Musical Life

Helen Marquard

Description

Hedwig Stein was starting to make her mark as a concert pianist in Germany in the early 1930s when she fell in love with a Russian emigre pianist, Iso Elinson. He was half-Jewish, and quickly the pair knew they had little choice but to flee, despite vehement family opposition to that and to their proposed marriage. They chose England as their destination although neither had visited the country or spoke the language. They arrived with just twelve bags, a very small amount of money, a recommendation about Iso from Albert Einstein, and a few letters of introduction. Bit by bit, they managed to establish themselves in the musical world, encountering warmth, generosity, and friendship wherever they turned, especially in the early days and throughout the War years which they spent largely in West Sussex, away from the Blitz. Much later, in Manchester, Helen Marquard's search for a piano teacher led her to Hedwig. During long evenings, Hedwig relatedstories of her life - stories about her family, the War, musicians and artists she knew and had known - and shared her knowledge andideas on art, philosophy, and literature. They were the most vivid of stories, and she was one of the most vivid of people, exhilarating tobe with. When, after Hedwig had died, Helen discovered she had written a diary, she resolved that others should get to hear about her.The Musical Lifeis Helen's story of Hedwig, interwoven with Hedwig's own telling of her history through her diaries and letters. It is a worldthat has gone. Touching, sometimes wry, always insightful, this is above all memorable reading.

Sujets

• History of classical music traditions
• Piano

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 28 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838596668
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 Helen Marquard

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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ISBN 978 1838596 668

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Matador is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

To
Anna,
whose unstinting help, encouragement and friendship made this possible;

for
Brian,
who knows why;

and
with my profound thanks to the many people who have been so generous in sharing memories, places, information, and ideas with me along the way and who I hope will enjoy reading the composite story.







Hedwig Stein programme Wigmore Hall 1956
Contents
One
My letter to Anna
Two
Genesis
Three
Hedwig Stein – a musical career
Four
Heritage, and the early days
Five
Independence. Iso. And Love
Six
Berlin – a staging post only: clouds blacken
Seven
The vexed question
Eight
Into the unknown
Nine
War and welcomes in Sussex
Ten
More war, more concerts, and yet another beginning
Eleven
Feet-finding post-War
Twelve
Implosion
Thirteen
Alone
Fourteen
Coda

Dramatis Personae
Illustrations
1. Extracts from Hedwig’s Diary
2. Programme from one of Hedwig’s earliest concerts: 1923
3. James Kwast (1852–1927). Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of the University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
4. Frieda Kwast-Hodapp. Photographs reproduced with the kind permission of the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany.
5. Wigmore Hall – a favourite venue for Hedwig and Iso. Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of Kaupo Kikkas.
6. Hedwig’s family
7. Adolf Kussmaul, by Franz von Lenbach.
8. Vincenz Czerny, by Friedel Stein
9. Margarete Stein-Czerny (Gretel), in her later years
10. Front cover of Max Reger’s Five New Songs for Children. Photograph is of Hedwig and her brother Max Martin Stein, reproduced with the kind permission of the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany.
11. Max Reger, by Friedel Stein
12. A Place for Holidays: Schloss Mauren a) Painting from 1681. Vorlage und Aufnahme: Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart: Mauren, BB, H 107/3 Bd 10 Bl 7 b) Photograph from 1938, reproduced with the kind permission of the Krohmer family.
13. Drawing by Hedwig (aged 12). Reverse side reads: ‘Costumed Duck by Bautzel Stein, the 10 December 1919, after the Christmas Duck from the ‘Chorus of the Greek Women’ (from Iphigenia)’.
14. Iso Elinson’s parents, Marie and Yossip.
15. Iso
16. Hedwig’s Easter greetings to Iso, 1932
17. Fritz Stein in the 1920s or 1930s. Photograph reproduced with kind permission of the Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesbibliothek, Germany
18. Gretel and Fritz Stein with Max Reger at the Martinsbrunn Sanatorium, 1914. Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of the Max-Reger-Institut, Karlsruhe, Germany.
19. Programme from Chelsea Town Hall concert, 1952
20. Hedwig, Fritz and Iso in the 1950s
21. Sketches of Iso by Ivon Hitchens, 1959
22. Gayles, Friston, West Sussex. Photograph reproduced with the kind permission of the Gayles archive.
23. Mill House, West Chiltington. Photograph reproduced with kind permission of Chris, Elaine and Harri Hunt
24. A lecture-recital venue: Little Thakeham, West Sussex.
25. Messing about on the water: the Elinson family (left-hand punt) at Roy and Sheila Armstrong’s Photograph reproduced with kind permission of Jean and Ian Macwhirter
26. Fittleworth House. Photograph courtesy of Mark Saunders.
27. Wentworth Woodhouse. Photographs reproduced with kind permission of Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust
28. Anna, Hedwig and Tex on holiday in Italy
29. Hedwig in her later years
One
My letter to Anna
Here is the past and all its inhabitants miraculously sealed as in a magic tank; all we have to do is to look and to listen and to listen and to look and soon the little figures – for they are rather under life-size – will begin to move and to speak, and as they move we shall arrange them in all sorts of patterns of which they were ignorant, for they thought when they were alive that they could go where they liked; and as they speak we shall read into their sayings all kinds of meanings which never struck them for they believed when they were alive that they said straight off whatever came into their heads. But once you are in a biography, all is different.
Virginia Woolf, The Art of Biography 1
Dearest Anna
This letter, with its considerable appendix, is surely going to be the longest letter anyone has ever written to you. At its heart is one of the people most close to you: your mother, Hedwig. What more can I possibly tell you about your own mother, you must surely ask – especially when you know that the bulk of the material I have drawn on is what you have provided me with: diaries, letters, photographs, concert programmes, your recollections. But I couldn’t countenance simply compiling and editing those, and leaving it at that. No, what I’d like to share with you, and others, are my impressions of Hedwig and her life, my story of how I came to write her story, and her account of the events that impinged or crashed on her, together with the characters who played various roles and were influential in her thinking or her actions. Music took centre stage in her life; what she read, the art she saw, and the countrysides she loved of course added to that. I wanted to explore, as far as I could, how this deeply colourful woman changed through her life, as a pianist, as a teacher, as a wife, and as a mother, and how she affected others.
Of the many people I have met in my life, Hedwig stands out. Her sparkle for life, her ideas and her passion for music, all of which she was so ready to share with others, were irresistible. Time spent with her was as exhilarating as being on the top of a mountain, the wind blowing through your hair, while you share your feelings with the good friend at your side. Add to that the currents that flowed through her life, the kindnesses of strangers in helping her as an émigrée, and people she or her family and friends associated with, a few of whom I had already heard of when I first met her: Albert Einstein, Brahms, Max Reger, Peter Maxwell Davies, Jacob Epstein, Albert Schweitzer, Margaret Mead, JB Priestley. The mix was as powerful as the strongest of cocktails.
Attempting to tell the story of anyone’s life is daunting. Maybe the clue is in the word ‘story’ rather than ‘biography’. It implies a fusion of the writer’s imagination and experience with the facts about another’s life, the aim being to portray that person and what it was about her that was distinctive. Even when there are resources to hand, the gaps are inevitably larger than the material available; interpretation of diaries, letters and accounts will at the very least be tinged with, or even drastically coloured by, the storyteller’s own perceptions and experience.
Thinking back to my early teenage years, I remember finding out about the local library, and there making the discovery that there were books about people. The kind librarian told me they were ‘biographies’. These were not the fairytales or made-up stories I’d read when I was smaller, but much thicker, ‘proper’ books, some about people I had come across, others about people completely unknown to me. Physically they were contained within the binding of the books. And yet, as I sampled some of those on offer, I started to form clear impressions of their subjects until at the end, I felt as though I had been a companion through their lives. The sense of knowing the people personally, almost of owning them, persisted, even today. The individuals became, in some strange way, part of my circle of associates. Some I liked, others I did not; some I even felt I could identify with, to a greater or lesser extent. Some led me to examine my own life and preoccupations and positions, opening new doors and maybe closing existing ones. Of those, a few triggered quite radical changes in me, or in my plans for and attitude to my lif