Desmond John Dupré was born in London on 19 December 1916 and died in Tonbridge, Kent, on 16 August 1974. He studied chemistry at Oxford University in 1936 and graduated with a first in 1940. From 1946 he studied music at the Royal College of Music, taking cello with Ivor James and harmony with Herbert Howells. He taught himself the viol. His first professional engagements were as a guitarist and as a cellist with the Boyd Neel Orchestra. He formed a duo with Alfred Deller in 1948.

He was known particularly for recordings on lute and viola da gamba, notably with counter-tenor Alfred Deller. He recorded Bach’s sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord with Thurston Dart. He premiered a Handel concerto for lute and harp that Dart had reconstructed. He was the first president of the Lute Society from 1956 to 1973. He was a regular performer with the Julian Bream Consort, the Jacobean Consort of Viols and Musica Reservata.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Dupr%C3%A9
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5264708