ARCHIVE SPECIAL ISSUE

PLUS SUMMER IN CONTEXT: SCHUMANN STRING QUARTETS 2018 BACKSTAGE STORIES: STEINWAY STANDARDS EXPLORE: EARLY MUSIC AT THE HALL FRIENDS OF OF FRIENDS IN PICTURES: ARTISTS’ TRIBUTES Home to tens of thousands EMILY WOOLF, OUR GUEST of programmes, thousands of photographs, press cuttings, EDITOR, WRITES This edition of The Score is a welcome chance for us to correspondence and more, the invite our Friends into the archive, and to Wigmore Hall archive offers us a share with you some of the treasures we have found window into the prestigious (and while exploring its shelves! sometimes surprising!) history of this unique and beloved venue. As well as an overview of early music at Wigmore Hall since the arrival of the first viola da gamba here in 1902, we dig into the performance The process of building a catalogue of our history of Schumann’s lyrical string quartets on our stage and the holdings has also been an extraordinary journey of company they kept; Nigel Simeone writes on the importance of the discovery for us – one which has helped shine a postwar Concerts de Musique Française and the shape of French music at light on the story of concert life in over the the Hall; we take a look back over a few of our more outstanding song 117 years since the Hall opened in 1901. recitals; open up our enchanting collection of the papers of the violinist As part of our work to bring the history of Gertrud Hopkins and her brother, the Harold Bauer, and explore our Wigmore Hall out of the archive’s boxes, this long association with Steinway . There is much to discover in this special edition of The Score looks at some ways extraordinary archive and we hope that this issue will give you a taster of in which our 2018/19 season continues a legacy our valuable collection and an insight into the Hall’s heritage. that goes back over a hundred years. I have asked Emily Woolf and Paula Best, our Archivists, to give you, our Friends, an insight into the Hall’s heritage and the collections it holds. Paula, who has been with the Hall since 1985, is retiring at the end of this Season. She will LEFT & COVER PICTURE ‘Dich, teure Halle’: always be an authority on the Hall’s history, and Jessye Norman’s charming dedication to she has seen a great deal of change since she Wigmore Hall using Elisabeth’s words from started here as a backstage usher 33 years ago. Wagner’s Tannhäuser. Jessye Norman made She is an integral part of the Wigmore family and her debut here at the Hall in 1980, opening we look forward to welcoming her at the Hall at that season and later launching the 1988 season and participating in our centenary important events and many concerts, too. Renewed celebrations in 2001. She was awarded the thanks to Paula, and in particular to Emily for guest prestigious RPS Gold medal in May 2018, editing this very special issue which I hope you will and her touching recognition of the Hall’s all enjoy. special nature joins those of many other artists in our pull-out insert this issue.

Noticeable absences in our collection tell their own tale – we are still missing many programmes across the 1950s and 1960s, a time when the rationing of materials meant simpler programmes which were more likely to be repurposed than preserved for posterity. If you have Director any programmes you would like to donate, please get in touch with Emily [email protected]

ABOVE Celebration 20th Birthday cake for the Rubinstein Circle LEFT Alina Ibragimova and Cédric Tiberghien cutting the cake RIGHT (CLOCKWISE FROM BACK) The Development/Friends Office: Isabel Harvey-Kelly, Penne Wallis, Cassey North and Fleur Noble Johnston (photo taken by Marie-Hélène Osterweil)

2 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Kathleen Ferrier performing ‘Erlkönig’, ‘Gretchen am Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten performing Schubert’s Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel making his London recital debut Spinnrad’ and ‘Die junge Nonne’ among other Schubert on 29 November 1964, after more than twenty at Wigmore Hall in 1994, although his first appearance on songs in 1948, returning to the Wigmore stage where she years appearing together at Wigmore Hall, beginning our stage was in 1988 where he won the Kathleen Ferrier had auditioned for the agents Ibbs and Tillett in 1942. with the world première of Britten’s Seven Sonnets of Memorial Scholarship, and he had also taken part in a Michelangelo at a Boosey & Hawkes Concert in 1942. Songmakers’ Almanac tribute to Heinrich Heine in 1990. IN FOCUS: SONG RECITALS Spanish soprano Victoria De Los Angeles making her London debut at the Hall in March 1950, in a programme featuring Monteverdi, Schubert, Strauss, Granados and Falla. She would perform here again many times, including a concert in 1980 celebrating the 30th anniversary of this debut.

The first concert at the then Bechstein Hall by the German baritone Olaf Bär performing Die schöne Müllerin The London recital debut of the stellar Italian soprano eminent Lieder singer Elena Gerhardt, accompanied in the first of three unforgettable Schubert recitals he Cecilia Bartoli, the first of many appearances at Wigmore by . In this early recital from 1906 she gave in February 1988. Winterreise was to follow two Hall. This 1989 programme included arias by Paisiello, sang works by Schubert, Brahms, Wolf and Strauss, all days later, with the third concert a selection of some of Vivaldi, Mozart and Rossini. composers she would return to again and again in her the composer’s best-loved songs. many concerts at the Hall over the following 40 years. FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 3 STEINWAY STANDARDS It takes an expert team to keep Wigmore Hall’s Steinway concert grands in top order. Andrew Stewart speaks to the highly skilled technicians whose work provides the perfect platform for hundreds of performances each season. Trademarks rarely become synonymous with their products. Those that do stand or fall on quality. Steinway’s universal recognition and reputation for excellence run far beyond the music world, fixed in the minds of millions as the gold standard for grand pianos. While other concert instruments are available, as impartial commentators might say, they must all be measured against the Hamburg- built Steinway Model D. Wigmore Hall owns three of Steinway’s flagship grands. The ceaseless demands of performers and performances require technical care When Haefliger returned for his recital eight in the morning and working on the of the kind found in Formula One pit lanes the following week, Nigel Polmear, one piano for two hours.” If certain notes sound and aircraft maintenance hangars. It’s all of Steinway’s most experienced tuner- brighter than others, Steinway’s tuners will part of the service provided to Wigmore technicians, tuned the piano that morning needle the instrument’s hammers to soften Hall by Steinway’s dedicated team of and checked it again before the performance. their felt or make other subtle changes. piano technicians. “Andreas sent me a text message after his “The goal is to keep things in good order. All The Formula One analogy is not lost concert to say it went very well and that he that matters is that the artist can perform on Ulrich Gerhartz, Director Concert really enjoyed the piano,” notes Gerhartz. without worrying about the instrument.” and Artist Services for Steinway & Sons “That shows the involvement we have with In addition to the almost daily tuning London. Preparing a Model D for optimal the artist and with the Hall.” A member of round and minor adjustments, Steinway & performance, he notes, involves responsive the Steinway technical team, he adds, will Sons deliver a rolling piano maintenance teamwork and close consultation with tune the instrument before every Wigmore programme at Wigmore Hall. The latter individual artists. Andreas Haefliger’s recent Hall performance. “When you have crazy recognises the needs of regular visitors, Wigmore Hall recital, for instance, crowned days with a morning, afternoon and evening finding time between rehearsals and by Beethoven’s mighty ‘Hammerklavier’ concert, we are there three times to check concerts to ensure the piano is as they Sonata, was prefaced by a painstaking the piano.” like it. “It’s a well-timed combination of process of adjustment and regulation Dealing with Wigmore Hall’s ‘crazy maintenance, which involves regulation intended to give the performer exactly what days’ is part of the tuner’s lot. “We know of the action and voicing [or adjusting the he wanted. “He felt the piano was too bright from experience how to work within those piano’s sound quality] as well as tuning,” for his last recital, so we stayed in touch confines,” says Nigel Polmear, who has comments Ulrich Gerhartz. to plan the piano preparation for his next worked for Steinway & Sons since the mid- When not in use, Wigmore Hall’s resident concert,” Gerhartz recalls. “I went to the Hall 1980s. “The Hall’s backstage staff are very Model D Steinways live beneath the stage. the Friday before the May bank holiday to helpful and want to give us as much time The main instrument was chosen in do maintenance work on the piano. Andreas as possible. The starting point is always December 2014 by Igor Levit at Steinway’s flew to London to test the instrument on the to make sure the tuning is solid and stable, Hamburg factory. It carries around 90 per bank holiday and was happy with it.” which usually means getting to the Hall at cent of the Wigmore Hall piano workload.

4 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Several artists, Sir András Schiff, Graham Steinway and Sons, established in New Johnson, Julius Drake and York City in March 1853, began by producing among them, favour the Hall’s 1980 Steinway. fine square pianos at the rate of around one The venerable instrument, affectionately per week. As their reputation in America known as ‘The Old Lady’, has been rebuilt soared, Steinway instruments, grands and in Hamburg and received several major uprights, were soon in high demand in overhauls in recent years. Geoffrey Parsons . The firm established its second and Malcolm Martineau originally chose it for factory in Hamburg in 1880, five years after the Hall. “Although it’s harder to tune than the opening the 400-seat Steinway Hall as new instrument, its unique sound and feel are part of its London showrooms and sales popular with certain performers,” comments department. The original Steinway Hall, Nigel Polmear. A third Model D, selected by based at 15 & 17 Lower Seymour Street Sir András Schiff in 2007, is kept at nearby (later incorporated into Wigmore Street), Steinway Hall and transported to Wigmore closed in 1924, reopened the following Street for concerts requiring two pianos. year as Grotrian Hall, and was destroyed “The 1980 instrument would be too fragile during a German incendiary raid in 1943. to be used seven days a week,” observes Steinway’s London headquarters moved to Ulrich Gerhartz. “Older players are used to nearby George Street and finally settled in its sound projection, which is different from Marylebone Lane in 1982. the more modern pianos. That’s why we When Steinway’s esteemed German rivals reserve ‘The Old Lady’ for them.” Wigmore opened Bechstein Hall in 1901, Wigmore Hall’s workhorse Model D, he adds, can Street was already a byword for the best in withstand the forces generated in recitals piano making. Nationalist sentiments during of heavyweight Romantic repertoire and the First World War forced Bechstein Hall’s rarely needs more than tuning afterwards. closure. After the venue reopened as Wigmore “If you had to work on a piano for four hours Hall in 1917, Steinway became the principal after something like Andreas Haefliger’s supplier of its grand pianos. The relationship ‘Hammerklavier’, then Wigmore couldn’t has deepened over the past century and offer the programme it does. They’ll start stands today as a vital ingredient in the Hall’s rehearsals at ten the following morning for artistic success. “It’s a team effort,” notes a lunchtime recital and rehearse after that Ulrich Gerhartz. “Steinway London is unique for the evening, which leaves only enough in having the infrastructure to provide leading time for tuning before each performance. players with what they want. It relies on the Our performance pianos are nurtured by a free flow of communication between us, technical team and rebuilt as needed. It’s like artists and Wigmore Hall and support for the the difference between a Formula One race younger members of the team. Our passion is car and a small hatchback that’s used for to provide a service to music that few people trips to Sainsbury’s twice a week!” see but everyone can hear.”

TOP Nigel Polmear

BELOW House Managers Tarek Al-Shubbak and Natalie Wallace moving the piano from stage to below stage

ABOVE Nigel Polmear LEFT Ulrich Gerhartz

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 5 CETTE ILLUSTRE MAISON: AN OVERVIEW OF FRENCH MUSIC AT WIGMORE HALL NIGEL SIMEONE

French music has been part of the fabric of Wigmore Hall since the early 1900s, when French composers were regular visitors to our stage. The Hall’s first decade saw many writers of both mélodie and stop by – from Chaminade and d’Harledot to Fauré and Ravel. Saint-Saëns came in July. 1906 to play both his sonatas with Joseph Hollmann, while two months earlier, Reynaldo Hahn gave a concert of his songs with the baritone Léon Rennay and even sang two of them himself.

Fauré appeared for the first time in March 1908 performing an extensive programme of his songs with the mezzo-soprano Jeanne Raunay, including La bonne chanson and three songs from the cycle La Chanson d’Ève which was, at the time, still a work in progress. In the same concert, Fauré played his Ballade for two pianos with Mrs Carl Derenberg, better known as Ilona Eibenschütz, a pianist adored by Brahms. The following year, two of Fauré’s most brilliant pupils, Ravel and Florent Schmitt, appeared at Bechstein Hall playing their own works. Highlights of this concert – Ravel’s first appearance in – included Shéhérazade sung by Jane Bathori, and songs from Histoires naturelles sung by Bathori and her husband, Pierre-Émile Engel, that Ravel had dedicated to them. Ravel returned in 1913 for a programme including his Quartet (played by the English String Quartet, with Frank Bridge on the viola) and the Introduction et Allegro, which

the composer conducted. 12 July 1906, Saint-Saëns in a programme of his Leading performers of French music also own works with cellist Joseph Hollmann came to Bechstein Hall before the Great War,

6 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 CETTE ILLUSTRE MAISON: AN OVERVIEW OF FRENCH MUSIC AT WIGMORE HALL NIGEL SIMEONE

7 December 1907, a concert of ‘Modern French Music’ including performances Concerts de musique française programme of three concerts dedicated to “Les Six” by Ricardo Viñes, a friend of Debussy and Ravel who later taught Poulenc

none more eminent than the Spanish pianist belongs to a receding age in which that Messiaen, Roussel and Schmitt. Regular Ricardo Viñes. In 1906, he had given the subtle thing sensibility was considered one performers included the singers Sophie première of Ravel’s Miroirs and his Bechstein of the qualities of music. … Miss Teyte sings Wyss and Peter Pears, and Louis Hall debut on 7 December 1907 included the with an art which conceals art altogether.’ Kentner and as well as Teyte most flamboyant piece from the set, ‘Alborada During the Second World War, building on and Britten. del gracioso’. Viñes was back in April 1913 this reputation and as one of the few concert After the Liberation of Paris, French with Jane Bathori to perform songs by Ravel, venues which remained open throughout the musicians were able to resume foreign Grovlez and Debussy. The Musical Times period, Wigmore Hall became an important travel and the Concerts de musique française reported that this ‘had the fascination that is centre for French music. The Concerts de reflected this: on 7 January 1945, Francis always exercised by modern French music musique française promoted by the Free Poulenc and Pierre Bernac gave a recital interpreted by artists who understand it.’ The French government (later by the French of Duparc, Fauré, Debussy and Poulenc Australian pianist William Murdoch made a Embassy) were organised by Tony Mayer and others appearing in 1945–7 included speciality of French music, and his concert and Felix Aprahamian, and they amounted to the pianists Monique Haas, and Yvonne in 1915 of ‘Modern French works’ (Ravel, an encyclopedic survey of French vocal and Lefébure; violinists Jacques Thibaud and Debussy, Séverac and Alkan) opened with instrumental music. Maggie Teyte appeared Ginette Neveu (who played Poulenc’s Violin one of the first performances anywhere in the first concert (25 June 1942) Sonata with the composer); cellists Maurice of Debussy’s Berceuse héroïque, written for Debussy, and in the second concert, the Gendron and Pierre Fournier; the Calvet and King Albert’s Book, a tribute ‘to the Belgian baritone was Gaston Richer, a member of Loewenguth Quartets; and singers such as King and people’. De Gaulle’s Free French staff who appeared Irène Joachim and Gérard Souzay. The much-beloved soprano Maggie Teyte on the stage wearing his military uniform The series reached its 50th concert in first appeared at the Hall in 1909, and Alfred to sing Histoires naturelles. That same October 1947, and continued until October Cortot was a regular visitor in the inter-war year, an ensemble including Dennis Brain 1967. Highlights from the 1950s included years. On 6 November 1937, they appeared and Benjamin Britten (on celesta) gave a appearances by Poulenc, Milhaud and together for a Debussy programme of songs programme of music by the composers of Messiaen, who played Visions de l’Amen and piano Préludes. Neville Cardus wrote Les Six under Reginald Goodall, and other with Yvonne Loriod. Another important in the Manchester Guardian that ‘Debussy composers performed in 1942–4 included performance at Wigmore Hall was put on by interpreted by Maggie Teyte and Cortot Caplet, Chausson, Dukas, Duruflé, D’Indy, the London Contemporary Music Centre in

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 7 May 1947: the British première of Messiaen’s Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine conducted by Roger Désormière with Yvonne Loriod, Ginette Martenot and Yvette Grimaud as the instrumental soloists. Several composers were in the audience (among them Tippett, Lambert, Rawsthorne, Panufnik and Elisabeth Lutyens) as was the poet Louis MacNeice. French music continued to form an essential part of the Wigmore Hall’s programming after the demise of the Concerts de musique française, with French song finding itself especially suited to the Hall’s warm and responsive atmosphere. In 1979, Régine Crespin gave a concert of Debussy, Fauré and Satie, and later that year Elly Ameling launched the very first of the Hall’s ‘themed’ seasons: a Fauré Series, devised by William Lyne, which was a resounding success. On 9 February 1980, Victoria de los Angeles celebrated the 30th anniversary of her London debut with Fauré, Hahn, Debussy and Ravel, and in December 1988, Gérard Souzay – a veteran of the Concerts de musique française – returned to give a concert for his 70th birthday. Throughout the 1980s, some of the most interesting programmes of French song were those given by the Songmakers’ Almanac devoted to single composers, among them Duparc, Chabrier, Hahn, Poulenc, Debussy, Gounod, Fauré, and Ravel. French chamber music flourished during the same period thanks, above all, to concerts by the Nash Ensemble. Among those rejuvenating this music for the new millennium are Clara Mouriz and Christopher Maltman in the world of song and pianist Bertrand Chamayou, who brought his expertise to an all- Ravel programme in 2015 and returns later this year in a concert featuring Ravel’s Miroirs and pieces by Saint-Saëns.

Nigel Simeone has written extensively on French music. His publications include French Voyage à Paris: The Songmakers’ Almanac in a homage to Francis Poulenc Music in Wartime London (Bangor, 2005) – a study of the Concerts de musique francaise – as well as three books on Messiaen and Paris: A Musical Gazetteer (Yale, 2000).

This remarkable legacy continues in our 2018/19 season, where we explore the turn-of-the-century French fascination with orientalism and travel to the far reaches of the globe in our forthcoming Ravel Series. On 15 September, Mary Bevan and Dame and James Henk Neven, with Joseph Middleton Newby join forces on 16 November in and the Aurora , will tour L’Invitation au voyage, a programme of ancient cultures and poetic decadence French adventures to ancient Greece, in a concert of music by Ravel and Asia and the animal kingdom. Ravel’s his contemporaries. The programme mighty Shéhérazade and charming includes Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle Histoires naturelles were both heard for voice and string quartet, regularly on the Wigmore stage in Ravel’s own performed at the Hall since 1907, and concert of April 1909, but there are less Fauré’s La bonne chanson, first brought familiar visitors too – though published to Wigmore Hall audiences a hundred in 1898, de Séverac’s Les hiboux may years ago accompanied by the have been sung here for the very first composer himself. time in 2018. Following the tradition begun with that first ever concert series here in 1979, the coming season also sees French chamber music in the spotlight in Steven Isserlis’s Fauré/Schumann Project – a series of concerts in which he will examine works by both these composers that deserve greater recognition, in the company of distinguished fellow musicians.

LEFT Dame Sarah Connolly

8 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 ‘The wonderful Wigmore Hall’: 117 years of tributes Since its opening as the Bechstein Hall in May 1901, artists have been moved by the warmth, atmosphere and friendliness of the Hall and its staff – and the proof lies in an extraordinary collection of dedicated photographs. Brought out of the archive to be seen together for the first time are some of the most touching and evocative of these, where Busoni and Godowsky, Supervia and Schwarzkopf join today’s leading artists – as well as some lesser-known figures who happened to write something lovely!

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1. Alice Coote Dear, Unique Wigmore…most 14. Endellion String Quartet To all our friends 28. Menahem Pressler To Wigmore Hall, which special of all the halls in the world! who make Wigmore Hall so special I always loved! 2. Sir András Schiff To dear Wigmore Hall, a 15. To dear William and the 29. Olaf Bär To the most wonderful place for perfect place for intimate music-making and wonderful Wigmore Hall, with love and musicians – Wigmore Hall a real inspiration. thanks for so many musical memories 30. Robert Holl In dear remembrance of many 3. Angela Hewitt For the Wigmore Hall – the 16. Gerald Finley So many fond memories here recitals in the wonderful Wigmore Hall for most special recital venue in the world! Thank at the Wigmore such a distinguished audience you for your loyal support over so many years. 17. Gerald Moore To dear Wigmore Hall where I 31. Peter Schreier & Sir András Schiff For 4. Astra Desmond In appreciation of the have had so many happy times! the Wigmore Hall, with fondest memories beautiful acoustics & congenial atmosphere 18. Gérard Souzay For the wonderful Wigmore Hall of Schubert of the Wigmore Hall & staff. 19. Godowsky A token of my admiration for the 32. Soile Isokoski There is no place like 5. Barbara Bonney To William and the artistic Bechstein Hall, in which I hope to WIGMORE HALL – UNIQUE! Wigmore, my musical home! play again on many occasions 33. Steven Osborne There is nowhere to beat 6. Brigitte Fassbaender The Wigmore! My very 20. Graham Johnson To the only begetter the Wigmore Hall! favourite Konzert-saal! of song recitals in London, the W. H. All 34. Guilhermina Suggia In memory of many 7. Ferrucio Busoni To dear Wigmore Hall 18 happiness and eternity happy recollections of Wigmore Hall! years later. 21. Henryk Szeryng To the venerable Wigmore 35. Conchita Supervia A souvenir of happy 8. Christine Brewer To my dear friends at the Hall, a true sanctuary which has launched evenings in the beautiful Wigmore Hall! Wigmore, Making music in this beautiful hall the career of thousands of artists! 36. Takács Quartet To John and our dear brings me such JOY! 22. Isolde Menges In remembrance of my friends at the Wigmore; this is always our 9. Joyce DiDonato To the magical & mystical first recital at the “Bechstein Hall” with its favorite hall to come back to Wigmore Hall – Thank you for the glorious beautiful acoustic properties 37. Jacques Thibaud Toute ma reconnaissance privilege of making & sharing music here! 23. Jessye Norman Dich, teure Halle, grüss’ ich! pour l’acceuil si aimable reçu à chacun de 10. Dorothy Gordon For Wigmore Hall the 24. Murray Lambert In appreciation of the mes concerts dans cette illustre maison “wonderland” for all singers unfailing kindness & courtesy which I always 38. Trevor Pinnock To John Gilhooly & the staff 11. Elisabeth Leonskaja For Wigmore Hall receive from my friends at Wigmore Hall of the Wigmore Hall with happy memories of where I’m always so excited and where I 25. Lindsay String Quartet With many thanks this wonderful palace of music feel at home for letting us play in the best Hall 39. Xenia Prochorowa To Wigmore Hall, as 12. Elisabeth Schumann In remembrance of 26. Mark Padmore What a pleasure & privilege a remembrance of my first recital. It was my first appearance at the wonderful it is to sing in the Wigmore Hall indeed a great pleasure to play in such a Wigmore Hall gentle atmosphere. 27. May Harrison A souvenir of many happy 13. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf To the Wigmore memories of the Wigmore Hall Hall, where I gave my first “Lieder-Abend” in London! With happy memories SCHUMANN STRING QUARTETS To trace the history of Not that the wayward nature of this path were often significant: the Bohemian String Schumann’s three string quartets was unique to Wigmore Hall. Schumann’s Quartet, who in 1902 brought Op. 41 No. 3 quartets, written in 1842 and published to the Hall; Joseph Joachim’s eponymous in performance at Wigmore together in 1843 as Op. 41 Nos. 1-3, were quartet in 1906; the St Petersburg, London Hall is to follow an erratic and for many years regarded as less compelling and English string quartets in the years to works in comparison with the trailblazing follow. The young composer Frank Bridge sometimes rocky path – that of compositions that had inspired them. In could also be found playing the viola in a set of chamber works slowly 1901, when Gabriele Wietrowetz and her Op. 41 Nos. 2 and 3 with the Marie Motto finding their place among the quartet played the String Quartet in A minor Quartet in 1905 and 1910. Op. 41 No. 1 for the first time at the Hall, The 1920s at Wigmore Hall saw a new shifting landscape of string these poetic and charming pieces were hard vogue for French chamber music, with quartet repertoire over the pressed to hold their own in the company of quartets by Albert Roussel and César course of the twentieth century Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms and Dvořák. Franck joining Debussy’s perennial String During the first two decades of concerts Quartet in G minor Op. 10 and the even into the new millennium. at Wigmore Hall, which saw those four greater popularity of Ravel’s String Quartet composers take their place at the centre in F. During this decade, the Flonzaley and of a core canon of repertoire, Schumann’s Léner quartets were the only performers to quartets were played only a handful of bring the Schumann string quartets to the times, with no performances at all between Wigmore stage more than twice, with seven ABOVE The Léner Quartet, early champions 1914 and 1920. Despite the scarcity of these performances between them over the course of the Schumann string quartets appearances, the names attached to them of the 1920s. Both these quartets made

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 9 early recordings of the Schumann works, company, with a galvanising influx of and the Flonzaley Quartet, a frequent visitor compositions from Eastern Europe and to Wigmore Hall who described it as “an Russia as well as a new wave of works by ideal hall for quartet-playing”, remained their young British composers. This changing champion in terms of numbers until their landscape introduced or re-introduced four performances were equalled by the Wigmore Hall audiences to string quartets Brodsky Quartet in the late 1980s. by Shostakovich, Borodin, Josef Suk and By the mid-1930s, the fashion for French Zdeněk Fibich, as well as early quartets quartets was tailing off, and string quartet by Tippett and Britten. The renewed repertoire at the Hall was crystallising enthusiasm for contemporary music around the Germanic and traditional, with continued to grow in the aftermath of the a number of Beethoven series, the ever- war, and by the late 1960s, string quartets present Haydn, Brahms and Schubert by Berio, Cage, Penderecki, Lutosławski holding strong, and the later arrival of and Cornelius Cardew were leading an Mozart among the canon now firmly settled. experimental charge that in some ways Schumann might seem a natural member of left very little room for the comparatively this company, and indeed the early 1930s conventional. saw performances of all three quartets, On 22 November 1969, the German including the more rarely-heard Op. 41 No. 2 Benthien Quartet appeared as part of in a concert by the Busch Quartet as part of the London Recital Series, performing their annual concert series. The following Schumann’s String Quartet in A Op. 41

year, Feri Roth’s eponymous quartet played ABOVE Three concerts celebrating the No. 3 – the first mention we have in our the String Quartet in A minor on 13 October centenary of Schumann’s birth, including archive of these quartets appearing at all 1936 in a concert that was to be the last Frank Bridge and the Marie Motto Quartet since 1936. Nor did this spark an upsurge in recorded hearing of any of Schumann’s performing Op. 41 No. 2 on 27 April sightings; three performances across 1970 three string quartets on the Wigmore Hall and 1971 prefaced another period of silence, stage for over thirty years. although this one coincided with an apparent The Second World War upended concert moratorium on string quartets in general, repertoire across the board, and here the with 1975 featuring only two string quartet string quartet was no exception. While the concerts of any kind. pillars of Schubert, Haydn and Beethoven However, the late 1970s marked the remained strong throughout, the familiar beginning of a new lease of life for sounds of the eighteenth and nineteenth Schumann’s quartets, with performances century that had formed such a vast part by the Lindsay and Aeolian quartets and, BELOW ‘An ideal hall for quartet-playing’: the of programming in the years leading up to Flonzaley Quartet, who made these quartets on 29 April 1979, the young Takács Quartet 1939 found themselves in more unusual part of their regular repertoire playing Op. 41 No. 3 in their Wigmore

10 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 24 July 1978, the Lindsay String Quartet perform Op. 41 No. 3 during the Wigmore Summer Festival

Hall debut as winners of the International explore each of the works in Op. 41 in The second concert on 22 February 2019 String Quartet Competition. From there, a both period and contemporary contexts. will take in works by Purcell and Haydn and steady climb through the 1980s included For the first concert they are joined by will also feature a new composition by Sally multiple performances by the Brodsky regular collaborator Jonathan Biss in Beamish, inspired by Op. 41 No. 1. With the Quartet and a 1989 series of the complete Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat Op. third concert in the series a similar Op. 41 by the Chilingirian Quartet. By this 44, heard regularly at Wigmore Hall since journey between the quartets’ past and time, the silence of the mid-70s was long it was first performed here in 1905 by the future, it’s clear that the potential of these forgotten, with string quartet concerts Wessely String Quartet. sometime overlooked works is very much forming a fundamental part of Wigmore still on the rise. Hall’s programming. Though interest in Schumann’s quartets continues to grow throughout the 1990s, the turn of the millennium and the years since

have seen this increase exponentially. Since © Benjamin Ealovega 2000, the quartets have been performed a total of fifty-four times – only slightly fewer than the number of performances between 1901 and 2000. Artists guiding these works towards a place in the core repertoire have included the Ysaÿe, Belcea and Doric quartets. Since 2010, the Elias Quartet has championed the Schumann string quartets in both performance and recordings, with Op. 41 No. 1 recorded for Wigmore Live and Nos. 2 and 3 for Alpha Classics. On 28 September 2018, they will begin The Elias String Quartet who explore Schumann’s our Schumann String Quartet Series – quartets in context in three three concerts in which the quartet will recitals during 2018/19

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 11 RIGHT Harold Bauer with Jacques Thibaud and PRESERVING THE PAST THE GERTRUD HOPKINS COLLECTION PAULA BEST While the name Gertrud Hopkins may not be a very familiar one, she appeared at Wigmore Hall on a number of occasions between 1919 and 1924. Paula Best tells us more about an extraordinary personal archive donated to the Hall.

The viola player of the Ladies String Quartet, she seems to have been equally at home playing violin and piano: in March 1919, for example, she accompanied Lionel Tertis in a performance of Brahms’s Second Viola Sonata and in the same concert was the pianist in Franck’s Piano Quintet and a Mozart piano trio. Gertrud was also one of the sisters of the distinguished pianist Harold Bauer, and our archive was very fortunate to acquire Photo taken on 22 November 1922. List of players L to R: some papers from her estate recently ABOVE Front row: Sir Landon Ronald, Harold Bauer, Albert Sammons, Lionel Tertis which include a number of letters from her Middle row: Irene Scharrer, Myra Hess, Edith Churton, Gertrud Hopkins, brother, dating mainly from the 1930s and Evelyn Cooke, Dorothy Churton Back row: Eugene Cruft, Cedric Sharpe, 40s, concert programmes, manuscripts, and Raymond Jeremy, Cedric Bonvalot, Frederick Holding photographs of some of the great musicians they counted among their friends – a young Pablo Casals, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Achille Rivard and Jacques Thibaud among them. Family documents dating back to the late nineteenth century and a moving collection of messages of condolence on Bauer’s death from friends and fellow artists have enabled us to trace a personal, intimate and touching portrait of both Gertrud and Harold’s lives.

Although Gertrud didn’t have a performing A birthday postcard career to equal her brother’s, she taught sent to Harold and for a number of years at Dartington and Gertrud’s sister also established a ‘Music Circle’, a series of Ethel in 1904, signed by Hans informal concerts with many of the above Richter and Fritz great artists. In Harold Bauer, His Book, Bauer and Harriet Kreisler

12 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 Publicity material for Gertrud Hopkins One of the letters in the collection, from Bauer to his 22 November 1922: Harold Bauer, Gertrud Hopkins and sister ‘Gertie’ fellow musicians in a concert ‘for the pleasure of making music together as comrades’

describes these informal gatherings as the closest in spirit to the Beethoven Association Flyer for Hopkins’s Music of New York that he founded in 1919. Circle, with a list of some of the artists involved Harold Bauer gave his first recital at the Hall in June 1906 and continued to perform here regularly until 1913, after which he moved to the USA. However, he returned in 1922 to give solo recitals, as well as a chamber concert in which, along with Myra Hess and Irene Scharrer, he played Bach’s Concerto in C for three pianos and strings. The photo above was taken in the Green Room on the day of this concert – 22 November 1922. Bauer’s final performances at the Hall were on 6 & 12 June 1929. He spent the rest of his life in America where he became an influential teacher and editor. Many of the letters in the collection given to us were written when Bauer was undergoing a period of distress in his personal life, with the illness and subsequent death of his first wife Marie. They also capture some of the atmosphere of the time in the lead up to and during the Second World War, and the effect this growing shadow had on the lives of his friends and colleagues and his own musical sensibilities.

Unedited and unpublished, they give us an Birth certificate of extraordinary and unique view into both his Harold Bauer, 1873 professional and personal life, as well as providing invaluable context for the concerts ‘The best thing I have seen in recent compositions is Shostakowitsch’s 24 preludes for of his that took place here at the Hall. The piano, quite fascinating in their utter disregard of common musical decency. importance of looking beyond names and dates to see historical performances and I should probably like them less were I not personally infected to some extent by the musicians as living events, part of a prevailing notion that art, the good, must contain some kind of a “thrill” which, if not continuous musical landscape, should be pre-existent in the music should be put into its performance. one of the key tenets of any concert archive; Peacefulness and serenity don’t mean anything any more and it is becoming impossible this collection helps us to ensure that to identify oneself with the character of art of past times. I believe Beethoven’s music to Gertrud Hopkins and Harold Bauer’s legacy be immortal but when I play the Emperor Concerto out of doors to an audience of 10,000 will be preserved and carried forward, as I did last Sunday, I feel that something is being violated; what, I do not know.’ making them as much part of the future of From a letter to ‘Gertie’ dated 20 August 1935 Wigmore Hall as its past.

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 13 The overwhelming surge in popularity of all things early music that began following the Second World War might suggest that before that, the sounds of lute, harpsichord, viol et al were perhaps strangers to audiences at Wigmore Hall. EARLY MUSIC ABOVE An array of instruments as played by Michael and Doreen Muskett, AT WIGMORE HALL who appeared at the Hall in the 1970s As a venue known in the early twentieth century for its commitment to the Classical and Romantic, as well as a place one might go to hear premières of Stravinsky or Szymanowski, it’s true that performances of this earlier material were once few and far between at the Hall, and often took a different form to the kind of concerts held here today. But they were there, and the story of early music here begins with an unassuming but significant Wigmore Hall debut: hidden amongst the otherwise standard programme of a concert by composer-performer Ethel Barns and her husband Charles Phillips on 4 November 1902, the first appearance at the Hall by Hélène Dolmetsch, playing the viola da gamba. The Dolmetsch family would go on to become a leading name in early music throughout the twentieth century. Although works by composers who fall under the early music umbrella were being performed here and there in the Hall’s early 9 December 1908: La Société de Concerts Cover of the programme for the 1985 Early Music years as part of programmes covering all d’Instruments Anciens give one of the first early Centre Festival, which included performances by eras, there were no concerts dedicated music concerts at the Hall London Baroque and the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust recorder quartet to the period until 1908, with the first appearance here of the Société de Concerts

14 WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK | FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 d’Instruments Anciens. This group of revolutionising the recorder for the modern musicians, led by brothers Henri and Marcel age with a repertoire that encompassed as Casadesus, returned four more times that many new compositions as period pieces; year, and brought the works of Montéclair, and the Raymond Leppard Orchestra, Destouches and Philip Rosseter to Wigmore instrumental in the baroque revival that Hall for the first time, along with the first would continue into the next decade. known harpischord performance here. The 1960s and 70s saw the scope of True devotees of early music, responsible these concerts broaden dramatically, for some of the most significant efforts in bringing a wealth of historical works and bringing these works to light during the early instruments to our audiences for the first twentieth century, the Casadesus brothers time. Where before, the same core set of are now perhaps equally known for having instruments represented early music across forged their alleged discoveries of ‘lost’ the board, now concertgoers could come works by composers including Boccherini, to the Hall and rediscover the sound of the Handel, and CPE Bach. rebec, theorbo, virginals, crumhorn, nakers Forays into the fifteenth, sixteenth and and sackbut, among many others. A new seventeenth centuries continued to be made fashion for song and lute recitals following during the occasional concert in the rest of those given by artists like Alfred Deller in the the 1910s and 1920s. In 1921, Philip Wilson 1950s saw Peter Pears performing Dowland gave the first known song recital here to be and Morley, accompanied by Julian Bream, entirely accompanied by the harpsichord, during Wigmore Hall’s 75th anniversary the programme a list of now-familiar pieces: concert series in 1976. John Dowland’s ‘Fine knacks for ladies’; The late 1970s also saw the foundation of Thomas Campion’s ‘When to her lute Corinna the Early Music Centre, whose festival and sings’; ‘Since first I saw your face’, attributed associated concerts first came to Wigmore to Thomas Ford. Earlier that year, the Hall in 1977. These annual concerts brought Dame Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley organist and composer Frederick Bridge had together the finest vocal and instrumental presided over a lecture-recital which sought consorts and soloists in programmes that season include an exploration of the art of to illustrate the lives and works of ‘Three often educated audiences as much as they the arrangement on 28 October 2018, began English Lutenist Song-Writers’, focusing on entertained, with thematic evenings charting their Wigmore Hall career in 1977 Dowland, Campion and Rosseter. the lives of individual composers or the performing Biber and Bach; Les Arts During the late 1920s and the years milieu in which they wrote. This approach to Florissants, who return in January 2019, leading up to the outbreak of war, other the performance of early music was not just first played here as part of the Early Music significant names began to appear in our confined to these series; throughout the 70s, Centre Festival in 1983; Dame Emma Kirkby, roster of artists. 1926 saw the Hall debut of 80s and 90s, Wigmore Hall audiences were who will give her 70th birthday concert on the Chaplin Trio, who had been performing often transported to Monteverdi’s Venice, 28 February 2019, could be heard as part of what they often termed ‘ancient music’, Dowland’s Elizabethan England or the the ensemble The Consort of Musicke along sometimes accompanied by dances in fourteenth-century France of de Machaut with longtime performing partner Anthony period costume, since the early 1900s. The through programming that aimed to delve Rooley in 1979. With a renewed interest in following year, the legendary harpsichordist into the music’s historical, social and even early music drawing even larger audiences Wanda Landowska gave recitals of period philosophical context. today, the Hall remains a key port of call for piano and harpsichord music including Many of the names which arose during artists and ensembles old and new, and for works by William Byrd, Scarlatti and this period still appear today: The English those seeking innovative perspectives on Giles Farnaby, the first of several such Concert, whose appearances in the 18/19 this endlessly rewarding genre. performances that decade. 1932 brought the Dolmetsch family back to the Hall, with harpsichord and gamba pieces by Marais and François Couperin, played by Rudolph and Millicent Dolmetsch. Although there was not a great deal of early music performed during the Second World War itself, in its aftermath, many musicians and music-lovers began to feel an ever greater pull towards the music of the far past, and this most intimate of venues provided an ideal home for the wave of artists and ensembles springing up to share in this sense of nostalgia and exploration. Among those leading the charge at Wigmore Hall in the late 40s and 1950s were the ‘Memories of many pioneering harpsichordists Ralph Kirkpatrick happy recorder and and George Malcolm; Julian Bream, whose harpsichord recitals in the Wigmore Hall’: lute and recitals in the 1950s were Carl Dolmetsch with then unique and provided a template Joseph Saxby for the many to follow; Carl Dolmetsch,

FRIENDS OFFICE 020 7258 8230 | WWW.WIGMORE-HALL.ORG.UK 15 Autumn Events For families living Wigmore Hall’s renowned Learning with dementia… programme gives people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities opportunities Tuesday 16 October 10.30am – 1.30pm to take part in creative music making. Come and Sing

Alongside our extensive programmes Join us for a session of group singing, in the community, we offer a range of exploring a mixture of music old and new, events at Wigmore Hall itself, which followed by tea and coffee. No previous this autumn includes… experience needed, just an enthusiasm to sing! Free (book via 020 7258 8246 or For families… [email protected]) Saturday 15 September 11.00am – 12 noon Family Concert: Folk Up North For ages 5 plus Friday 9 November 3.00pm – 4.00pm Music for the Moment © Benjamin Ealovega Join the Donald Grant Quartet and presenter Lucy Drever for this concert Join us for this informal afternoon concert exploring Scottish folk music, featuring a with musicians from the Royal Academy of specially commissioned film projected live Music. You are warmly invited to join us for onstage, created by Emmy award winning tea and coffee from 2.30pm. cinematographer Oliver Wilkins. Free (book via 020 7258 8246 or at Children £10 Adults £12 [email protected])

Friday 28 September 11.00am and 12.30pm © Benjamin Ealovega For Crying Out Loud!

Hear outstanding performances by musicians For everyone… from the in this Saturday 20 October 11.00am – 12 noon concert for parents or carers and babies under 1 to enjoy together in a relaxed and Relaxed Concert: accommodating environment. Magnard Ensemble Adults £8.50 This concert is open to everyone and (babies come free) provides a special opportunity to explore music in an informal environment. For schools… © James Berry £5 Thursday 1 November 11.00am – 12 noon Tuesday 30 October 5.45 – 6.45pm Key Stage 2 Schools Concert: The King with Donkey Ears Bechstein Session – The Hermes Experiment Join the impeccably-coiffed Castalian String Quartet and hairy presenter Sam Glazer for Join us for our latest Bechstein Session, a morning of musical storytelling for Key as part of a new series of informal Stage 2 students and their teachers, inspired performances in the Bechstein Bar which by this traditional Somali folk tale. offer a platform for emerging artists.

© Thurstan Redding Children £4 £5 Accompanying Adults Free (ticket required)

… And much more! Visit www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/learning for full listings.

Director: John Gilhooly OBE, HonFRAM, HonRCM, HonFGS, HonFRIAM 36 Wigmore Street, London W1U 2BP www.wigmore-hall.org.uk Box Office Tel: 020 7935 2141