The Winner Records was a United Kingdom-based record label from 1912 onwards. Its records were manufactured by the Edison Bell Record Works, London . This company, founded by James Hough, had originated in the early 1890s as an importer of Edison and Columbia phonograph cylinders ; from 1898 Hough had also made cylinder records, initially using a separate company, Edisonia. When Edison set up his own European operation in 1904, the import franchise was withdrawn, but the name Edison Bell remained in use. From 1909 the official name of Edison-Bell was J. E. Hough Ltd.
176-400: Winner Records were designed to offer well-recorded and pressed gramophone records at a budget price. Winner records, with black or red labels, were mostly of a popular music type, although they included some items of musical distinction, such as early recordings by John Barbirolli , then a child-prodigy performer on the violoncello , and nearly all of the discography of Marie Novello , one of
352-703: A British knighthood in 1949 and appointment as a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1969; the Finnish Grand Star and Collar of Commander 1st Class of the Order of the White Rose in 1963; from Italy the Order of Merit in 1964; and from France, Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1966, and Officier de l' Ordre national du Mérite , 1968. Awards from musical institutions included
528-418: A London music publisher. In 1841 William moved to Worcester, where he worked as a piano tuner and set up a shop selling sheet music and musical instruments. In 1848 he married Ann Greening (1822–1902), daughter of a farm worker. Edward was the fourth of their seven children. Ann Elgar had converted to Roman Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, and he was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic, to
704-546: A Sibelius symphony cycle, Elgar's Second Symphony, Falstaff and The Dream of Gerontius , Schubert's Ninth Symphony , Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony , and works by Grieg and Delius. With other orchestras, Barbirolli recorded a wide range of his repertoire, including many recordings still in the catalogues in 2022. Of these, his Elgar recordings include the Cello Concerto with Jacqueline du Pré , Sea Pictures with Janet Baker , and orchestral music including
880-531: A blaze of orchestral splendour but quietly and contemplatively. Reed, who played at the premiere, later wrote that Elgar was recalled to the platform several times to acknowledge the applause, "but missed that unmistakable note perceived when an audience, even an English audience, is thoroughly roused or worked up, as it was after the Violin Concerto or the First Symphony." Elgar asked Reed, "What
1056-655: A cast that included Mariano Stabile , Elisabeth Schumann and Heddle Nash . In 1929, after financial problems had forced the BNOC to disband, the Covent Garden management set up a touring company to fill the gap, and appointed Barbirolli as its musical director and conductor. The operas in the company's first provincial tour included Die Meistersinger , Lohengrin , La bohème , Madama Butterfly , The Barber of Seville , Tosca , Falstaff , Faust , Cavalleria rusticana , Pagliacci , Il trovatore , and
1232-584: A conductor he began recording in 1927 for the National Gramophonic Society (an offshoot of The Gramophone). Among his records from that period was the first to be made of Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings . On hearing it, the composer said, "I'd never realised it was such a big work." Elgar, despite an extensive discography as a conductor, never recorded the work himself, and some have speculated that "the breadth, nobility and lyrical poetry" of Barbirolli's interpretation left
1408-606: A few days. Barbirolli's plane landed safely; Howard's was shot down. In Manchester, Barbirolli immediately set about reviving the Hallé. The number of players in the orchestra was down to about 30. Most younger players were serving in the armed forces, and to compound the shortage the management of the orchestra had ended the arrangement by which many of its players were also members of the BBC Northern Orchestra . The Hallé board resolved that its orchestra must follow
1584-584: A fictional account of the journey. After Alice's death, Elgar sold the Hampstead house, and after living for a short time in a flat in St James's in the heart of London, he moved back to Worcestershire, to the village of Kempsey , where he lived from 1923 to 1927. He did not wholly abandon composition in these years. He made large-scale symphonic arrangements of works by Bach and Handel and wrote his Empire March and eight songs Pageant of Empire for
1760-623: A firm favourite with the promenaders. At one 1958 promenade concert Barbirolli and the Hallé played a replica of Charles Hallé 's first concert with the orchestra in 1858. Barbirolli's interest in new music waned in post-war years, but he and the Hallé appeared regularly at the Cheltenham Festival , where he premiered new works of a mostly traditional style by William Alwyn , Richard Arnell , Arthur Benjamin , Peter Racine Fricker , Gordon Jacob , Alan Rawsthorne , Kenneth Leighton and others. For its hundredth anniversary in 1958
1936-589: A firm friendship, which lasted for the rest of Elgar's life. Reed's biography, Elgar As I Knew Him (1936), records many details of Elgar's methods of composition. The work was presented by the Royal Philharmonic Society , with Kreisler and the LSO, conducted by the composer. Reed recalled, "the Concerto proved to be a complete triumph, the concert a brilliant and unforgettable occasion." So great
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#17327868039292112-585: A friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever ... I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability. ... I have no money – not a cent." When Elgar was 29, he took on a new pupil, Caroline Alice Roberts , known as Alice, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts, and published author of verse and prose fiction. Eight years older than Elgar, Alice became his wife three years later. Elgar's biographer Michael Kennedy writes, "Alice's family
2288-545: A full enough tone, and he abandoned his ambitions to be a soloist. At twenty-two he took up the post of conductor of the attendants' band at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick , three miles (five km) from Worcester. The band consisted of: piccolo, flute, clarinet, two cornets, euphonium, three or four first and a similar number of second violins, occasional viola, cello, double bass and piano. Elgar coached
2464-506: A generation after his death. It began to revive significantly in the 1960s, helped by new recordings of his works. Some of his works have, in recent years, been taken up again internationally, but the music continues to be played more in Britain than elsewhere. Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously. Between 1914 and 1925, he conducted a series of acoustic recordings of his works. The introduction of
2640-477: A grudge against the Philharmonic: shortly before Barbirolli's appointment Downes was sacked as the commentator for the orchestra's prestigious Sunday broadcasts. He and the composer Virgil Thomson continually wrote disparagingly about Barbirolli, comparing him unfavourably with Toscanini. The management of the orchestra nevertheless renewed Barbirolli's appointment in 1940. In 1942, when his second contract
2816-603: A guest conductor with other orchestras. He also appeared at the Vienna State Opera , and Rome Opera House , where he conducted Aida in 1969. In 1960 he accepted an invitation to succeed Leopold Stokowski as chief conductor of the Houston Symphony in Texas, a post he held until 1967, conducting an annual total of 12 weeks there in early spring and late autumn between Hallé engagements. In 1961 he began
2992-910: A house near Fittleworth in Sussex, from the painter Rex Vicat Cole . There Elgar recovered his strength and, in 1918 and 1919, he produced four large-scale works. The first three of these were chamber pieces : the Violin Sonata in E ;minor , the Piano Quintet in A minor , and the String Quartet in E minor . On hearing the work in progress, Alice Elgar wrote in her diary, "E. writing wonderful new music". All three works were well received. The Times wrote, "Elgar's sonata contains much that we have heard before in other forms, but as we do not at all want him to change and be somebody else, that
3168-564: A new chapter in the English choral tradition and liberated it from its Handelian preoccupation." Elgar, as a Roman Catholic, was much moved by Newman's poem about the death and redemption of a sinner, but some influential members of the Anglican establishment disagreed. His colleague, Charles Villiers Stanford complained that the work "stinks of incense". The Dean of Gloucester banned Gerontius from his cathedral in 1901, and at Worcester
3344-619: A new ensemble at the Chenil Gallery in Chelsea , initially called the "Chenil Chamber Orchestra" but later renamed "John Barbirolli's Chamber Orchestra". Barbirolli's concerts impressed Frederic Austin , director of the British National Opera Company (BNOC), who in the same year invited him to conduct some performances with the company. Barbirolli had never conducted a chorus or a large orchestra, but had
3520-459: A number of professional musicians. So we formed an orchestra and played in the equivalent of the NAAFI during our spare time. I was the principal cello and we were conducted by the bandmaster, one Lieutenant Bonham. The other boys knew that I was longing to conduct and one day when Bonham fell ill with 'flu, they thought "old Barby" – as I was known – should have a go. It was really rather romantic – I
3696-456: A professional orchestra. Stockley had invited him to conduct the piece but later recalled "he declined, and, further, insisted upon playing in his place in the orchestra. The consequence was that he had to appear, fiddle in hand, to acknowledge the genuine and hearty applause of the audience." Elgar often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money. He wrote to
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#17327868039293872-650: A raw amateur." As Elgar approached his fiftieth birthday, he began work on his first symphony, a project that had been in his mind in various forms for nearly ten years. His First Symphony (1908) was a national and international triumph. Within weeks of the premiere it was performed in New York under Walter Damrosch , Vienna under Ferdinand Löwe , St Petersburg under Alexander Siloti , and Leipzig under Arthur Nikisch . There were performances in Rome, Chicago, Boston, Toronto and fifteen British towns and cities. In just over
4048-777: A regular association with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , which lasted for the rest of his life. From 1953 onwards, Barbirolli and the Hallé appeared regularly at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London. As well as major works from the mainstream repertory they gave an annual concert of music by Viennese composers, including Franz Lehár and Johann Strauss , which, like Sir Malcolm Sargent's annual Gilbert and Sullivan nights, rapidly became
4224-501: A schoolboy first flute, a schoolmistress hornist, and various brass players recruited from brass and military bands in the Manchester area ... The reborn Hallé's first concert somehow lived up to the Hallé's great reputation." The Musical Times also noted, "From his earliest days with the orchestra it was the string tone that commanded immediate attention and respect. There was a fiery intensity and glowing warmth that proclaimed
4400-583: A series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered
4576-818: A series of sessions to capture on disc the composer's interpretations of his major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations , Falstaff , the first and second symphonies, and the cello and violin concertos. For most of these, the orchestra was the LSO, but the Variations were played by the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra. Later in the series of recordings, Elgar also conducted two newly founded orchestras, Boult's BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sir Thomas Beecham 's London Philharmonic Orchestra . Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor . After World War II,
4752-525: A set of Madama Butterfly with Renata Scotto , Carlo Bergonzi and Rome Opera forces that has remained in the catalogues since its first issue in 1967. The impact of the last was such that the head of the Rome Opera invited him to come and conduct "any opera you care to name with as much rehearsal as you wish." HMV planned to record Die Meistersinger with Barbirolli in Dresden in 1970, but following
4928-484: A special constable in the local police and later joined the Hampstead Volunteer Reserve of the army. He composed patriotic works, Carillon , a recitation for speaker and orchestra in honour of Belgium, and Polonia , an orchestral piece in honour of Poland. "Land of Hope and Glory", already popular, became still more so, and Elgar wished in vain to have new, less nationalistic, words sung to
5104-414: A sudden transformation from mediocrity to genius, but in fact his orchestral skills had been building up throughout the decade. Elgar's best-known works were composed within the twenty-one years between 1899 and 1920. Most of them are orchestral. Reed wrote, "Elgar's genius rose to its greatest height in his orchestral works" and quoted the composer as saying that, even in his oratorios, the orchestral part
5280-474: A symphony by Anis Fuleihan , and Philip James 's Bret Harte overture. He also conducted Serge Koussevitzky 's Double Bass Concerto. The players told the Philharmonic management that they would be happy for Barbirolli to be appointed to a permanent position. The outcome of this was an invitation to him to become Music Director and Permanent Conductor for three years starting with the 1937–38 season. At
5456-464: A three-day festival of Elgar's works was presented at Covent Garden, an honour never before given to any English composer. The Times commented, "Four or five years ago if any one had predicted that the Opera-house would be full from floor to ceiling for the performance of an oratorio by an English composer he would probably have been supposed to be out of his mind." The king and queen attended
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5632-419: A trait that became stronger after Alice's death. For much of the rest of his life, Elgar indulged himself in his several hobbies. Throughout his life he was a keen amateur chemist , sometimes using a laboratory in his back garden. He even patented the "Elgar Sulphuretted Hydrogen Apparatus" in 1908. He enjoyed football , supporting Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. , for whom he composed an anthem, "He Banged
5808-517: A week, three hours or more rehearsal a day. In those days we were happy if we began and finished together". While playing in the Queen's Hall Orchestra, Barbirolli also played in the opera pit for the Beecham and Carl Rosa opera companies, in recitals with the pianist Ethel Bartlett , with orchestras in theatres, cinemas, hotels and dance-halls, and, as he said, "everywhere except the street". During
5984-503: A year, it received a hundred performances in Britain, America and continental Europe. The Violin Concerto (1910) was commissioned by Fritz Kreisler , one of the leading international violinists of the time. Elgar wrote it during the summer of 1910, with occasional help from W. H. Reed, the leader of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), who helped the composer with advice on technical points. Elgar and Reed formed
6160-469: Is as it should be." The quartet and quintet were premiered at the Wigmore Hall on 21 May 1919. The Manchester Guardian wrote, "This quartet, with its tremendous climaxes, curious refinements of dance-rhythms, and its perfect symmetry, and the quintet, more lyrical and passionate, are as perfect examples of chamber music as the great oratorios were of their type." By contrast, the remaining work,
6336-965: Is named in his honour and features a sculpture of him by Byron Howard (2000). The square includes the present base of the Hallé Orchestra, the Bridgewater Hall , in which the Barbirolli Room commemorates the conductor. At his old school, St Clement Danes, now relocated in Chorleywood, the main hall is named in his honour. A commemorative blue plaque was placed on the wall of the Bloomsbury Park Hotel in Southampton Row in May 1993 to mark Barbirolli's birthplace. The Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Foundation of
6512-408: Is not taste at all, that it is the want of taste, that is mere evasion. English music is white, and evades everything." He regretted the controversy and was glad to hand on the post to his friend Granville Bantock in 1908. His new life as a celebrity was a mixed blessing to the highly strung Elgar, as it interrupted his privacy, and he often was in ill-health. He complained to Jaeger in 1903, "My life
6688-465: Is one continual giving up of little things which I love." Both W. S. Gilbert and Thomas Hardy sought to collaborate with Elgar in this decade. Elgar refused, but would have collaborated with Bernard Shaw had Shaw been willing. Elgar paid three visits to the USA between 1905 and 1911. His first was to conduct his music and to accept a doctorate from Yale University . His principal composition in 1905
6864-403: Is probably the best known. Both in the concert hall and on record, Barbirolli was particularly associated with the music of English composers such as Elgar , Delius and Vaughan Williams . His interpretations of other late Romantic composers, such as Mahler and Sibelius , as well as of earlier classical composers, including Schubert , are also still admired. Giovanni Battista Barbirolli
7040-671: Is remembered as an interpreter of Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Mahler, as well as Schubert , Beethoven, Sibelius , Verdi and Puccini , and as a staunch supporter of new works by British composers. Vaughan Williams dedicated his Eighth Symphony to Barbirolli, whose nickname, "Glorious John", comes from the inscription Vaughan Williams wrote at the head of the score: "For glorious John, with love and admiration from Ralph." Barbirolli did not disdain lighter repertoire. The music critic Richard Osborne wrote that, if all Barbirolli's recordings were to be lost except that of Lehár's Gold and Silver Waltz , "there would be reason enough to say, 'Now, there
7216-476: Is the matter with them, Billy? They sit there like a lot of stuffed pigs." The work was, by normal standards, a success, with twenty-seven performances within three years of its premiere, but it did not achieve the international furore of the First Symphony. In June 1911, as part of the celebrations surrounding the coronation of King George V , Elgar was appointed to the Order of Merit , an honour limited to twenty-four holders at any time. The following year,
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7392-422: Is the most important. The Enigma Variations made Elgar's name nationally. The variation form was ideal for him at this stage of his career, when his comprehensive mastery of orchestration was still in contrast to his tendency to write his melodies in short, sometimes rigid, phrases. His next orchestral works, Cockaigne , a concert-overture (1900–1901), the first two Pomp and Circumstance marches (1901), and
7568-704: The Enigma Variations , the Pomp and Circumstance Marches , concertos for violin and cello , and two symphonies . He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius , chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he
7744-534: The British National Opera Company , and then with Covent Garden 's touring company. On taking up the conductorship of the Hallé he had less opportunity to work in the opera house, but in the 1950s he conducted productions of works by Verdi , Wagner , Gluck , and Puccini at Covent Garden with such success that he was invited to become the company's permanent musical director, an invitation he declined. Late in his career he made several recordings of operas, of which his 1967 set of Puccini's Madama Butterfly for EMI
7920-675: The Cello Concerto in E minor , had a disastrous premiere, at the opening concert of the LSO's 1919–20 season in October 1919. Apart from the Elgar work, which the composer conducted, the rest of the programme was conducted by Albert Coates , who overran his rehearsal time at the expense of Elgar's. Lady Elgar wrote, "that brutal selfish ill-mannered bounder ... that brute Coates went on rehearsing." The critic of The Observer , Ernest Newman , wrote, "There have been rumours about during
8096-706: The Enigma Variations , Cockaigne , the first two (at that time the only two) Pomp and Circumstance marches, and the premiere of a new orchestral work, In the South , inspired by a holiday in Italy. Elgar was knighted at Buckingham Palace on 5 July 1904. The following month, he and his family moved to Plâs Gwyn, a large house on the outskirts of Hereford , overlooking the River Wye , where they lived until 1911. Between 1902 and 1914, Elgar was, in Kennedy's words, at
8272-548: The Leipzig Conservatory for further musical studies, but his father could not afford to send him. Years later, a profile in The Musical Times considered that his failure to get to Leipzig was fortunate for Elgar's musical development: "Thus the budding composer escaped the dogmatism of the schools." However, it was a disappointment to Elgar that on leaving school in 1872 he went not to Leipzig but to
8448-685: The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 he refused to conduct in the Soviet bloc, and his place was taken by Herbert von Karajan . Notes References Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet , OM , GCVO ( / ˈ ɛ l ɡ ɑːr / ; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including
8624-457: The moving-coil microphone in 1923 made far more accurate sound reproduction possible, and Elgar made new recordings of most of his major orchestral works and excerpts from The Dream of Gerontius . Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath , near Worcester , England, on 2 June 1857. His father, William Henry Elgar (1821–1906), was raised in Dover and had been apprenticed to
8800-459: The " trio ") of the first march came into his head, he told his friend Dora Penny, "I've got a tune that will knock 'em – will knock 'em flat". When the first march was played in 1901 at a London Promenade Concert, it was conducted by Henry Wood , who later wrote that the audience "rose and yelled ... the one and only time in the history of the Promenade concerts that an orchestral item
8976-625: The "original theme", there is another overarching theme, never identified by Elgar, which he said "runs through and over the whole set" but is never heard. Later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss . The Enigma Variations were well received in Germany and Italy, and remain to
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#17327868039299152-404: The 1924 British Empire Exhibition . Shortly after these were published, he was appointed Master of the King's Musick on 13 May 1924, following the death of Sir Walter Parratt . From 1926 onwards, Elgar made a series of recordings of his own works. Described by the music writer Robert Philip as "the first composer to take the gramophone seriously", he had already recorded much of his music by
9328-423: The 1932 recording of the Violin Concerto with the teenage Menuhin as soloist remained available on 78 and later on LP , but the other recordings were out of the catalogues for some years. When they were reissued by EMI on LP in the 1970s, they caused surprise to many by their fast tempi, in contrast to the slower speeds adopted by many conductors in the years since Elgar's death. The recordings were reissued on CD in
9504-435: The 1990s. In November 1931, Elgar was filmed by Pathé for a newsreel depicting a recording session of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 at the opening of EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the LSO, asking the musicians to "play this tune as though you've never heard it before." A memorial plaque to Elgar at Abbey Road
9680-668: The Elgars moved back to London, to a large house in Netherhall Gardens , Hampstead , designed by Norman Shaw . There Elgar composed his last two large-scale works of the pre-war era, the choral ode, The Music Makers (for the Birmingham Festival, 1912) and the symphonic study Falstaff (for the Leeds Festival, 1913). Both were received politely but without enthusiasm. Even the dedicatee of Falstaff ,
9856-811: The First Symphony, Enigma Variations and many of the shorter works. His Mahler recordings include the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies (with the New Philharmonia) and Ninth Symphony (with the Berlin Philharmonic). With the Vienna Philharmonic , he recorded a Brahms symphony cycle, and with Daniel Barenboim, the two Brahms Piano Concertos. He made three operatic sets for HMV: Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with Victoria de los Ángeles (1966), Verdi's Otello with James McCracken , Gwyneth Jones and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1969), and
10032-928: The Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Musicians , 1966; Honorary Academician of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia , 1960; Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, 1950; Bruckner Medal, Bruckner Society of America, 1959; and the Mahler Medal, Mahler-Bruckner Society of America, 1965. He was also awarded the title of Doctor of Music honoris causa (DMus h.c.) from the National University of Ireland in 1952. There are memorials to Barbirolli in Manchester and London. Barbirolli Square in Manchester
10208-454: The Hallé commissioned several new works, and gave the British premiere of Walton's virtuosic divertimento Partita . Increasingly, Barbirolli concentrated on his core repertory of the standard symphonic classics, the works of English composers, and late-romantic music, particularly that of Mahler. In the 1960s he made a series of international tours with the Philharmonia (Latin America, 1963), BBC Symphony Orchestra (Czechoslovakia, Poland and
10384-425: The Hallé in the Third Symphony of Bax and the Fifth of Vaughan Williams, followed by works by a wide range of composers from Corelli to Stravinsky. In 1955 he signed a contract with Pye Records , with whom he and the Hallé recorded a wide repertoire, and made their first stereophonic recordings. These records were distributed in the US by Vanguard Records . A company was formed, named Pye-Barbirolli, of which he
10560-400: The Hallé, but nevertheless took it on another European tour in 1968, this time to Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In his last years a propensity to concentrate on detail at the expense of the whole of a piece became marked. His loyal friend and admirer the critic Neville Cardus wrote privately in 1969, "he seems so much to love a single phrase that he lingers over it, caressing it; meanwhile
10736-451: The Hallé. His biographer Charles Reid wrote, "His Manchester kingdom is a kingdom indeed. He is not manacled or chivied in his choice of programmes. Broadly speaking he conducts only what he loves ... His kingdom approximates to a conductor's paradise." Nevertheless, in 1958, after building the orchestra up and touring continually, conducting up to 75 concerts a year, he arranged a less onerous schedule, allowing him more time to appear as
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#173278680392910912-430: The Hereford Festival. Of these, McVeagh comments favourably on his lavish orchestration and innovative use of leitmotifs , but less favourably on the qualities of his chosen texts and the patchiness of his inspiration. McVeagh makes the point that, because these works of the 1890s were for many years little known (and performances remain rare), the mastery of his first great success, the Enigma Variations , appeared to be
11088-418: The Kutcher Quartet, led by his former fellow student at Trinity, Samuel Kutcher, and the Music Society Quartet (later called the International Quartet) led by André Mangeot . He also made several early broadcasts with Mangeot's quartet. Barbirolli's ambition was to conduct. He was the prime mover in establishing the Guild of Singers and Players Chamber Orchestra in 1924, and in 1926 he was invited to conduct
11264-423: The LSO and LPO for the benefit of the musicians, and then went back on a Fyffe banana boat of 5,000 tons. We were spotted by U-boats the moment we left Northern Ireland but that kind of thing never worries me as I'm something of a fatalist. It had been wonderful anyhow to be back, to see England at its greatest, and to visit my old mother. Barbirolli returned to New York to complete his contractual obligations to
11440-498: The Leather for Goal" , and in his later years he frequently attended horseraces. His protégés, the conductor Malcolm Sargent and violinist Yehudi Menuhin , both recalled rehearsals with Elgar at which he swiftly satisfied himself that all was well and then went off to the races. In his younger days, Elgar had been an enthusiastic cyclist, buying Royal Sunbeam bicycles for himself and his wife in 1903 (he named his "Mr. Phoebus "). As an elderly widower, he enjoyed being driven about
11616-463: The London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Elgar's Symphony No. 2 , winning the thanks of the composer. Barbirolli also won warm praise from Pablo Casals , whom he had accompanied in Haydn's D major cello concerto at the same concert. He conducted a Royal Philharmonic Society concert at which Ralph Vaughan Williams was presented with the society's Gold Medal, and another RPS concert at which Gustav Mahler 's music, rarely heard at that time,
11792-493: The New York Philharmonic. A. V. Alexander , who was First Sea Lord, wrote to me to say that, contrary to expectations, music was flourishing and would I come back as I was missed. I was longing to return and it was just a question of how it was to be managed. A.V. went to Churchill, who apparently said, "If he's fool enough to come, let him come". It took us 23 days to cross on a fruit trader and, of our convoy of 75, only 32 ships arrived in Liverpool. I played here for ten weeks with
11968-425: The Philharmonic. Shortly after his return he received an appeal from the Hallé Orchestra to become its conductor. The orchestra was in danger of extinction for lack of players, and Barbirolli seized the opportunity to help it. In 1943 Barbirolli made another Atlantic crossing, avoiding death by a fluke: he changed flights from Lisbon with the actor Leslie Howard when the latter wished to postpone his own flight for
12144-450: The Royal Philharmonic Society was instituted after his death to assist young musicians with the purchase of instruments. In 1972 the Barbirolli Society was set up with the principal aim of promoting the continued release of Barbirolli's recorded performances. Its honorary officers have included Evelyn Barbirolli, Daniel Barenboim and Michael Kennedy . In April 2012, he was voted into the inaugural Gramophone "Hall of Fame". Barbirolli
12320-445: The Suite in D at the Crystal Palace, and two publishers accepted some of Elgar's violin pieces, organ voluntaries , and part songs . Some tantalising opportunities seemed to be within reach but vanished unexpectedly. For example, an offer from the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden, to run through some of his works was withdrawn at the last second when Sir Arthur Sullivan arrived unannounced to rehearse some of his own music. Sullivan
12496-429: The USSR, 1967) and the Hallé (Latin America and West Indies, 1968). It was a lasting disappointment to him that it never proved possible to take the Hallé on a tour of the United States. In 1968, after 25 years with the Hallé, Barbirolli retired from the principal conductorship; no successor was appointed in his lifetime. He was appointed the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. He reduced the number of his appearances with
12672-572: The Violin Concerto for Menuhin. While in France, he visited his fellow composer Frederick Delius at his house at Grez-sur-Loing . He was sought out by younger musicians such as Adrian Boult, Malcolm Sargent and John Barbirolli , who championed his music when it was out of fashion. He began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady , and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony . His final illness prevented their completion. He fretted about
12848-414: The age of forty-two, Elgar produced the Enigma Variations , which were premiered in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter . In Elgar's own words, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme. The Variations have amused me because I've labelled them with the nicknames of my particular friends ... that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent
13024-519: The born string coach". Barbirolli retained his reputation for training orchestras: after his death, one of his former players commented, "If you wanted orchestral experience you'd be set for life, starting in the Hallé with John Barbirolli." Further afield, critics, audiences and players in Europe and the United States commented on the improvement in the playing of their orchestras when Barbirolli
13200-468: The cello with Herbert Walenn . In 1914 he was joint winner of the academy's Charles Rube Prize for ensemble playing, and in 1916 The Musical Times singled him out as "that excellent young 'cello player, Mr Giovanni Barbirolli." The principal of the Academy, Sir Alexander Mackenzie , had forbidden students to play the chamber music of Ravel , which he regarded as "a pernicious influence". Barbirolli
13376-511: The centre of British musical life, and Elgar started devoting his time to composition. Their only child, Carice Irene, was born at their home in West Kensington on 14 August 1890. Her name, revealed in Elgar's dedication of Salut d'Amour , was a contraction of her mother's names Caroline and Alice. Elgar took full advantage of the opportunity to hear unfamiliar music. In the days before miniature scores and recordings were available, it
13552-761: The composer disinclined to compete. In 1928 Barbirolli made some recordings for the Edison Bell label. The same year, he began his long association with the His Master's Voice (HMV) label. Immediately after the LSO concert at which he had stood in for Beecham, he was approached by Fred Gaisberg , the chief recording producer for HMV who signed him for his company shortly afterwards. An HMV colleague of Gaisberg described Barbirolli as "a treasure", because he "could accompany Chaliapin without provoking an uproar, win golden opinions from Jascha Heifetz, Artur Rubinstein , Fritz Kreisler and Pablo Casals, and conduct one of
13728-407: The composer's baton. Elgar regularly played the bassoon in a wind quintet, alongside his brother Frank, an oboist (and conductor who ran his own wind band). Elgar arranged numerous pieces by Mozart , Beethoven , Haydn , and others for the quintet, honing his arranging and compositional skills. In his first trips abroad, Elgar visited Paris in 1880 and Leipzig in 1882. He heard Saint-Saëns play
13904-471: The conductor Landon Ronald , confessed privately that he could not "make head or tail of the piece," while the musical scholar Percy Scholes wrote of Falstaff that it was a "great work" but, "so far as public appreciation goes, a comparative failure." When World War I broke out, Elgar was horrified at the prospect of the carnage, but his patriotic feelings were nonetheless aroused. He composed "A Song for Soldiers", which he later withdrew. He signed up as
14080-534: The confidence to accept. He made his operatic debut directing Gounod 's Roméo et Juliette at Newcastle , followed within days by performances of Aida and Madama Butterfly . He conducted the BNOC frequently over the next two years, and made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Madama Butterfly in 1928. The following year he was invited to conduct the opening work in Covent Garden's international season, Don Giovanni , with
14256-552: The conservative subscription audience, and after an initial increase in ticket sales in his early years sales declined. Barbirolli also had to cope with what The Gramophone described as "a rough press campaign in New York from interested parties who wished to evict him from his post". The influential critic Olin Downes had opposed Barbirolli's appointment from the outset, insisting that, though "we abhor chauvinism", preference should have been given to "native conductors". Downes had
14432-516: The countryside by his chauffeur. In November and December 1923, he took a voyage to Brazil, journeying up the Amazon to Manaus , where he was impressed by its opera house, the Teatro Amazonas . Almost nothing is recorded about Elgar's activities or the events that he encountered during the trip, which gave the novelist James Hamilton-Paterson considerable latitude when writing Gerontius ,
14608-443: The critics and on English music in general: "Vulgarity in the course of time may be refined. Vulgarity often goes with inventiveness ... but the commonplace mind can never be anything but commonplace. An Englishman will take you into a large room, beautifully proportioned, and will point out to you that it is white – all over white – and somebody will say, 'What exquisite taste'. You know in your own mind, in your own soul, that it
14784-466: The culminating "Land of Hope and Glory". The second is, for Elgar, unusual in that it contains several quotations from his earlier works, as Richard Strauss quoted himself in Ein Heldenleben . The choral works were all successful, although the first, Gerontius , was and remains the best-loved and most performed. On the manuscript Elgar wrote, quoting John Ruskin , "This is the best of me; for
14960-616: The day he died, 29 July 1970, he spent several hours rehearsing the New Philharmonia Orchestra for a forthcoming tour of Japan that he was scheduled to lead. Barbirolli died at his London home of a heart attack, aged 70. Among planned engagements forestalled by his death were a production of Otello at the Royal Opera House, which would have been his first appearance there for nearly 20 years, and opera recordings for EMI, including Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Verdi's Falstaff . Among Barbirolli's state awards were
15136-493: The disapproval of his father. William Elgar was a violinist of professional standard and held the post of organist of St George's Roman Catholic Church, Worcester , from 1846 to 1885. At his instigation, masses by Cherubini and Hummel were first heard at the Three Choirs Festival by the orchestra in which he played the violin. All the Elgar children received a musical upbringing. By the age of eight, Elgar
15312-475: The early 1950s the BBC sought to recruit him for the BBC Symphony Orchestra . Also in the early 1950s the head of the Royal Opera House, David Webster , wanted him to become the musical director there. Barbirolli conducted six operas for Webster, Turandot , Aida , Orfeo ed Euridice , Tristan und Isolde , La bohème and Madama Butterfly , 1951–53, but he declined to be wooed away from
15488-401: The early acoustic-recording process for His Master's Voice (HMV) from 1914 onwards, but the introduction of electrical microphones in 1925 transformed the gramophone from a novelty into a realistic medium for reproducing orchestral and choral music. Elgar was the first composer to take full advantage of this technological advance. Fred Gaisberg of HMV, who produced Elgar's recordings, set up
15664-575: The example of the Liverpool Philharmonic , which the Hallé's former conductor Malcolm Sargent had transformed into a full-time, permanent orchestra. Only four of the players shared with the BBC chose to join the Hallé. The Times later wrote of Barbirolli's first actions for the orchestra: "In a couple of months of endless auditions, he rebuilt the Hallé, accepting any good player, whatever his musical background – he found himself with
15840-473: The extent that ... they were considered prolix and slackly constructed by some critics. Certainly the invention in them is copious; each symphony would need several dozen music examples to chart its progress." Elgar's Violin Concerto and Cello Concerto , in the view of Kennedy, "rank not only among his finest works, but among the greatest of their kind". They are, however, very different from each other. The Violin Concerto, composed in 1909 as Elgar reached
16016-521: The finest recorded performances of the Quintet from Meistersinger ". Many of Barbirolli's pre-war recordings for HMV were of concertos. His reputation as an accompanist tended to obscure his talents as a symphonic conductor, and later, his detractors in New York "damned him with faint praise by exalting his powers as an accompanist and then implying that that was where it all stopped." Barbirolli became very sensitive on this point, and for many years after
16192-505: The first concert, at which Richter conducted The Dream of Gerontius , and returned the next evening for the second, the London premiere of The Apostles (first heard the previous year at the Birmingham Festival). The final concert of the festival, conducted by Elgar, was primarily orchestral, apart for an excerpt from Caractacus and the complete Sea Pictures (sung by Clara Butt). The orchestral items were Froissart ,
16368-569: The first performance in Worcester in September 1890. For lack of other work, he was obliged to leave London in 1891 and return with his wife and child to Worcestershire, where he could earn a living conducting local musical ensembles and teaching. They settled in Alice's former home town, Great Malvern . During the 1890s, Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for
16544-458: The first performances in English of Turandot . In later tours with the company Barbirolli had the chance to conduct more of the German opera repertory, including Der Rosenkavalier , Tristan und Isolde , and Die Walküre . During his years with the touring opera companies Barbirolli did not neglect the concert hall. In 1927, deputising at short notice for Sir Thomas Beecham , he conducted
16720-598: The first recording of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (arranged for piano by Carl Tausig ) and a complete recording of Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto , her sole recording of a work extending over more than two record sides. In 1919, Winner was the first to issue a recording by a jazz band. All recordings prior to 1922 were made by Edison Bell in London. Subsequently, several recordings were leased from Star Piano Company , Emerson Records , and Paramount Records . Subsequent to 1925, recordings from Crown and Plaza Music Company were used. Edison-Bell
16896-604: The following year, the Dean insisted on expurgations before allowing a performance. Elgar is probably best known for the first of the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches , which were composed between 1901 and 1930. It is familiar to millions of television viewers all over the world every year who watch the Last Night of the Proms , where it is traditionally performed. When the theme of the slower middle section (technically called
17072-463: The general momentum is lost." His final year, 1970, was dogged by heart trouble; he suffered collapses in April, May, June and July. His last two concerts were with the Hallé at the 1970 King's Lynn Festival. He produced "inspired" renderings of Elgar's Symphony No. 1 and Sea Pictures . The last work he conducted in public was Beethoven 's Symphony No. 7 on the Saturday before his death. On
17248-550: The gentle Dream Children (1902), are all short: the longest of them, Cockaigne , lasting less than fifteen minutes. In the South (1903–1904), although designated by Elgar as a concert-overture, is, according to Kennedy, really a tone poem and the longest continuous piece of purely orchestral writing Elgar had essayed. He wrote it after setting aside an early attempt to compose a symphony. The work reveals his continuing progress in writing sustained themes and orchestral lines, although some critics, including Kennedy, find that in
17424-573: The great choral festivals of the English Midlands . The Black Knight (1892) and King Olaf (1896), both inspired by Longfellow , The Light of Life (1896) and Caractacus (1898) were all modestly successful, and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Co . Other works of this decade included the Serenade for Strings (1892) and Three Bavarian Dances (1897). Elgar
17600-550: The height of his popularity, and written for the instrument dearest to his heart, is lyrical throughout and rhapsodical and brilliant by turns. The Cello Concerto, composed a decade later, immediately after World War I, seems, in Kennedy's words, "to belong to another age, another world ... the simplest of all Elgar's major works ... also the least grandiloquent." Between the two concertos came Elgar's symphonic study Falstaff , which has divided opinion even among Elgar's strongest admirers. Donald Tovey viewed it as "one of
17776-408: The honours given him, realising that they mattered more to her and her social class and recognising what she had given up to further his career. In her diary, she wrote, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." As an engagement present, Elgar dedicated his short violin-and-piano piece Salut d'Amour to her. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to
17952-447: The immeasurably great things in music", with power "identical with Shakespeare's", while Kennedy criticises the work for "too frequent reliance on sequences " and an over-idealised depiction of the female characters. Reed thought that the principal themes show less distinction than some of Elgar's earlier works. Elgar himself thought Falstaff the highest point of his purely orchestral work. The major works for voices and orchestra of
18128-612: The influence of Wagner is apparent, but Elgar's individual style of orchestration owes much to the clarity of nineteenth-century French composers, Berlioz, Massenet , Saint-Saëns and, particularly, Delibes , whose music Elgar played and conducted at Worcester and greatly admired. Elgar began composing when still a child, and all his life he drew on his early sketchbooks for themes and inspiration. The habit of assembling his compositions, even large-scale ones, from scraps of themes jotted down randomly remained throughout his life. His early adult works included violin and piano pieces, music for
18304-456: The last students of Theodor Leschetizky . In the early 1920s the company introduced a higher-quality series, Velvet Face Records, so called because the material of which they were made was allegedly smoother than that used by other manufacturers. These had green labels, and the catalogue included some ambitious items, such as an abridged version (1925) of Edward Elgar 's oratorio The Dream of Gerontius and, from Novello, what has been reported as
18480-640: The last year of the First World War, Barbirolli enlisted in the army and became a lance-corporal in the Suffolk Regiment . Here he had his first opportunity to conduct, when an orchestra of volunteers was formed. He later described the experience: I was stationed on the Isle of Grain – a ghastly place but the first line of defence against invasion – and in our battalion of the Suffolks we had
18656-461: The leading composer of his day, was so impressed that in Elgar's presence he proposed a toast to the success of "the first English progressive musician, Meister Elgar." Performances in Vienna, Paris and New York followed, and The Dream of Gerontius soon became equally admired in Britain. According to Kennedy, "It is unquestionably the greatest British work in the oratorio form ... [it] opened
18832-632: The less true and sturdy English quality". He began composing at an early age; for a play written and acted by the Elgar children when he was about ten, he wrote music that forty years later he rearranged with only minor changes and orchestrated as the suites titled The Wand of Youth . Until he was fifteen, Elgar received a general education at Littleton (now Lyttleton) House school, near Worcester. His only formal musical training beyond piano and violin lessons from local teachers consisted of more advanced violin studies with Adolf Pollitzer , during brief visits to London in 1877–78. Elgar said, "my first music
19008-611: The middle part "Elgar's inspiration burns at less than its brightest." In 1905 Elgar completed the Introduction and Allegro for Strings . This work is based, unlike much of Elgar's earlier writing, not on a profusion of themes but on only three. Kennedy called it a "masterly composition, equalled among English works for strings only by Vaughan Williams 's Tallis Fantasia ." During the next four years Elgar composed three major concert pieces, which, though shorter than comparable works by some of his European contemporaries, are among
19184-415: The mood of the 'party' (the person) ... and have written what I think they would have written – if they were asses enough to compose". He dedicated the work "To my friends pictured within". Probably the best known variation is "Nimrod", depicting Jaeger. Purely musical considerations led Elgar to omit variations depicting Arthur Sullivan and Hubert Parry, whose styles he tried but failed to incorporate in
19360-523: The most substantial such works by an English composer. These were his First Symphony , Violin Concerto , and Second Symphony , which all play for between forty-five minutes and an hour. McVeagh says of the symphonies that they "rank high not only in Elgar's output but in English musical history. Both are long and powerful, without published programmes, only hints and quotations to indicate some inward drama from which they derive their vitality and eloquence. Both are based on classical form but differ from it to
19536-566: The new vocal version into the Ode. The publishers of the score recognised the potential of the vocal piece, " Land of Hope and Glory ", and asked Benson and Elgar to make a further revision for publication as a separate song. It was immensely popular and is now considered an unofficial British national anthem. In the United States, the trio, known simply as "Pomp and Circumstance" or "The Graduation March", has been adopted since 1905 for virtually all high school and university graduations. In March 1904
19712-446: The next year. Elgar was greatly distressed, and some of his later cryptic dedications of romantic music may have alluded to Helen and his feelings for her. Throughout his life, Elgar was often inspired by close women friends; Helen Weaver was succeeded by Mary Lygon , Dora Penny , Julia Worthington, Alice Stuart Wortley and finally Vera Hockman, who enlivened his old age. In 1882, seeking more professional orchestral experience, Elgar
19888-429: The office of a local solicitor as a clerk. He did not find an office career congenial, and for fulfilment he turned not only to music but to literature, becoming a voracious reader. Around this time, he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, Elgar left the solicitor to embark on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons and working occasionally in his father's shop. He
20064-555: The orchestra at La Scala , Milan, where they had taken part in the première of Otello in 1887. In London they played in West End theatre orchestras, principally that of the Empire, Leicester Square . The young Barbirolli began to play the violin when he was four, but soon changed to the cello. He later said that this was at the instigation of his grandfather who, exasperated at the child's habit of wandering around while practising
20240-442: The orchestra played superbly for him and that the criticism of him was largely unjustified." Recordings from this period include symphonies by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, and other orchestral music by Berlioz, Debussy , Menotti , Purcell, Ravel, Respighi , and Rimsky-Korsakov . Within six months of his return to Britain in 1943, Barbirolli resumed his contract with HMV, conducting
20416-466: The orchestra's invitation to fill the post, but he was politically unacceptable to a section of the Philharmonic's audience because he continued to live and work in Germany under the Nazi government. Following a campaign of protest in New York he felt unable to take up the appointment. For want of any available conductor of comparable fame the management of the orchestra invited five guest conductors to divide
20592-520: The organ at the Madeleine and attended concerts by first-rate orchestras. In 1882 he wrote, "I got pretty well dosed with Schumann (my ideal!), Brahms , Rubinstein & Wagner , so had no cause to complain." In Leipzig he visited a friend, Helen Weaver, who was a student at the Conservatoire. They became engaged in the summer of 1883, but for unknown reasons the engagement was broken off
20768-481: The overture Froissart , was a romantic-bravura piece, influenced by Mendelssohn and Wagner, but also showing further Elgarian characteristics. Orchestral works composed during the subsequent years in Worcestershire include the Serenade for Strings and Three Bavarian Dances . In this period and later, Elgar wrote songs and part songs . W. H. Reed expressed reservations about these pieces, but praised
20944-482: The part song The Snow , for female voices, and Sea Pictures , a cycle of five songs for contralto and orchestra which remains in the repertory. Elgar's principal large-scale early works were for chorus and orchestra for the Three Choirs and other festivals. These were The Black Knight , King Olaf , The Light of Life , The Banner of St George and Caractacus . He also wrote a Te Deum and Benedictus for
21120-457: The players and wrote and arranged their music, including quadrilles and polkas, for the unusual combination of instruments. The Musical Times wrote, "This practical experience proved to be of the greatest value to the young musician. ... He acquired a practical knowledge of the capabilities of these different instruments. ... He thereby got to know intimately the tone colour, the ins and outs of these and many other instruments." He held
21296-589: The post for five years, from 1879, travelling to Powick once a week. Another post he held in his early days was professor of the violin at the Worcester College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen . Although rather solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles. He played in the violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Dvořák 's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under
21472-597: The premiere, which was marred by a poorly prepared chorus, which sang badly. Critics recognised the mastery of the piece despite the defects in performance. It was performed in Düsseldorf , Germany, in 1901 and again in 1902, conducted by Julius Buths , who also conducted the European premiere of the Enigma Variations in 1901. The German press was enthusiastic. The Cologne Gazette said, "In both parts we meet with beauties of imperishable value. ... Elgar stands on
21648-575: The present day a worldwide concert staple. Elgar's biographer Basil Maine commented, "When Sir Arthur Sullivan died in 1900 it became apparent to many that Elgar, although a composer of another build, was his true successor as first musician of the land." Elgar's next major work was eagerly awaited. For the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of 1900, he set Cardinal John Henry Newman 's poem The Dream of Gerontius for soloists, chorus and orchestra. Richter conducted
21824-481: The public", Adrian Boult, for bringing "the grandeur and nobility of the work" to a wider public. Also in 1920, Landon Ronald presented an all-Elgar concert at the Queen's Hall . Alice Elgar wrote with enthusiasm about the reception of the symphony, but this was one of the last times she heard Elgar's music played in public. After a short illness, she died of lung cancer on 7 April 1920, at the age of seventy-two. Elgar
22000-420: The regular repertory. In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were immensely successful. His second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity and took many years to achieve a regular place in the concert repertory of British orchestras. Elgar's music came, in his later years, to be seen as appealing chiefly to British audiences. His stock remained low for
22176-528: The rest of Barbirolli's life. One of the features of Barbirolli's time in New York was his regular programming of modern works. He gave the world premières of Walton 's second Façade Suite , and Britten 's Sinfonia da Requiem and Violin Concerto ; he also introduced pieces by Jacques Ibert , Eugene Goossens , and Arthur Bliss and by many American composers including Samuel Barber , Deems Taylor and Daniel Gregory Mason . The new works he presented were not avant-garde, but they nevertheless alienated
22352-522: The rest were shocked by this but there was little they could do about it. They also said that conductors must become American citizens. I couldn't do that during the war, or at any time for that matter." His second reason for leaving was that he felt strongly that he was needed in England. In the spring of 1942 he made a hazardous Atlantic crossing: I was in America when the war broke out, as conductor of
22528-541: The rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another. My life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw, and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory." All three of the large-scale works follow the traditional model with sections for soloists, chorus and both together. Elgar's distinctive orchestration, as well as his melodic inspiration, lifts them to a higher level than most of their British predecessors. Elgar's other works of his middle period include incidental music for Grania and Diarmid ,
22704-408: The roll-call. 'Who is this Guy Vanni?' he used to ask. So I chose John." After demobilisation he reverted to the original form of his name, using it until 1922. On re-entering civilian life, Barbirolli resumed his career as a cellist. His association with Edward Elgar 's Cello Concerto began with its première in 1919, when he played as a rank and file member of the London Symphony Orchestra . He
22880-486: The same time as this great change in his professional life, Barbirolli's personal life was also transformed. His marriage had not lasted; within four years he and Marjorie Barbirolli had been living apart. In 1938 she sued for divorce on the grounds of his desertion. The suit was undefended, and the divorce was granted in December 1938. In 1939, Barbirolli married the British oboist Evelyn Rothwell . The marriage lasted for
23056-890: The season among them. Barbirolli was allotted the first ten weeks of the season, comprising 26 concerts. He was followed by the composer-conductors Igor Stravinsky , Georges Enescu and Carlos Chávez , each conducting for two weeks, and finally by Artur Rodziński of the Cleveland Orchestra , for eight weeks. Barbirolli's first concert in New York was on 5 November 1936. The programme consisted of short pieces by Berlioz and Arnold Bax , and symphonies by Mozart (the Linz ) and Brahms (the Fourth ). During his ten weeks, he programmed several American novelties including Charles Martin Loeffler 's tone-poem Memories of My Childhood ,
23232-471: The shoulders of Berlioz, Wagner, and Liszt , from whose influences he has freed himself until he has become an important individuality. He is one of the leaders of musical art of modern times." The Düsseldorfer Volksblatt wrote, "A memorable and epoch-making first performance! Since the days of Liszt nothing has been produced in the way of oratorio ... which reaches the greatness and importance of this sacred cantata." Richard Strauss, then widely viewed as
23408-719: The singer Marjorie Parry, a member of the BNOC. In 1933 he was invited to become conductor of the Scottish Orchestra . It was not then, as its successor the Scottish National Orchestra was later to be, a permanent ensemble, but gave a season lasting about six months of each year. Barbirolli remained with the Scottish Orchestra for three seasons, "rejuvenating the playing and programmes and winning most favourable opinions". Notwithstanding his growing reputation in Britain, Barbirolli's name
23584-596: The string parts in preparation for his performances. His first performance of Mahler's Ninth took nearly 50 hours of rehearsal. From almost the start of his career Barbirolli was a frequent recording artist. As a young cellist he made four records for Edison Bell in 1911, with piano accompaniment by his sister Rosa, and as part of the Kutcher and the Music Society string quartets he recorded music by Mozart, Purcell, Vaughan Williams and others in 1925 and 1926. As
23760-402: The tune. Elgar's other compositions during the war included incidental music for a children's play, The Starlight Express (1915); a ballet, The Sanguine Fan (1917); and The Spirit of England (1915–17, to poems by Laurence Binyon ), three choral settings very different in character from the romantic patriotism of his earlier years. His last large-scale composition of the war years
23936-465: The twenty-one years of Elgar's middle period are three large-scale works for soloists, chorus and orchestra: The Dream of Gerontius (1900), and the oratorios The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906); and two shorter odes, the Coronation Ode (1902) and The Music Makers (1912). The first of the odes, as a pièce d'occasion , has rarely been revived after its initial success, with
24112-465: The unfinished works. He asked Reed to ensure that nobody would "tinker" with the sketches and attempt a completion of the symphony, but at other times he said, "If I can't complete the Third Symphony, somebody will complete it – or write a better one." After Elgar's death, Percy M. Young , in co-operation with the BBC and Elgar's daughter Carice, produced a version of The Spanish Lady , which
24288-433: The variations. The large-scale work was received with general acclaim for its originality, charm and craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. The work is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme ; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six bars of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on
24464-645: The violin, bought him a small cello to stop him from "getting in everybody's way". His education at St Clement Danes Grammar School overlapped, from 1910, with a scholarship at Trinity College of Music . As a Trinity student, he made his concert debut in a cello concerto in the Queen's Hall in 1911. The following year he won the Ada Lewis Scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music , which he attended from 1912 to 1916, studying harmony, counterpoint and theory under J. B. McEwen and
24640-411: The war he was reluctant to accompany anyone in the recording studio. Among his early HMV records are works, mainly concertos, by Brahms, Bruch , Chopin , Dvořák , Glazunov , Mendelssohn , Mozart, Schumann , Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Vieuxtemps . From the 1990s onwards, archive recordings of Barbirolli's early concerts in New York have been issued on CD. Kennedy wrote in 2004 that they "prove that
24816-461: The week of inadequate rehearsal. Whatever the explanation, the sad fact remains that never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable an exhibition of itself. ... The work itself is lovely stuff, very simple – that pregnant simplicity that has come upon Elgar's music in the last couple of years – but with a profound wisdom and beauty underlying its simplicity." Elgar attached no blame to his soloist, Felix Salmond , who played
24992-566: The wind quintet in which he and his brother played between 1878 and 1881, and music of many types for the Powick Asylum band. Diana McVeagh in Grove's Dictionary finds many embryonic Elgarian touches in these pieces, but few of them are regularly played, except Salut d'Amour and (as arranged decades later into The Wand of Youth Suites) some of the childhood sketches. Elgar's sole work of note during his first spell in London in 1889–91,
25168-555: The work for him again later. In contrast with the First Symphony and its hundred performances in just over a year, the Cello Concerto did not have a second performance in London for more than a year. Although in the 1920s Elgar's music was no longer in fashion, his admirers continued to present his works when possible. Reed singles out a performance of the Second Symphony in March 1920 conducted by "a young man almost unknown to
25344-551: The zenith of popularity. He made four visits to the US, including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music. Between 1905 and 1908, he held the post of Peyton Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham . He had accepted the post reluctantly, feeling that a composer should not head a school of music. He was not at ease in the role, and his lectures caused controversy, with his attacks on
25520-550: Was The Fringes of the Fleet , settings of verses by Rudyard Kipling , performed with great popular success around the country, until Kipling for unexplained reasons objected to their performance in theatres. Elgar conducted a recording of the work for the Gramophone Company . Towards the end of the war, Elgar was in poor health. His wife thought it best for him to move to the countryside, and she rented "Brinkwells",
25696-414: Was "very sick at heart over music" and hoped to find a way to succeed with a larger work. His friend August Jaeger tried to lift his spirits: "A day's attack of the blues ... will not drive away your desire, your necessity, which is to exercise those creative faculties which a kind providence has given you. Your time of universal recognition will come." In 1899, that prediction suddenly came true. At
25872-554: Was a British conductor and cellist . He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini 's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic , serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and
26048-448: Was a conductor!'" Barbirolli's repertoire was not as wide as that of many of his colleagues because he insisted on exhaustive preparation for any work he conducted. His colleague Sir Adrian Boult liked and admired Barbirolli but teased him for his meticulousness: "We can't all be like you and spend months studying these things and then have days of rehearsals before we conduct them. For some of us they're only sporting events." Barbirolli
26224-414: Was a director: the arrangement was designed to ensure an equal partnership between the company and the musicians. They made many recordings, including symphonies by Beethoven, Dvořák, Elgar, Mozart, Nielsen , Sibelius, Mahler, Tchaikovsky and Vaughan Williams, as well as a few concertos, short orchestral pieces and operatic excerpts. In 1962, HMV persuaded Barbirolli to return. With the Hallé he recorded
26400-554: Was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra , London Symphony Orchestra , the Philharmonia , the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic , with all of which he made recordings. Born in London of Italian and French parentage, Barbirolli grew up in a family of professional musicians. After starting out as a cellist, he was given the chance to conduct, from 1926 with
26576-535: Was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British Army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after
26752-449: Was accorded a double encore." To mark the coronation of Edward VII , Elgar was commissioned to set A. C. Benson 's Coronation Ode for a gala concert at the Royal Opera House on 30 June 1902. The approval of the king was confirmed, and Elgar began work. The contralto Clara Butt had persuaded him that the trio of the first Pomp and Circumstance march could have words fitted to it, and Elgar invited Benson to do so. Elgar incorporated
26928-467: Was an active member of the Worcester Glee club , along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played the violin, composed and arranged works, and conducted for the first time. Pollitzer believed that, as a violinist, Elgar had the potential to be one of the leading soloists in the country, but Elgar himself, having heard leading virtuosi at London concerts, felt his own violin playing lacked
27104-547: Was born on 2 December 1899 in Southampton Row , Holborn , London, the second child and eldest son of an Italian father and a French mother. He was a British national from birth, and as Southampton Row is within the sound of Bow Bells , Barbirolli always regarded himself as a Cockney . His father, Lorenzo Barbirolli (1864–1929), was a Venetian violinist who had settled in London with his wife, Louise Marie, née Ribeyrol (1870–1962). Lorenzo and his father had played in
27280-620: Was buried next to his wife at St Wulstan's Roman Catholic Church in Little Malvern . Elgar was contemptuous of folk music and had little interest in or respect for the early English composers, calling William Byrd and his contemporaries "museum pieces". Of later English composers, he regarded Purcell as the greatest, and he said that he had learned much of his own technique from studying Hubert Parry's writings. The continental composers who most influenced Elgar were Handel, Dvořák and, to some degree, Brahms. In Elgar's chromaticism ,
27456-402: Was devastated by the loss of his wife. With no public demand for new works, and deprived of Alice's constant support and inspiration, he allowed himself to be deflected from composition. His daughter later wrote that Elgar inherited from his father a reluctance to "settle down to work on hand but could cheerfully spend hours over some perfectly unnecessary and entirely unremunerative undertaking",
27632-601: Was employed as a violinist in Birmingham in William Stockley's Orchestra , for whom he played every concert for the next seven years and where he later said he "learned all the music I know". On 13 December 1883 he took part with Stockley in a performance at Birmingham Town Hall of one of his first works for full orchestra, the Sérénade mauresque – the first time one of his compositions had been performed by
27808-517: Was eventually absorbed by England-based company Decca Records . Decca introduced a new series of Winner records that were primarily sourced from American Vocalion . These were discontinued January 1935. More than 3500 Winner gramophone discs had been issued. A full listing of Winner records is published by the CLPGS . John Barbirolli Sir John Barbirolli ( né Giovanni Battista Barbirolli ; 2 December 1899 – 29 July 1970)
27984-651: Was given – Kindertotenlieder , with Elena Gerhardt as soloist. Although Barbirolli later came to love Mahler's music, in the 1930s he thought it sounded thin. When the Hallé Orchestra announced in 1932 that its regular conductor, Hamilton Harty , was to spend some time conducting overseas, Barbirolli was one of four guest conductors named to direct the orchestra in Harty's absence: the other three were Elgar, Beecham and Pierre Monteux . Barbirolli's programmes included works by composers as diverse as Purcell , Delius , Mozart and Franck . In June 1932, Barbirolli married
28160-470: Was horrified by her intention to marry an unknown musician who worked in a shop and was a Roman Catholic . She was disinherited." They were married on 8 May 1889, at Brompton Oratory . From then until her death, she acted as his business manager and social secretary, dealt with his mood swings, and was a perceptive musical critic. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time, he would learn to accept
28336-579: Was horrified when Elgar later told him what had happened. Elgar's only important commission while in London came from his home city: the Worcester Festival Committee invited him to compose a short orchestral work for the 1890 Three Choirs Festival. The result is described by Diana McVeagh in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , as "his first major work, the assured and uninhibited Froissart ." Elgar conducted
28512-551: Was in charge. Later he extended his teaching skills to the Royal Academy of Music, where he took charge of the student orchestra from 1961. Barbirolli refused invitations to take up more prestigious and lucrative conductorships. Shortly after he took over the Hallé he received an offer from the sponsors of an ambitious scheme that would have put him in charge of the London Symphony Orchestra, and in
28688-415: Was issued on CD. The Third Symphony sketches were elaborated by the composer Anthony Payne into a complete score in 1997. Inoperable colorectal cancer was discovered during an operation on 8 October 1933. He told his consulting doctor, Arthur Thomson , that he had no faith in an afterlife : "I believe there is nothing but complete oblivion." Elgar died on 23 February 1934 at the age of seventy-six and
28864-431: Was keenly interested in modern music, and he and three colleagues secretly rehearsed Ravel's String Quartet in the privacy of a men's lavatory in the Academy. From 1916 to 1918 Barbirolli was a freelance cellist in London. He recalled, "My first orchestral engagement was with the Queen's Hall Orchestra – I was probably the youngest orchestral musician ever, joining them in 1916. We had an enormous repertory – six concerts
29040-533: Was learnt in the Cathedral ... from books borrowed from the music library, when I was eight, nine or ten." He worked through manuals of instruction on organ playing and read every book he could find on the theory of music. He later said that he had been most helped by Hubert Parry 's articles in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Elgar began to learn German, in the hope of going to
29216-648: Was little known internationally, and most of the musical world was taken by surprise in 1936 when he was invited to conduct the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in succession to Arturo Toscanini . By the spring of 1936, the management of the New York Philharmonic was confronted with a problem. Toscanini had left in search of higher fees with the NBC Symphony Orchestra . Wilhelm Furtwängler had accepted
29392-534: Was not easy for young composers to get to know new music. Elgar took every chance to do so at the Crystal Palace Concerts . He and Alice attended day after day, hearing music by a wide range of composers. Among these were masters of orchestration from whom he learned much, such as Berlioz and Richard Wagner. His own compositions made little impact on London's musical scene. August Manns conducted Elgar's orchestral version of Salut d'amour and
29568-509: Was of enough consequence locally to recommend the young composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to the Three Choirs Festival for a concert piece, which helped establish the younger man's career. Elgar was catching the attention of prominent critics, but their reviews were polite rather than enthusiastic. Although he was in demand as a festival composer, he was only just getting by financially and felt unappreciated. In 1898, he said he
29744-541: Was reaching its expiry, he was offered 18 concerts for the 1943–44 season, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic invited him to become its conductor, but he accepted neither offer as he had decided to return to England. Barbirolli's first reason for leaving was local musical politics. He later said, "The Musicians Union there ... brought out a new regulation saying that everyone, even soloists and conductors, must become members. Horowitz , Heifetz and
29920-399: Was scrubbing the floor in the Officers' Mess when they came and invited me to take over. We did the Light Cavalry overture and Coleridge-Taylor 's Petite Suite de Concert but I can't say I recall the rest of the programme. While in the army, Barbirolli adopted the anglicised form of his first name for the sake of simplicity: "The sergeant-major had great difficulty in reading my name on
30096-447: Was shocked by such levity. His approach was illustrated by the care he took with Mahler's symphonies. His biographer Michael Kennedy commented, "it is ironical that the effort of composing the symphonies shortened Mahler's life; interpreting them certainly put an enormous strain on Barbirolli in his last decade." He found that mastering a Mahler symphony took between 18 months and two years, and he would spend hours meticulously bowing all
30272-580: Was taking piano and violin lessons, and his father, who tuned the pianos at many grand houses in Worcestershire, would sometimes take him along, giving him the chance to display his skill to important local figures. Elgar's mother was interested in the arts and encouraged his musical development. He inherited from her a discerning taste for literature and a passionate love of the countryside. His friend and biographer W. H. "Billy" Reed wrote that Elgar's early surroundings had an influence that "permeated all his work and gave to his whole life that subtle but none
30448-410: Was the Introduction and Allegro for Strings , dedicated to Samuel Sanford . It was well received but did not catch the public imagination as The Dream of Gerontius had done and continued to do. Among keen Elgarians, however, The Kingdom was sometimes preferred to the earlier work: Elgar's friend Frank Schuster told the young Adrian Boult : "compared with The Kingdom , Gerontius is the work of
30624-425: Was the impact of the concerto that Kreisler's rival Eugène Ysaÿe spent much time with Elgar going through the work. There was great disappointment when contractual difficulties prevented Ysaÿe from playing it in London. The Violin Concerto was Elgar's last popular triumph. The following year he presented his Second Symphony in London, but was disappointed at its reception. Unlike the First Symphony, it ends not in
30800-454: Was the soloist at another performance of the concerto just over a year later. The Musical Times commented, "Signor Giovanni Barbirolli was not entirely equal to the demands of the solo music, but his playing unquestionably gave a considerable amount of pleasure." At the Three Choirs Festival of 1920 he took part in his first Dream of Gerontius , under Elgar's baton, in the LSO cellos. He joined two newly founded string quartets as cellist:
30976-492: Was unveiled on 24 June 1993. A late piece of Elgar's, the Nursery Suite , was an early example of a studio premiere: its first performance was in the Abbey Road studios. For this work, dedicated to the wife and daughters of the Duke of York , Elgar once again drew on his youthful sketch-books. In his final years, Elgar experienced a musical revival. The BBC organised a festival of his works to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday, in 1932. He flew to Paris in 1933 to conduct
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