SUMMER is one of John Thomas' earliest published compositions, and is dedicated to his benefactress, the Countess of Lovelace. Ada, Countess of Lovelace, was the poet Byron's only daughter, and after the twelve-year-old John Thomas' sensational success at the Abergavenny Eisteddfod in October 1838 she became his sponsor, and helped finance his pedal harp studies with John Balsir Chatterton at the Royal Academy of Music.