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 Wigmore Hall 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 London 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 pianist Harold Bauer, and explore our Wigmore Hall out of the archive’s boxes, this long association with Steinway Pianos. 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 Winterreise 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 Arthur Nikisch. 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 piano 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.