Ernest VAN DYCK (1861-1923)

In March 1915, whilst based at Farnborough in Hampshire, Cyril Sladden wrote to his father about a concert he was going to in Guildford in aid of the Belgian fund where one of the main performers was an opera singer, Ernest Van Dyck, who was performing alongside the violinist Ysaÿe.

Ernest van Dyck (1861-1923) was a Belgian dramatic tenor born in Antwerp, primarily singing works from Wagner.  A report in The Surrey Advertiser of 10^th March 1915 reveals that Monsieur Van Dyck did not perform at the concert after all as he had been taken suddenly ill and could not fulfil his engagement.  Another Belgian, Monsieur Victor Bosson, a well-known baritone from Liège, took his compatriot’s place.  As works by German masters had been banished from the programme, van Dyck would not have been able to sing his Wagnerian repertoire.