Fanny Davies
Encyclopedia
Fanny Davies was an English
pianist
who was particularly admired in Beethoven
, Schumann
, Brahms
, and the early schools, but was also a very early London
performer of the works of Debussy
and Scriabin
. In England, she was regarded as the 'successor' of Arabella Goddard
, though her style and technique differed from Goddard's considerably.
Her first public performances were in Birmingham
at the age of six. She studied privately in Birmingham, then at Leipzig Conservatory under Carl Reinecke
and Oscar Paul: she then studied under Clara Schumann
at Frankfurt
. Her concert career began with the Saturday and Monday popular concerts in 1885; with the Philharmonic concerts 1886; Berlin
, 1887; Gewandhaus
, Leipzig
, 1888; Rome
, 1889; Beethoven Festival at Bonn
, 1893; Vienna Philharmonic, 1895; Milan
, 1895 and 1904; Paris
, 1902, 1904 and 1905; Netherlands
, 1920 and 1921; Prague
, 1920 and 1922; and Spain
1923. She was frequently engaged by the Royal Philharmonic Society
, making her last appearance in its Society programme on 15 November 1915 under the baton of Thomas Beecham
in Mozart
's G major Concerto, K. 453
. She had appeared in a Mozart concerto at Beecham's London debut at the Bechstein (Wigmore) Hall
on 5 June 1905.
Her work in the large concert works was admired by many for its lyrical projection, warmth and clarity of inner lines and musicianly authority. George Bernard Shaw
was not a great admirer, and in 1891 described her as a 'wild young woman'. In May 1892, after a performance of Beethoven's Choral Fantasia
, he wrote: 'To those who cannot understand how anybody could touch a note of that melody without emotion, her willing, affable, slap-dash treatment of it was a wonder'. But a year later, at her Crystal Palace
performance of the Chopin
F minor concerto
, he was warming to her, calling it 'the most successful feat of interpretation and execution I have ever heard her achieve'.
Her once-popular late 1920s recording of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor
represents a direct tradition from the composer. Harold C. Schonberg
observed, 'behind her neat, controlled, tasteful playing one can see the specter of Clara'. Yet, despite an old recorded sound, the performance is not without its fire and drama.
Fanny Davies was also admired in chamber music, playing often in trio with Joseph Joachim
. In 1892 (March 28, April 2–4), she appeared with Richard Mühlfeld
and Robert Hausmann in the first London performances of the Brahms A Minor Clarinet Trio, Op. 114, when the Joachim Quartet with Mühlfeld was also performing the Op. 115 Quintet
. She also gave the first London performance of Brahm's D minor Violin Sonata, also with Joachim. In her accompaniment of Joachim in the Brahms Hungarian Dances (April 1892), Shaw referred to her 'curious tricks and manners which so often suggest wicket-keeping rather than piano-playing.' She was accompanist for lieder recitals given in 1894–6 by the baritone David Bispham
, in Schumann and Brahms (including the Op. 112 Liebeslieder); and in Brahms lieder for Gervase Elwes and Marie Brema
on their German tour in 1908.
Like Leonard Borwick
(another Clara Schumann pupil and accompanist in lieder to Harry Plunket Greene
), she 'embodied in a remarkable degree the unique qualities of the romantic school of which ... Clara Schumann was admittedly the most spontaneous and finished exponent. The success of these two native artists was destined to afford great encouragement to rising students both in England and on the continent. It also helped to create among the general mass of amateurs a taste for pianoforte playing of a more warm-blooded type than had hitherto satisfied them', wrote Herman Klein
in c. 1891. Davies also published musicological articles (e.g. on Schumann's music, Musical Times August 1911, and on Brahms's own playing and tempi in the C minor Piano Trio, Op. 101, in Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music) and gave musical lectures. An article about her appeared in the Musical Times for June 1905.
Fanny Davies was the first person to give a piano recital in Westminster Abbey
.
She also gave the premiere performance of Edward Elgar
's Concert Allegro
, Op. 46, in 1901. The piece was written only after constant requests from her for a new piece, and was dedicated to her. Her performance, however, attracted rather negative reviews, and it may have even been what caused Elgar to revise the work, a revision he never finished (the score was lost from around 1906 until 1968).
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
who was particularly admired in Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, and the early schools, but was also a very early London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
performer of the works of Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
and Scriabin
Alexander Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist who initially developed a lyrical and idiosyncratic tonal language inspired by the music of Frédéric Chopin. Quite independent of the innovations of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed an increasingly atonal musical system,...
. In England, she was regarded as the 'successor' of Arabella Goddard
Arabella Goddard
Arabella Goddard was an English pianist of great renown in the middle to late 19th century.She was born and died in France. Her parents, Thomas Goddard, an heir to a Salisbury cutlery firm, and Arabella née Ingles, were part of an English community of expatriates living in Saint-Servan near...
, though her style and technique differed from Goddard's considerably.
Her first public performances were in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
at the age of six. She studied privately in Birmingham, then at Leipzig Conservatory under Carl Reinecke
Carl Reinecke
Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...
and Oscar Paul: she then studied under Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann
Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
at Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
. Her concert career began with the Saturday and Monday popular concerts in 1885; with the Philharmonic concerts 1886; Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 1887; Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, Germany. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. The first Gewandhaus was built in 1781 by architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. The second opened on 11 December 1884, and was destroyed in the...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, 1888; Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, 1889; Beethoven Festival at Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, 1893; Vienna Philharmonic, 1895; Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, 1895 and 1904; Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1902, 1904 and 1905; Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, 1920 and 1921; Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, 1920 and 1922; and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
1923. She was frequently engaged by the Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
, making her last appearance in its Society programme on 15 November 1915 under the baton of Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's G major Concerto, K. 453
Piano Concerto No. 17 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, KV. 453, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was written in 1784.The work is orchestrated for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings...
. She had appeared in a Mozart concerto at Beecham's London debut at the Bechstein (Wigmore) Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
on 5 June 1905.
Her work in the large concert works was admired by many for its lyrical projection, warmth and clarity of inner lines and musicianly authority. George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
was not a great admirer, and in 1891 described her as a 'wild young woman'. In May 1892, after a performance of Beethoven's Choral Fantasia
Choral Fantasy (Beethoven)
The Fantasy in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 80, was composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven.-Background, composition, and premiere:...
, he wrote: 'To those who cannot understand how anybody could touch a note of that melody without emotion, her willing, affable, slap-dash treatment of it was a wonder'. But a year later, at her Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
performance of the Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
F minor concerto
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin)
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21, is a piano concerto composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. Chopin wrote the piece before he had finished his formal education, at around 20 years of age. It was first performed on 17 March 1830, in Warsaw, Poland, with the composer as soloist. It was...
, he was warming to her, calling it 'the most successful feat of interpretation and execution I have ever heard her achieve'.
Her once-popular late 1920s recording of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor
Piano Concerto (Schumann)
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54, is a famous Romantic concerto by Robert Schumann, completed in 1845.Schumann had begun several piano concerti before this one: In 1828, he had begun one in E-flat major; from 1829-31 he worked on one in F major, and in 1839, he wrote one movement of a concerto...
represents a direct tradition from the composer. Harold C. Schonberg
Harold C. Schonberg
Harold Charles Schonberg was an American music critic and journalist, most notably for The New York Times. He was the first music critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism...
observed, 'behind her neat, controlled, tasteful playing one can see the specter of Clara'. Yet, despite an old recorded sound, the performance is not without its fire and drama.
Fanny Davies was also admired in chamber music, playing often in trio with Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...
. In 1892 (March 28, April 2–4), she appeared with Richard Mühlfeld
Richard Mühlfeld
Richard Mühlfeld was a German clarinettist who inspired Johannes Brahms and Gustav Jenner to write chamber works including the instrument...
and Robert Hausmann in the first London performances of the Brahms A Minor Clarinet Trio, Op. 114, when the Joachim Quartet with Mühlfeld was also performing the Op. 115 Quintet
Clarinet Quintet (Brahms)
Johannes Brahms's Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 was written in 1891 for the clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld. It is widely regarded as Brahms's supreme achievement in chamber music.The piece is known for its autumnal mood...
. She also gave the first London performance of Brahm's D minor Violin Sonata, also with Joachim. In her accompaniment of Joachim in the Brahms Hungarian Dances (April 1892), Shaw referred to her 'curious tricks and manners which so often suggest wicket-keeping rather than piano-playing.' She was accompanist for lieder recitals given in 1894–6 by the baritone David Bispham
David Bispham
David Scull Bispham was the first American–born operatic baritone to win an international reputation.- Early life and family:...
, in Schumann and Brahms (including the Op. 112 Liebeslieder); and in Brahms lieder for Gervase Elwes and Marie Brema
Marie Brema
Marie Brema was an English dramatic mezzo-soprano singer in concert, operatic and oratorio work in the last decade of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th centuries...
on their German tour in 1908.
Like Leonard Borwick
Leonard Borwick
Leonard Borwick was an English concert pianist especially associated with the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.- Early training and debuts :...
(another Clara Schumann pupil and accompanist in lieder to Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene was an Irish baritone singer who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He made a great contribution to British musical life also by writing and lecturing upon his art, and in the field of competitions and examinations...
), she 'embodied in a remarkable degree the unique qualities of the romantic school of which ... Clara Schumann was admittedly the most spontaneous and finished exponent. The success of these two native artists was destined to afford great encouragement to rising students both in England and on the continent. It also helped to create among the general mass of amateurs a taste for pianoforte playing of a more warm-blooded type than had hitherto satisfied them', wrote Herman Klein
Herman Klein
Herman Klein was an English music critic, author and teacher of singing. Klein's famous brothers included Charles and Manuel Klein...
in c. 1891. Davies also published musicological articles (e.g. on Schumann's music, Musical Times August 1911, and on Brahms's own playing and tempi in the C minor Piano Trio, Op. 101, in Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music) and gave musical lectures. An article about her appeared in the Musical Times for June 1905.
Fanny Davies was the first person to give a piano recital in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
.
She also gave the premiere performance of Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO 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 the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Concert Allegro
Concert Allegro (Elgar)
The Concert Allegro, Op. 46 by Sir Edward Elgar is a piece of music for solo piano. It takes about 10 minutes to perform. It is the only piano work he wrote that was designed for concert performance...
, Op. 46, in 1901. The piece was written only after constant requests from her for a new piece, and was dedicated to her. Her performance, however, attracted rather negative reviews, and it may have even been what caused Elgar to revise the work, a revision he never finished (the score was lost from around 1906 until 1968).
Recordings
- Schumann: Kinderscenen. Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
C-L2321/2, 2×12" records, 4 sides. - Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Op. 6, omitting nos 3, 7, 15 and 16. Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
C-67797/9D (Alb CM-142), 3×12" records, 6 sides. - Schumann: Concerto for piano and orchestra in A minor, Op 54. with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Ernest AnsermetErnest AnsermetErnest Alexandre Ansermet was a Swiss conductor.- Biography :Ansermet was born in Vevey, Switzerland. Although he was a contemporary of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Otto Klemperer, Ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. Originally he was a...
. Columbia RecordsColumbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, C-67580/3 (in Alb CM-114) or C-9616/9, in Darrell but deleted c. 1936. - On March 28, 1909, Fanny Davies recorded 14 piano rollPiano rollA piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
s in London for Welte-MignonWelte-MignonM. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte in 1832.-Overview:...
.
Sources
- D. Bispham, A Quaker Singer's Recollections (New York 1920).
- R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York 1936).
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- W. Elwes & R Elwes, Gervase Elwes (London 1935).
- W. Murdoch, Brahms (Rich and Cowan, London 1933).
- H.C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists (London 1964).
- G.B. Shaw, Music in London 1890–1894 (London 1932).