishes of Henry II.