Manchester: musical metropolis



Photograph of the Brodsky Quartet, L to R Simon Speelman, Carl Fuchs,
Adolph Brodsky and Charles Rawdon Briggs (RNCM Archives ref AB/3/3)

A new exhibition is now on display at the RNCM as part of Archives Awareness Campaign 2011. 'Manchester: musical metropolis' celebrates the rich musical heritage of Manchester and the contribution made to the city’s culture and community by musicians who emigrated here from continental Europe in the mid to late 1800s. In particular there was a strong German community in the city whose cultural influence was felt in orchestras and ensembles, musical clubs and societies.


Programme for concert at the Schiller Anstalt,
a German club in Manchester, 1904
(RNCM Archives ref CF/3/1)

This distinctive musical life is revealed through photographs, programmes, letters and musical scores spanning the 1840s to the 1930s, chosen from the papers of Sir Charles Hallé, Carl Fuchs, Adolph Brodsky, Hans Richter and Simon Speelman.

The exhibition coincides with a concert on 16 December by the RNCM Symphony Orchestra, featuring Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op 35.  Brodsky's annotated copy of the score for the piano part of this concerto is on display, along with the orchestral score of Die Walkure, presented to Hans Richter by Wagner.  The concert also includes Elgar's Symphony No 1 in A flat major.  This work was first performed in Manchester in 1908, conducted by its dedicatee Hans Richter.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the RNCM Archives, the Hallé Concerts Society Archives and the Henry Watson Music Library, and can be found on the lower concourse at the RNCM, outside the concert hall. 

Catalogues of the papers of Adolph Brodsky and Carl Fuchs are available to search online here.  There is also a list of items from the Henry Watson Music Library, currently held on loan at the RNCM.  If you would like to use these archives, please contact the College Archivist and Records Manager, E archives@rncm.ac.uk  

Catalogues of the papers of Sir Charles Hallé, Hans Richter and Simon Speelman are available to search here.  If you would like to use these archives, please contact the Hallé's Archivist, E archive@halle.co.uk

Henry Watson Music Library

During the closure of Manchester Central Library, selected items from the Henry Watson Music Library, relating to the history of music in Manchester, are available to researchers at the RNCM Archives.

The collection spans the late 18th to the late 20th centuries and includes programmes of musical societies, concert halls, orchestras, choirs and festivals, including the Ancoats Brotherhood, the Halle Concerts Society, the Manchester Gentlemen's Concerts and the Schiller Anstalt, to name but a few.  There are also minutes, annual reports, lists of members and subscribers, correspondence, press cuttings, accounts and scrapbooks. 

Many important names from Manchester's musical past crop up in the collection.  Letters received by the German cellist Carl Fuchs sit alongside manuscript volumes compiled by Sir Charles Halle, recording his work as a music teacher, pianist and conductor, and press cuttings about Hans Richter's appointment and resignation as conductor of the Halle Orchestra.  Family historians will also find this an unexpected source of information about musical ancestors from the greater Manchester area.

A list of the collection has now been compiled and you can find this on the RNCM Archives webpages.  To view items from the collection, contact the College Archivist and Records Manager, T 0161 907 5211 or E archives@rncm.ac.uk.

You can find out more about the Henry Watson Music Library by visiting Manchester City Council Libraries webpages, or contacting henrywatsonmusiclibrary@manchester.gov.uk.

Birthday wishes for Dr Adolph Brodsky

Adolph Brodsky, pictured with his violin (ref. AB/183)

Adolph Brodsky was born at Taganrog, Russia, on 2 April 1851.

He began learning the violin at the age of four, and enjoyed his first public appearance at the age of 8, playing in Odessa. Following this concert he was sent to Vienna where he was entered as a pupil at the Vienna Conservatoire, to study under Hellmesberger. During his time at the Vienna Conservatoire, he played second violin in the Hellmesberger-Popper string quartet.

Brodsky returned to Russia after completing his course at the Conservatoire. He spent some time touring as a soloist, and at the age of 24 was offered the post of assistant professor of the violin at the Moscow Conservatoire, which he accepted.

Adolph married Anna Skadowska in Sebastopol in 1880. The following year he became the first person to play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, declared unplayable by Leopold Auer to whom the original dedication was made. Tchaikovsky was extremely grateful to Brodsky for the support shown by him in playing his work, as demonstrated by letters now held in the RNCM Archives.

The Brodsky Quartet was formed in 1883, and originally consisted of Adolph as leader, Ottokar Novacek (a pupil), Hans Sitt and L Grützmacher. Novacek initially played second violin but later became the violist. Hans Becker, another pupil of Brodsky’s, replaced Novacek as second violin, whilst Julius Klengel took the place of Grützmacher. The quartet made its first appearance in Leipzig on 6 Feb 1884.

In 1895 Brodsky became concert master of the Hallé Orchestra and, after the death of Sir Charles Hallé in October 1895, became the second Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music. He held this post until his death in 1929.

For further information on the Brodsky collection, please visit www.archives.rncm.ac.uk (for the entire collection, do a quick search for the reference 'AB').


Please note, all pictures are copyright RNCM Archives and must not be reproduced without further permission.

                             

The Brodsky Quartet, 1909, featuring Brodsky, Rawdon-Briggs, Speelman and Fuchs (ref. AB/700)

The Guarnerius del Gesu violin which belonged to Adolph Brodsky

Adolph and his wife, Anna (ref. AB/189)

Tuesday Titbit

Adolf Brodsky

AB/700 Postcard depicitng the Brodsky Quartet; Dr Adolph Brodsky, Rawdon Briggs, Simon Speelman and Carl Fuch

Adolf Brodsky, a former Principal of the Royal Manchester College of Music for 34 Years was also a noted performer. Brodsky was born in 1851 in Taganrog on the Sea of Azov, he played the violin from the age of five and was later a pupil of Hellmesberger at the Vienna Conservatoire.

Brodsky had a varied career as a teacher at the Leipzig Conservatoire between 1883-1891 and he also established the Brodsky Quartet during this period. In 1891 Brodsky became a soloist and concert master at the New York Symphony Orchestra. Brodsky was invited to teach at the Royal Manchester College of Music and lead the Halle Orchestra by Sir Charles Halle, who died shortly after Brodsky’s arrival in 1895. Brodsky was invited to become prinicpal of the Royal Manchester College of Music after the death of  Sir Charles Halle.

The above picture is a postcard depicting the Brodsky Quartet which included Adolph Brodsky, Rawdon Briggs, Simon Speelman and Carl Fuchs. The Postcard which is dated 28th December 1909, was sent to Brodsky at the Hotel National in Moscow from Simon Speelmen a fellow member of the Quartet.