The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective by Sjoerd Alkema THESIS PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREETown OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY South African College of Music Cape FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITYof OF CAPE TOWN August 2012 University ii Compulsory Declaration This work has not been previously submitted in whole, or in part, for the award of any de- gree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in this thesis from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed, and has been cited and referenced. Signature:…………………………………………… Date:………………………………………………… Town Cape of University iii Acknowledgements Throughout my research I received clear guidance and helpful support from my supervisor, Emeritus Professor James May. For this, his keen interest, thorough knowledge, and almost unlimited availability, I am immensely grateful! I would also like to thank Julie Strauss, sen- ior librarian of the WH Bell Music Library, South African College of Music, who was of great assistance to me during the time I spent writing the thesis. I am indebted to the following heads of libraries and archives, and their personnel, for their kind assistance and advice during many hours spent at their institutions: Leonard Benjamin, supervisor: reader services of the National Library of South Africa Ebrahim Kenny, reading room official of the Western Cape Archives and Records Service Town Lesley Hart, manager at Manuscripts & Archives Department, University of Cape Town Santie de Jongh, archivist at Documentation Centre for Music, University of Stellenbosch Cape of Finally, I wish to thank my wife, Anna-Marie, for her loving support, encouragement and pa- tience shown during the period of my studies. University iv Abstract This thesis profiles the conductors of the Cape Municipal Orchestra since its inception in 1914 until the resignation of David Tidboald in 1965. After the introductory Chapter 1, Chapter 2 includes a historic review of the period before 1914. It also highlights the influences leading towards the inauguration of the Cape Munici- pal Orchestra. Chapters 3-7 discuss the permanent conductors who conducted between 1914 and 1954. The following list extends from the dates of their first concerts up to their resignations, or up to the date of their final concerts: Theo Wendt (from 28 February 1914 to 30 September 1924: a period of about 10 years). Leslie Heward (from 17 July 1924 to 31 May 1926:Town a period of about 2 years). William Pickerill (from 5 May 1927 to 12 October 1946: a period of about 19 years). Geoffrey Miller as Associate Conductor (from 31 October 1946 to 19 Febru- ary 1948: a period of nearly two years). Cape Enrique Jordá (from 19 Februaryof 1948 to 31 December 1953: a period of nearly five years). Assistant and guest conductors are discussed within these chapters. Chapter 8 discusses guest conductors from January 1954 until June 1960. Here they are organised chronologically ac- cording to their first appearances. Chapter 9 deals with the period of David Tidboald’s conductorship (from 20 August 1960 to 1 July 1965). University The concluding remarks of Chapter 10 briefly touch on such aspects as the number of premi- ères, recurrence of works mentioned in this thesis, and the guest conducting system. An index of all conductors mentioned in this thesis is included at the end. v Table of Contents Compulsory declaration…………………………………………………………………... ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….. iii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………… iv Editorial note……………………………………………………………………………… viii Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………….. x Chapter 1 Introduction……………………………………………………… 1 Chapter 2 Orchestral activities before 1914……………………………….. 5 Chapter 3 Theo Wendt……………………………………………………… 15 3.1 The CMO’s first year…………………………………….. 18 3.2 The period during WWI………………………………….. 24 3.3 The period after WWI……………………………………. 26 3.4 Wendt’s resignation………………………………………. 33 3.5 Wendt’s other achievements………………………………Town 35 3.6 Wendt’s conducting and last years……………………….. 36 Chapter 4 Leslie Heward……………………………………………………. 43 4.1 The British tour and financial difficulties………………… 46 4.2 Heward’s conducting Capeand resignation …………………….. 49 Chapter 5 William Pickerill………………………………………………… 53 5.1 Pickerill’s initialof years ……………………………………. 55 5.2 The Great Depression…………………………………….. 63 5.3 Challenges and highlights………………………………… 66 5.4 WWII……………………………………………………… 74 5.5 Pickerill’s last years………………………………………. 77 5.6 Ill-health and resignation…………………………………. 78 Chapter 6 UniversityGeoffrey Miller………………………………………………….. 81 6.1 The Royal visit and Miller’s ill-health……………………. 89 6.2 Miller’s retirement………………………………………… 91 Chapter 7 Enrique Jordá……………………………………………………. 96 7.1 Initial successes……………………………………….….. 100 7.2 Initiatives and tours……………………………………….. 102 7.3 Highlights…………………………………………………. 107 7.4 Guest conductors………………………………………….. 110 7.5 The Van Riebeeck Festival……………………………….. 112 7.6 Financial difficulties and Jordá’s resignation…………….. 116 vi Chapter 8 Guest conductors between 1954 and 1960……………………… 122 8.1 Walter Swanson…………………………………………… 122 8.2 Edward Dunn……………………………………………… 127 8.3 Percival Kirby…………………………………………….. 137 8.4 Erik Chisholm…………………………………………….. 140 8.5 Edgar Cree………………………………………………… 146 8.6 Frits Schuurman………………………………………….. 149 8.7 Pièrre Colombo…………………………………………… 153 8.8 Basil Cameron…………………………………………….. 154 8.9 Hugo Rignold…………………………………………….. 156 8.10 Willem van Otterloo……………………………………… 163 8.11 George Weldon…………………………………………… 165 8.12 Clarence Raybould……………………………………..… 173 8.13 George Hurst………………………………………………Town 176 8.14 Piero Gamba………………………………………….…… 180 8.15 Anatole Fistoulari…………………………………………. 183 8.16 Anthony Collins……………………………………...…… 186 8.17 Charles Groves……………………………………….……Cape 188 8.18 Leo Quayle………………………………………...……… 194 8.19 Anton Hartmanof………………………………….………… 197 8.20 Jeremy Schulman…………………………………….…… 204 8.21 Charles Mackerras………………………………………… 205 8.22 Franz Litschauer……………………………………..…… 210 8.23 Minas Christian…………………………………………… 212 8.24 Mátyás Seiber………………………………………...…… 216 8.25 University Occasional appearances by guest conductors………….. 218 8.25.1 Joseph Manca…………………………………...… 218 8.25.2 Ernest Fleischmann……………………………….. 220 8.25.3 Keith Jewell……………………………………….. 221 8.25.4 Claude Brown…………………………………….. 222 8.25.5 Daniel Ulster……………………………………… 223 8.25.6 Alec Sherman……………………………………... 224 8.25.7 Stirling Robins…………………………………….. 225 8.25.8 Lawrence Leonard………………………………… 226 vii Chapter 9 David Tidboald…………………………………………………... 229 9.1 Initiatives and challenges…………………………………. 238 9.2 More guest artists…………………………………………. 243 9.3 Golden Jubilee, finances and the Woodman case………… 248 9.4 Guest conductors………………………………………… 256 9.4.1 Constantin Silvestri……………………………….. 256 9.4.2 David Littaur……………………………………… 259 9.4.3 Edgar Cosma……………………………………… 260 9.4.4 Arthur Fiedler……………………………..……… 261 9.4.5 Peter Erös……………………………………...….. 263 9.4.6 Anthony Morss……………………………………. 266 9.4.7 Michael Scott……………………………………… 268 9.4.8 Brian Buggy………………………………………. 269 Chapter 10 Concluding remarks……………………………………………..Town 270 References………………………………………………………………………..………. 274 1 General……………………………………………………………. 274 2 Electronic sources………………………………………………… 278 3 Minutes of the Orchestra CommitteeCape……………………………... 285 4 Newspapers: NLSA………………………………………………. 286 4.1 Die Burger…………………………………………………of 286 4.2 The Cape Argus…………………………………………… 286 4.3 Cape Times………………………………………..………. 287 4.4 Sunday Times……………………………………………… 287 Index of conductors………………….…………………………………………….……… 288 University viii Editorial note Titles of works are given as they appeared in the programmes, newspaper articles and/or ad- vertisements. Where English titles were used in parentheses, they were quoted as such. Hence Stravinsky’s The Firebird suite or L’oiseau de feu were both found. It was not until the 1960s that both the original and English translations of works were mostly included in the pro- grammes. Towards 1965 the English translations were gradually phased out in favour of orig- inal titles. In the case of spelling mistakes or uncertainties Grove Music Online or Oxford Music Online was consulted. Exact dates for all quotations of the minutes of Orchestra Committee and newspaper articles are listed in the references under the year within which they occurred. To list all of these in- dividually would have been too cumbersome. In general, Kate L Turabian’s manual1 was used for all the referencing, except from Grove Music Online and Oxford Music Online, for which The Chicago ManualTown of Style, as suggest- ed by Grove, was employed. Newspaper articles were quoted as printed. Where they appeared more than once, the refer- ence was abbreviated when its occurrences came onCape the following page or two, but noted in full if repeated later. Page numbers for newspaper articles are omitted according to the rec- ommendation of The Chicago Manual of Styleof.2 Where given, the names, pen-names or ini- tials of the critics, reporters or columnists were included in the notes. The day of the week was included for almost all concerts. Unless otherwise indicated, all composers are mentioned