Grieg in Manchester

Nina and Edvard Grieg, dated 1906
(RNCM Archive ref AB/211)

Manchester Camerata will be performing two concerts in the RNCM Concert Hall this weekend, 21 -22 May. Linked by the music of Beethoven, the concerts feature students from the RNCM's conducting courses. On Saturday, the programme includes Two Elegiac Melodies Op 34, by Edvard Grieg.  Grieg and his wife Nina became friends of Adolph Brodsky and his wife Anna after meeting in Leipzig in the 1880s.

As the second Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music, Brodsky's papers are held in the RNCM Archives. Correspondence between the friends dates from 1890 and continues with Anna's sister Olga even after the deaths of the Brodskys in 1929. The letters are in German except for those written by Nina during the First World War, which are in English. There are about thirty letters from Edvard to Adolph and about a hundred from Nina to Anna.

When Grieg visited Manchester in November 1897, he stayed with the Brodskys.  One of his letters to Anna gives a flavour of their relationship:

"We arrive on Wednesday 24th [November] at 2.30 and will go direct to 41 Acomb Street. And may I ask straight away, Frau Brodsky, if I can have at 4 o’clock a beefsteak (underdone!). I know this is impudent, and you see for yourself that you should have let us stay in a hotel. But before a concert you must not be offended if I am very strict about my food. It is absolutely necessary. The concert is at 7.30 and I must rest beforehand. And there is one more thing you must permit: Bechsteins are sending a pianino; will you please have it put into my room… As soon as I arrive I intend to exercise my fingers a little in my room, so I should be grateful for a fairly warm room. And now I will leave you in peace!" (RNCM Archive ref. AB/587)

The online catalogue for the Brodsky papers can be searched here. 

Updated guide to the collections now available

An updated guide to the Archive collections of the College is now available to view from our website: please click here for further details.

We Will Remember Them

The following image is a touching one taken from the Elizabeth Harwood collection.  Elizabeth drew this picture celebrating the end of World War Two when she was approximately 7 years old.  Note the numerous 'V' for victory signs at the top of the picture. 

From EH/12, RNCM Archives.  Copyright Julian Royle.

Elizabeth Harwood was an internationally renowned soprano who studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music between 1956 and 1960.  Further information about her life and the collection of papers held by the RNCM Archives can be found by clicking the link to the Archives Catalogue on the right hand side. 

Exciting new acquisition

The signatures and musical sketches of such eminent musicians and composers as Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Grieg, Brahms and Rachmaninoff are just some of the wonderful features of an autograph book recently donated to the RNCM Archives. The book belonged to Carl Fuchs, the Royal Manchester College of Music’s first Professor of Cello (a post he held between 1893 and 1942) and eminent member of the Brodsky Quartet.


The autograph book forms part of a very generous donation by Carl Fuchs’s granddaughter, Tessa. Other material in the collection includes photographs, scrapbooks and a beautiful silk cover for Carl’s cello which was made by his wife.

This collection is a welcome addition to the existing Carl Fuchs material held by the Archives and will prove invaluable for historians and musicians alike.

                                                      Carl Fuchs, Cellist (1865-1951)

Signature of Antonin Dvořák dated 1891

Signature of Camille Saint-Saëns dated 1901

This is the week of...

... the 20th Anniversary of Elizabeth Harwood's death (22nd June 1990)

                 
                                                 (Ref: EH/7/2/2)                                                                                                            (Ref: EH/7/2/1)

(Ref: EH/7/2/1)

Elizabeth Harwood was born on 27 May 1938, and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music between 1956 and 1960. Her first opera appearance away from College was for the Buxton Opera Group in 1957 as Michaela in Passion Flower, an adaptation of Carmen.

Elizabeth married Julian A.C. Royle in 1966 and they had one son, Nicholas. The family lived at Fryerning, Ingatestone, Essex, where a plaque is dedicated to Elizabeth Harwood in the parish church following her death on June 22 1990.

In tribute, The Musical Times wrote, "Elizabeth Harwood's lovely, warm voice, with its effortless production and evenness throughout a remarkable range, was matched by her level-headed approach to the world of opera and the generous nature of her personality." Janet Baker, fellow opera singer, paid her this tribute: "Elizabeth was the most beloved of my colleagues, a beautiful person in every way. Her art lit up the stage."

The Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Award for Singers is given every year by the Royal Northern College of Music. Set up in Elizabeth’s name, the prize helps aspiring singers become established upon the stage, or continue their studies. The competition's rules require the singer to present a 15 to 20 minute programme which must include a Mozart item, Elisabeth’s particular love and speciality. Past winners, like other RNCM alumni, now appear on many operatic, concert and oratorio stages around the world.

This is the week that...

... Hans Sitt, of the Brodsky Quartet, wrote to his friend, Anna Brodsky (7th June 1917)

Letter from Hans Sitt to Anna Brodsky (ref: AB/647)

Hans Sitt (21st September 1850 – 10 March 1922) was a German violinist, teacher, and composer. During his lifetime, he was regarded as one of the foremost teachers of violin. He held the position of Professor of Violin at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1883, and authored several important studies for that instrument, some of which are still used.

He became known to Adolph and Anna Brodsky after Brodsky’s move in 1883 to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he formed his own string quartet. The Brodsky Quartet allowed Sitt to perform alongside Brodsky, Hugo Becker and Julius Klengel.

In the letter, Hans and his wife, Else, express their disappointment in Anna Brodsky’s inability to visit them in Leipzig.

This is the week that...

... Elizabeth Harwood was born (27th May 1938)

English Opera Group production of Acis and Galatea at

the Aldeburgh Festival, 1966. Elizabeth as Galatea (Ref: EH/7/1/1)

                          Elizabeth Harwood, 1964 (Ref: EH/7/2/1)                     Elizabeth Harwood (Ref: EH/7/2/1)

Elizabeth Harwood was born on 27 May 1938, and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music between 1956 and 1960. Her first opera appearance away from College was for the Buxton Opera Group in 1957 as Michaela in Passion Flower, an adaptation of Carmen.

 She enjoyed over two decades as an operatic singer, working with conductors such as Colin Davis and Herbert von Karajan. It was under von Karajan that she became the first English soprano to perform at the Salzburg Festival in The Marriage of Figaro, a role which she would reprise in many subsequent festivals. Elizabeth's last operatic performance was for The Buxton Festival in La Colombe, 1983.   

Elizabeth married Julian A.C. Royle in 1966 and they had one son, Nicholas. The family lived at Fryerning, Ingatestone, Essex, where a plaque is dedicated to Elizabeth Harwood in the parish church following her death on June 22 1990.

This is the week that...

... Philip Newman was born (12th May 1904)

      Pearl and Philip Newman as children (Ref: PN/200)                                                       Philip Newman as a child (Ref: PN/201)

Philip Newman as a young man (Ref: PN/213)

Philip Newman was born in Manchester on May 12 1904, the son of Harris Newman, cantor of Manchester's Great Synagogue. Newman became a pupil of Adolph Brodsky at the Royal Manchester College of Music, entering the College in 1917 aged 13 and leaving in 1920 without taking a diploma.

In 1924 Brodsky advised Newman to attend the Brussels Conservatoire to study with Albert Zimmel, Ysaÿe's first assistant. After just one year, he won the "Premier Prix de Violon" with maximum marks and distinction, playing the very difficult Violin Concerto in F sharp minor Op. 23 by H. W. Ernst. During his time in Brussels he also studied with the violinists Henri van Hecke and Cesar Thomson.

Newman spent the years 1928 to 1932 in Berlin studying with Willy Hess who was by then Germany's foremost violinist, and had been a pupil of the great Joseph Joachim. Here he learned a style different to that of the Belgian school of which he was by now a fine exponent.

Newman's first major recital took place in his hometown of Manchester in the mid 1920s, for which his father had hired the Free Trade Hall. However his first big concert was in Ostend where he performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto. For some unaccountable reason his official British debut with orchestra did not take place until 1935, again in the Manchester Free Trade Hall. In 1937 Philip Newman began his long service as a judge of the Concours Musical International Reine Elizabeth which had replaced the Ysaÿe Violin Competition. For many years Newman was also a member of the panel of judges at the Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow where he represented the British Council.

Also in 1937 Philip Newman commenced his long association with Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians, becoming her personal professor of the violin. The Queen had for many years devoted much of her time to the violin and had performed privately with many distinguished musicians, she herself was a great patron of the arts and an accomplished violinist.

In 1942 Newman took refuge in Portugal and finally arrived in Lisbon where he became the first non-national Professor of the violin at the National Academy of Music. During his long stay in that city he organised and promoted concerts for charity including many for the International Red Cross.

In 1950 he left Portugal to tour England, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Germany, receiving excellent reviews from both critics and fellow musicians.

On his return to Europe, he joined his old friend Casals to play at the opening of the Prades Festival. The Festival of Pollensa, which Newman founded in 1962, became the major activity of his remaining years. A galaxy of artists appeared with him during the September Festival events.

Newman's last concert took place on 4th September 1966 at the Festival and the last piece of music he ever played was at the request of a journalist the same evening. It was the Recitative and Scherzo Caprice by Kreisler. A tour of the Soviet Union was planned but Newman died of a heart attack in his hotel room in Majorca on 23 November 1966, one year to the day after his beloved friend Queen Elisabeth. Ironically, he was that very evening to have taken part in a television broadcast to mark the anniversary of her death.

Throughout his career Newman received many honours and awards. In Belgium, he was an Officer of the Order of the Crown. Portugal awarded him its highest honour, Knight Commander of St. James of the Sword, and for his work during the war years the Order of St. John together with the Order of Christ. He was also awarded the Ysaÿe and the Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians medals and later decorated with the Order of Merit and the Order of Leopold. Yet another distinction was a commissioned oil painting which now hangs in the National Gallery, Lisbon. A bust of Newman by his friend Dr. Alfonso Jaume, made in 1966 shortly after his death, now stands at the entrance to the Festival cloisters in Majorca. There is also a plaster cast of his hand together with a death mask on exhibition at the Festival entrance and a street near by has been named after him. The sign reads ‘Philip Newman adopted son.’

Tuesday Titbit

Elizabeth Harwood

                                          Italian Exercise book EH12/5/1

Elizabeth Harwood, the noted English soprano, studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music between 1956 and 1960. The RNCM has a large collection of programmes and cuttings relating to Elizabeth Harwood’s career which were collected by her father and later by her husband: the collection also includes some of Elizabeth’s personal papers.

The above picture shows Elizabeth’s Italian exercise book from her studies at the college in 1956, when she was eighteen years old. Her knowledge of Italian would have been useful throughout her career as an opera singer.

This is the week that...

... Alan Rawsthorne was born (2nd May 1905).

Lock of Alan's first hair (Ref: AR/6/6)

                    Barbara and baby Alan (Ref: AR/5)                     Alan, aged 2 years (Ref: AR/5)

Alan Rawsthorne was born May 2nd 1905 in Haslingden, Lancashire. After initial studies in dentistry and architecture, he entered the Royal Manchester College of Music in 1925, where he was a pupil of the pianist Frank Merrick and the cellist Carl Fuchs. He left in 1929 with diplomas in performance and teaching (the latter with distinction). His piano studies were continued abroad, notably under Egon Petri. On his return to England in 1932 he taught at Dartington Hall School and also composed music for the associated School of Dance Mime.

He married a fellow ex-RMCM student, the violinist Jessie Hinchcliffe, in 1934 and, after moving to London in 1935, first achieved wide recognition at the 1938 ISCM Festival with the Theme and Variations for two violins. At the 1939 festival, in Warsaw, a far more ambitious score, the Symphonic Studies, demonstrated his mastery of orchestral resources, while in the same year the First Piano Concerto confirmed the achievement of "a highly individual language and certain structural predilections"; both were to remain remarkably constant throughout the rest of his career.

Rawsthorne rescored the concerto in 1942, by which time he was doing military service in the Army first in the Royal Artillery and then in the Education Corps; despite this he was able to complete the two contrasted overtures of 1944 and 1945. He was awarded a Fellowship of the RMCM in 1943. With the end of the war, however, he was at last able to devote all his energies to composition, and to be confident of receiving performance: within some five years he had produced four concertos, a symphony, several chamber works and a body of film music, and was thus already among the more prolific instrumental composers of an English generation that included Walton and Tippett. He married the artist Isabel (nee Nicholas, 1912-1992) in 1955, after divorcing Jessie the previous year.

He was made a CBE in 1961, and was awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Liverpool, Essex and Belfast. He died in Cambridge in 1971.

Barbara Rawsthorne, Alan’s sister, describes their childhood birthdays in Diary of an Edwardian Childhood:

‘The first important event in our yearly calendar was my brother’s birthday which occurred in May. Birthdays were very important... We were allowed to choose the dinner, so the day began with choosing it. We nearly always chose roast chicken and chocolate pudding. Then there were cards and presents delivered by the postman, and others which had been hidden away for weeks in Mother’s wardrobe, always including an “unbirthday present” for the one whose birthday it was not. We didn’t have a conventional birthday party for children, but generally a granny or two and possibly an uncle had appeared by tea-time, and we had a Procession (we were very great on Processions) all around the house from top to bottom, with trumpets and paper hats, finishing in the dining room with a splendid tea, birthday cake and candles!’

This Is The Week That...

Letter from Hallé to Brodsky (ref. AB/492)

...Charles Hallé (first Principal and founder of the Royal Manchester College of Music) wrote to violinist Adolph Brodsky (21 April 1895).

With the departure of Willy Hess, the principal violin professor, Charles Hallé (first Principal and founder of the College) was forced to search for a new teacher and orchestra leader. Impressed with Adolph Brodsky, an outstanding soloist, Hallé suggested him for each position. Throughout his letter, Hallé attempts to subtly persuade Brodsky to join the college. He supposes that Brodsky's journey through Russia is nearing its end and hopes that Brodsky has not forgotten them in Manchester. Hallé also reminds Brodsky that he promised to pay them a visit which would be welcome with timely notice any time up to 7 July. Hallé also asks for biographical details for himself as well as for the local press. Brodsky accepts the positions offered to him, first appearing as leader of Hallé’s orchestra on 22 October 1895. Upon Hallé’s death on the morning of 25 October 1895, shortly before the Manchester season, Brodsky was offered the Principalship, which he accepted and held for a further 34 years.