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Rosemary Brown (spiritualist)
Encyclopedia
Rosemary Brown was a spirit medium
who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical works to her. She created a small media sensation in the 1970s by presenting works dictated to her by Franz Liszt
, Johannes Brahms
, Johann Sebastian Bach
, Sergei Rachmaninoff
, Franz Schubert
, Edvard Grieg
, Claude Debussy
, Frédéric Chopin
, Robert Schumann
and Ludwig van Beethoven
.
with long white hair and a flowing black cassock appeared and told her he was a composer and would make her a famous musician one day. Brown did not know who he was until, about ten years later, she saw a picture of Franz Liszt. Many other members of Brown's family were allegedly psychic, including her parents and grandparents, and she herself displayed psychic powers at an early age. She told her parents of events before her birth, and when asked how she knew, she replied that her "visitors" had told her.
Liszt apparently did not reappear until 1964, by which time Brown had married and brought up two children. Living in a Victorian terraced house in Balham
, South London, she appeared to be an unexceptional middle-aged widow. Before 1964 she had paid little attention to music and had had little instruction in it. After the Second World War, she had bought a second-hand piano and taken lessons for three years.). But a neighbor, once a church organist, was not impressed. "She could just about struggle through a hymn," he said. Then in 1964 Liszt "renewed contact" and original compositions began flooding in from great musicians of the past. Mrs Brown transcribed pieces from Brahms
, Bach
, Rachmaninoff
, Schubert
, Grieg
, Debussy
, Chopin
, Schumann
, Beethoven
, and Liszt himself. These included a 40-page Schubert sonata, a Fantaisie-Impromptu in three movements by Chopin, 12 songs by Schubert, and two sonatas by Beethoven as well as his 10th and 11th Symphonies, both unfinished.
Brown claimed that each composer had his own way of dictating to her. Liszt controlled her hands for a few bars at a time, and then she wrote down the notes. Others, like Chopin, told her the notes and pushed her hands on to the right keys. Schubert tried to sing his compositions to her "but he hasn't got a very good voice". Beethoven and Bach simply dictated the notes — a method she said she disliked since she had no idea what the finished product would sound like. All of these composers spoke to her in English. Brown stated this did not surprise her: "Why shouldn't they go on learning on the other side?"
A recording titled The Rosemary Brown Piano Album presents performances of some of the music Brown transcribed. She published a number of books, including Unfinished Symphonies: Voices from the Beyond.
Brown maintained that she had never had any musical training aside from a few piano lessons, though Harry Edwards says:
It was suggested that she may have had advanced musical training but then forgotten it in a bad case of amnesia
. This suggestion was, however, described as preposterous by the Browns' family doctor. Brown claimed her musical skill was such that she was unable to play many of the pieces dictated to her.
Brown was thoroughly investigated by both musicians and psychologists. None could find any way in which she could be cheating. Other explanations were put forward. One was that the composers had left behind them unknown, written music and that Brown was able to read these sheets, unwittingly using a form of telepathy. Another suggestion was that she picked up music from people around her by telepathy. However, she did not spend her time in the company of musicians who might have been composing works in the manner of Bach and Brahms.
Of the music itself, Richard Rodney Bennett
, the British composer, said: "A lot of people can improvise, but you couldn't fake music like this without years of training. I couldn't have faked some of the Beethoven myself."
Hephzibah Menuhin
was also impressed. She insisted: "There is no question but that she is a very sincere woman. The music is absolutely in the style of these composers."
Alan Rich
, music critic of New York magazine, took a more skeptical line. Having heard a privately issued record of Brown's piano pieces, Rich concluded that they were just sub-standard re-workings of some of their better-known compositions.
In 1969 she was put to a test by the British Broadcasting Corporation
, who set her at a piano where she waited for the spirit of Liszt to appear to her. In due course she produced a piece, supposedly dictated by Liszt. Brown claimed the piece was too hard for her to play so another pianist was engaged to play it. The piece was subsequently studied by a Liszt expert, who said it had definite similarities to Liszt's work, but, as Harry Edwards wrote:
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical works to her. She created a small media sensation in the 1970s by presenting works dictated to her by Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
, Johannes 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...
, Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, Claude 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...
, Frédéric 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"....
, Robert 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....
and Ludwig van 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...
.
Life
Brown claimed to have been only seven years old when she was first introduced to the world of dead musicians. She reported that a spiritApparitional experience
In psychology and parapsychology, an apparitional experience is an anomalous, quasi-perceptual experience.It is characterized by the apparent perception of either a living being or an inanimate object without there being any material stimulus for such a perception...
with long white hair and a flowing black cassock appeared and told her he was a composer and would make her a famous musician one day. Brown did not know who he was until, about ten years later, she saw a picture of Franz Liszt. Many other members of Brown's family were allegedly psychic, including her parents and grandparents, and she herself displayed psychic powers at an early age. She told her parents of events before her birth, and when asked how she knew, she replied that her "visitors" had told her.
Balham
Balham is a district of London, EnglandBalham can also refer to:*Balham, Ardennes, a commune in France*Balham station, railway and tube station in Balham, London*Balaam, a Biblical figure...
, South London, she appeared to be an unexceptional middle-aged widow. Before 1964 she had paid little attention to music and had had little instruction in it. After the Second World War, she had bought a second-hand piano and taken lessons for three years.). But a neighbor, once a church organist, was not impressed. "She could just about struggle through a hymn," he said. Then in 1964 Liszt "renewed contact" and original compositions began flooding in from great musicians of the past. Mrs Brown transcribed pieces from 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...
, Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, 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...
, 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"....
, 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....
, 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...
, and Liszt himself. These included a 40-page Schubert sonata, a Fantaisie-Impromptu in three movements by Chopin, 12 songs by Schubert, and two sonatas by Beethoven as well as his 10th and 11th Symphonies, both unfinished.
Brown claimed that each composer had his own way of dictating to her. Liszt controlled her hands for a few bars at a time, and then she wrote down the notes. Others, like Chopin, told her the notes and pushed her hands on to the right keys. Schubert tried to sing his compositions to her "but he hasn't got a very good voice". Beethoven and Bach simply dictated the notes — a method she said she disliked since she had no idea what the finished product would sound like. All of these composers spoke to her in English. Brown stated this did not surprise her: "Why shouldn't they go on learning on the other side?"
A recording titled The Rosemary Brown Piano Album presents performances of some of the music Brown transcribed. She published a number of books, including Unfinished Symphonies: Voices from the Beyond.
Criticism
Musical critics varied in their assessments of Brown's transcriptions. Some agreed that in their style they bore a great resemblance to the composers' published works. Forgeries and imitations had frequently been made in the past, but considerable musical knowledge is thought to be required for this.Brown maintained that she had never had any musical training aside from a few piano lessons, though Harry Edwards says:
- ...a perusal of newspaper reports about Ms. Brown elicit contradictory information about her alleged lack of musical education. Originally she stated that she had had no musical training, later she was reported to have had only a couple of years of music lessons, and recently admitted to belonging to a musical household and being a competent musician and pianist.
It was suggested that she may have had advanced musical training but then forgotten it in a bad case of amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
. This suggestion was, however, described as preposterous by the Browns' family doctor. Brown claimed her musical skill was such that she was unable to play many of the pieces dictated to her.
Brown was thoroughly investigated by both musicians and psychologists. None could find any way in which she could be cheating. Other explanations were put forward. One was that the composers had left behind them unknown, written music and that Brown was able to read these sheets, unwittingly using a form of telepathy. Another suggestion was that she picked up music from people around her by telepathy. However, she did not spend her time in the company of musicians who might have been composing works in the manner of Bach and Brahms.
Of the music itself, Richard Rodney Bennett
Richard Rodney Bennett
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE is an English composer renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works...
, the British composer, said: "A lot of people can improvise, but you couldn't fake music like this without years of training. I couldn't have faked some of the Beethoven myself."
Hephzibah Menuhin
Hephzibah Menuhin
Hephzibah Menuhin was an American-Australian pianist and human rights campaigner. She was sister to the violinist Lord Menuhin and to the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin...
was also impressed. She insisted: "There is no question but that she is a very sincere woman. The music is absolutely in the style of these composers."
Alan Rich
Alan Rich
Alan Rich was an American music critic who served on the staff of many newspapers and magazines on both coasts. Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, he first studied medicine at Harvard University before turning to music...
, music critic of New York magazine, took a more skeptical line. Having heard a privately issued record of Brown's piano pieces, Rich concluded that they were just sub-standard re-workings of some of their better-known compositions.
In 1969 she was put to a test by the British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, who set her at a piano where she waited for the spirit of Liszt to appear to her. In due course she produced a piece, supposedly dictated by Liszt. Brown claimed the piece was too hard for her to play so another pianist was engaged to play it. The piece was subsequently studied by a Liszt expert, who said it had definite similarities to Liszt's work, but, as Harry Edwards wrote:
- "Just because a composition is written and played in the style of a particular individual it doesn’t follow that they wrote it. Many entertainers, such as Liberace, Winifred Atwell and Victor Borge, often entertained audiences with modem songs rendered in the familiar style of the old maestros, and some teachers of music composition set exercises in the style of earlier composers."
Sources
- Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3654225/The-day-I-stopped-joking-about-the-supernatural.html
- Michael Graubert, "The Emperor of Atlantis: The First British Production," in Musical Times, Autumn, 2009, accessed March 28, 2010