City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2020 International Influence on the Development and Reception of Cello Playing in England, 1870–1930: Robert Hausmann, Auguste Van Biene, and Guilhermina Suggia Hannah E. Collins The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3646 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND RECEPTION OF CELLO PLAYING IN ENGLAND, 1870–1930: ROBERT HAUSMANN, AUGUSTE VAN BIENE, AND GUILHERMINA SUGGIA by HANNAH E. COLLINS A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts, The City University of New York 2020 © 2020 HANNAH E. COLLINS All Rights Reserved ii International Influence on the Development and Reception of Cello Playing in England, 1870–1930: Robert Hausmann, Auguste Van Biene, and Guilhermina Suggia by Hannah E. Collins This manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts. ____________________ __________________________________________ Date Philip Ewell Chair of Examining Committee ____________________ __________________________________________ Date Norman Carey Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Norman Carey, advisor Edward Klorman, first reader Marcy Rosen Philip Ewell THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT International Influence on the Development and Reception of Cello Playing in England, 1870–1930: Robert Hausmann, Auguste Van Biene, and Guilhermina Suggia by Hannah E. Collins Advisor: Norman Carey The development of cello playing in England in the late nineteenth century was driven largely by the efforts of expatriate and visiting performers trained elsewhere. Performers from abroad, with the support and admiration of British institutions and audiences, elevated the technical level of cello playing and helped to increase the quality and quantity of solo repertoire being written and performed. They also expanded the degree of acceptance that British audiences held for the cello, both as a solo instrument and as an instrument that could be played in public by women. This study explores the impact that three influential cellists, Robert Hausmann (1852–1909), Auguste Van Biene (1849–1913), and Guilhermina Suggia (1885–1950), had on the development of cello playing in England through their personal and professional activities. Berlin-based cello professor Robert Hausmann, a close associate of Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim, made frequent extended visits to London over a period of forty years, performing the British premieres of countless chamber music works and forging fruitful relationships with British performers and composers. Dutch cellist Auguste Van Biene, after training in Belgium and launching a brief concert career in London, became a household name through his work as an actor-cellist in music hall dramas, giving thousands of performances on tours across all of Great Britain and around the world. Guilhermina Suggia, originally from iv Portugal and trained in Leipzig, lived in London for many years at the height of her career, establishing a visible presence as a glamorous, charismatic, and technically unrivalled soloist. The aim of this study is to draw a nuanced picture of the impact that these performers had on audiences and on other musicians in England. As performers, their choices of who to work with, what to program, where to play, and in what manner, affected what was expected and what was valued by the general public and by musical institutions. To assess the broad influence that these cellists had, this study investigates a wide range of sources including published scholarship, contemporaneous music journals, mainstream newspaper coverage from both London and smaller provincial centers, published music editions, essays, letters, iconography, and the limited available recordings of Van Biene and Suggia. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the faculty and staff at the CUNY Graduate Center, especially Norman Carey, Jacqueline Martelle, Philip Ewell, and Joseph Straus, for their guidance and encouragement throughout this degree program. I am grateful to Marcy Rosen for her inspiring mentorship and support during my time at CUNY. A special acknowledgement goes to Edward Klorman, who, even subsequent to his transition to a new position at McGill, continued to serve as my unofficial advisor for this research, providing inexplicably prompt and attentive feedback, as well as kind encouragement through the entire writing process. I am grateful to the administration and faculty at the University of Kansas School of Music, particularly Robert Walzel, Paul Laird, Colin Roust, and Eric Stomberg, for facilitating my ability to do this research and other elements of my degree work remotely. Thank you to Dorothy Glick Maglione for her editing assistance and to my students for motivating me to keep learning. I took great inspiration from the Transforming 19th Century Historically Informed Performance Summer Chamber Music Course at Oxford in 2017, especially conversations with course tutors Claire Holden and George Kennaway. Thank you to my trio-mates Nicholas DiEugenio and Mimi Solomon for traveling with me to explore this topic. I owe a debt of gratitude to the many well-maintained libraries and databases that were referenced in this project. Thank you to the staff of the British Library for scanning the script of The Broken Melody and for making the handwritten letters of Hausmann and Suggia available for in-person viewing; to Abbie Weinberg and Melanie Leung at the Folger Shakespeare Library for making digital copies of Auguste Van Biene’s handwritten letters available; and to the teams vi responsible for developing and maintaining the British Newspaper Archive, Trove, TimesMachine, the Times Digital Archive, and other online periodical resources. Thank you to my dear friends Rebecca Doggett, Brendan Miller, and Jennifer Chang for facilitating many trips to New York; to Solon Gordon for additionally performing music related to this project by Brahms, Stanford, and Van Biene with me; and to Michael Compitello for being the dream teammate and chief encouragement officer during relentlessly busy times. Thank you to my generous parents, sister, and brother-in-law for supporting and helping me in thousands of ways (especially my mother, who has the editing eyes of an eagle), and to my niece and nephew for energizing all of us with good humor and imagination. I would not have been able to complete this project without the patient understanding and unwavering confidence of Clara Lyon. We are lucky ones indeed. vii For my grandparents, who embodied the wisdom, courage, and grace of another era. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview and Objectives .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Approach and Sources ........................................................................................................................ 4 CHAPTER TWO: LEADING CELLISTS IN ‘UNMUSICAL ENGLAND’ ............................................ 11 2.1 Foreign Influence on the Early Development of Cello Playing in Great Britain .............................. 11 2.2 Developing Musical Institutions in “Unmusical England” ............................................................... 14 2.3 Alfredo Piatti (1822–1901) ............................................................................................................... 30 2.4 Other Visiting and Expatriate Cellists During Piatti’s Era ............................................................... 44 CHAPTER THREE: ROBERT HAUSMANN (1852–1909) ..................................................................... 52 3.1 Upholding Tradition: A Link to Major Austro-Germanic Composers and Performers .................... 52 3.2 Hausmann’s Impact on England ....................................................................................................... 57 3.3 Reception and Legacy ....................................................................................................................... 66 CHAPTER FOUR: AUGUSTE VAN BIENE (1849–1913) ...................................................................... 76 4.1 Biographical Summary ....................................................................................................................