Edward Elgar and His World (49 page)

29. Writing in 1946, Edmund Horace Fellowes noted that “her name is not now very generally remembered. Yet she stands alone among British-born violinists in the same rank as the great foreign virtuosi, Sarasate, Kubelik, Mischa Elman, Heifetz, and even Kreisler.” Edmund H. Fellowes,
Memoirs of an Amateur Musician
(London: Methuen, 1946), 79–80. At her London debut in 1903, Hall was encored six times for her performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with Henry Wood and the Queen's Hall Symphony Orchestra. That year, a
Musical Times
critic wrote: “We may be proud of her nationality, and wish for her a long and brilliant career.”
The Musical Times
44 (March 1903): 186, 173.

30. Jerrold Northrop Moore,
Edward Elgar: Letters of a Lifetime
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1990), 22.

31. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 160–61.

32. Michael Kennedy,
The Life of Elgar
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 147.

33. Speyer,
My Life and Friends
, 174.

34. See Percy M. Young,
Alice Elgar: Enigma of a Victorian Lady
(London: Dennis Dobson, 1978).

35. The Kufferath family was of German origin and were distinguished as performers and pedagogues, especially in Belgium.

36. Speyer,
My Life and Friends
, 3–11.

37. Ibid., 71.

38. Moore,
Edward Elgar: A Creative Life
, 390.

39. David Ward, “Unknown Elgar Is Just a Puff of Smoke,”
Guardian
, 11 December 2003;
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,11711,1104249,00.html
. As this witty little “cantata” was never intended for performance, Elgar described it as “inadautory.”

40.
Joys and Sorrows: Reflections by Pablo Casals
, as told to Albert E. Kahn; available at
http://www.cello.org/heaven/joys/chap10.htm
.

41. Cyrus Adler and Frederick T. Haneman, “Speyer” in
JewishEncyclopedia.com
;
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1004&letter=S
.

42. “Grosvenor Street: South Side,” Survey of London, vol. 40, Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Pt. 2 (The Buildings) (1980), 44–57.
www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=42104
; “Archives in London and the M25 Area: Whitechapel Art Gallery”;
www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/frames/fulldesc?inst_id=80&coll_id=7210
; “Robert Falcon Scott 1868–1912: The
TERRA NOVA
Expedition 1910–13”;
www.south-pole.com/p0000090.htm
.

43. John Bird,
Percy Grainger
(London: Paul Elek, 1976), 116.

44. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 383.

45. Richard Norton-Taylor, “Privy Council Agrees Aitken Resignation,”
Guardian Unlimited
(June 27, 1997);
http://www.guardian.co.uk/aitken/Story/0,,208491,00.html
.

46. Kennedy,
Life of Elgar
, 141. According to Kennedy, the “pro-German” activities consisted of sending food parcels to relatives.

47. Maude Valerie White,
Friends and Memories
(London: Edward Arnold, 1914), 369.

48. John Farrar, ed.,
The Bookman Anthology of Verse
(New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922);
http://www.geocities.com/~bblair/bav22_5.htm
.

49. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 566–68. Leonora Speyer was later to turn to writing, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1927 for her collection
Fiddler's Farewell
(1926);
http://www.poetrysociety.org/journal/articles/pulitzer.html
.

50. Before she married Millais, Effie Gray had been married to John Ruskin. Since this first marriage was never consummated, she managed to get it annulled, but still faced the condemnation of much of Victorian society. On the Ruskin, Gray, Millais triangle see Phyllis Rose,
Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985), 51–98; re playing piano in father's studio, Jerold Northrop Moore,
Edward Elgar: The Windflower Letters. Correspondence with Alice Caroline Stuart Wortley and her Family
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1989), 3.

51. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 641.

52. Ibid., 658.

53. Sally Cline,
Radclyffe Hall
(London: John Murray, 1997), 288;
http://www.thepeerage.com/p15927.htm
.

54. Maud Warrender,
My First Sixty Years
(London: Cassell, 1933), 179, 185–86.

55. See Warrender,
My First Sixty Years
, 184, 205, 210–11, 238 passim.

56. Ibid., 199.

57. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 543.

58. Warrender,
My First Sixty Years
, 187.

59. Helen, Countess-Dowager of Radnor,
From a Great-Grandmother's Armchair
(London: Marshall Press, 1927), 96–99; 102–5.

60. Radnor,
From a Great-Grandmother's Armchair
, 112.

61. Jeremy Dibble,
C. Hubert H. Parry: His Life and Music
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 313.

62. Radnor,
From a Great-Grandmother's Armchair
, 100–101.

63. Ibid., 264.

64. Michael Baker,
Our Three Selves: A Life of Radclyffe Hall
(London: Hamish Hamilton, 1985), 41.

65. Diana Souhami,
The Trials of Radclyffe Hall
(London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998), 18.

66. Unidentified press cutting, dated 15 March 1902. Mabel Batten Papers, in the possession of Cara Lancaster.

67. Sally Cline,
Radclyffe Hall: A Woman Called John
(London: John Murray, 1997), 92.

68. See Sophie Fuller, “Women Composers During the British Musical Renaissance, 1880–1918,” Ph.D. diss., King's College, London University, 1998.

69. Liza Lehmann,
The Life of Liza Lehmann
, (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1919), 73–77.

70. Young,
Letters of Edward Elgar
, 284.

71. Moore,
Windflower Letters
, 313.

72. On Maddison, see Sophie Fuller, “‘Devoted Attention': Looking for Lesbian Musicians in Fin-de-Siècle Britain,” in
Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity
, ed. Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell (Urbana: Illinois University Press, 2002), 85–87.

73. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 555.

74. Ethel Smyth,
As Time Went On . .
. (London: Longmans, Green, 1936), 252.

75. “I well remember that no one looked on Lady Folkestone's String Band of womenamateurs as an outlet for serious musical energy and passion, but merely as an aristocratic fad; a resource for such bored and elegant ones as to-day eke out the hours with feeble bridge.” Ethel Smyth,
Female Pipings in Eden
(Edinburgh: Peter Davies, 1933), 7.

76. Another German-Jewish musical patron who became a fervent supporter of Elgar was Marie Joshua, renowned for her musical gatherings and support of various musicians and artists. In 1918 Elgar dedicated his Violin Sonata to her. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 725

77. Rupert Hart-Davis, ed.,
Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1920–1922
(London: Faber & Faber, 1981), 293–94.

78. Unpublished diary quoted in John Stuart Roberts,
Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967)
(London: Metro, 2005), 220.

79. As, for example, Schuster's teasing over the possibility of Sassoon's relationship with Philipp of Hesse being made public. See Roberts,
Siegfried Sassoon
, 172.

80. Young,
Alice Elgar
, 157. In fact, Alice was clearly very fond of and grateful to Schuster. The Elgars appointed him as one of their daughter's legal guardians, a clear demonstration of their respect and trust. See Richard Smith,
Elgar in America: Elgar's American Connections between 1895 and 1934
(Rickmansworth: Elgar Editions, 2005), 27.

81. I have been unable to locate a copy of his will.

82. Young,
Letters of Edward Elgar
, 350.

83. White,
Friends and Memories
, 256. Correctly, it is “Old Queen Street.”

84. Ibid., 255–56.

85. “Poor Mr. Schuster, who thought, with every reason, that the situation was rather embarrassing for a still youngish woman, rushed off to call on every nice woman he knew in Venice, and to one and all he said the same thing. ‘You absolutely
must
come and call on Miss White as soon as she arrives, so that she may feel that everything is all right.' … I enjoyed every minute of my stay.” Ibid., 336. Casa Wolkoff, a small palazzo at San Gregorio, belonged to the Russian painter and friend of Wagner, Aleksandr Volkov. It was used at various times by the Princesse de Polignac (who invited Gabriel Fauré to stay there) and Eleanora Duse, as well as Schuster. See Princesse Edmond de Polignac, “Memoirs of the Late Princesse Edmond de Polignac,”
Horizon
12, no. 68 (August 1945): 129; Jean-Michel Nectoux, ed.,
Gabriel Fauré: His Life Through His Letters
, trans. J. A. Underwood (London: Marion Boyars, 1984), 156; and “Eleanora Duse: I Luoghi—Venezia”;
http://spazioinwind.libero.it/eleonoraduse/_private/luoghiVenezia.htm
.

86. Santley to Schuster, 19 July 1887. Extracts available at
www.farahardupre.co.uk/index.htm
(accessed June 28, 2005).

87. Blumenthal to Schuster, 7 June 1886. Extracts available at
www.farahardupre.co.uk/index.htm
(accessed June 28, 2005).

88. Quoted in Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 467.

89.
Times
,
2 January 1928, 19.

90. See
Times
, 26 June 1895, 6; 23 July 1897, 12; 23 July 1898, 14; 23 July 1904, 5; 22 July 1911, 6.

91.
Times
, 21 March 1882, 12; 24 February 1891, 10.

92.
Times
, 13 January 1899, 7; 16 May 1899, 12.

93.
Times
, 19 May 1911, 12.

94.
Times
, 2 March 1927, 14.

95. Frank Schuster to Adrian Boult, n.d., British Library, Add. Ms 72625 f.16.

96. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 268.

97. Ibid., 292. The bust is currently on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London. See
http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?mkey=mw02064
. Note that the date given for the bust appears to be 1927 although this was presumably the year that the NPG acquired it, following Schuster's death.

98. In December 1908, for example, Schuster took Fauré to a rehearsal of Elgar's Second Symphony, followed by a dinner party for both composers. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 547.

99. Polignac, “Memoirs of the Late Princesse,” 119. This was not the first time that Fauré had been to London. According to Fauré's biographer, Robert Orledge, his first visit was in 1882, followed by a concert at St. James's Hall in November 1894. Robert Orledge,
Gabriel Fauré
(London: Eulenburg Books, 1979), 16.

100. Quoted in Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 348.

101. Ibid., 116 and 123–24.

102. Moore,
Letters of a Lifetime
, 144.

103. Ibid., 157.

104. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 435.

105. Ibid., 592.

106. Quoted in Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 589.

107. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 740.

108. See Young,
Letters of Edward Elgar
, 263–64.

109. See Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 775.

110. Young,
Letters of Edward Elgar
, 300. See also Byron Adams, “The ‘Dark Saying' of the Enigma: Homoeroticism and the Elgarian Paradox” in
Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity
, 226–28; and Adams's essay in this volume. Schuster's sister Adela, also a friend of Elgar's, frequently acted as hostess at her brother's parties and is best known for her support of her friend Oscar Wilde, giving him £1,000 at the time of his trial in 1895 and sending a wreath to his funeral five years later. Wilde apparently regretted not making her the dedicatee of any of his work and so Robert Ross posthumously dedicated
The Duchess of Padua
to her. See Richard Ellmann,
Oscar Wilde
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), 523, 584; and Vyvyan Holland,
Son of Oscar Wilde
(London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1954), 187.

111. Quoted in Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 435.

112. See, for example, Elgar's snubbing of Schuster after a concert as recounted in Sassoon's diaries. Adams, “The ‘Dark Saying' of the Enigma,” 227.

113. Frank Schuster to Adrian Boult, 3 September 1921, British Library, Add Ms 60499 f.85.

114. Moore,
Windflower Letters
, 290. The “young man” driving was Anzy Wylde, a soldier from New Zealand who lost a leg at Gallipoli. The “bit of fluff” may have been Wylde's future wife, the artist and Sickert pupil Wendela Boreel. Schuster built an annex for the couple at The Hut.

115. Moore,
Elgar: A Creative Life
, 776. It is interesting that neither Elgar nor the Stuart-Wortleys and Siegfried Sassoon attended Schuster's funeral, apparently due to a snowstorm. See Moore,
Windflower Letters
, 318; and Max Egremont,
Siegfried Sassoon: A Biography
(London: Picador, 2005), 316.

116. See Adams, “The ‘Dark Saying' of the Enigma,” 227.

117. Ernest Walker,
A History of Music in England
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 286. Elgar, of course, would have loved to hold an important official position (and successfully angled to be named Master of the King's Musick) and in many ways felt that his life outside recognized musical circles had been imposed on him against his wishes.

118. Walker,
A History of Music in England
, 304.

Elgar and the British Raj:
Can the Mughals March?

NALINI GHUMAN

Sir Edward Elgar touches us at home by his declared intention to write a “musick masque” on the theme of the “Crown of India,” and make it celebrate the “pomp and circumstance” of the Imperial Coronation Durbar … India has lavished her arts of splendour on the Royal visit, and it is only fitting that a great master in the West should spend the wealth and range of his powers on interpreting for us “the kingdom, the power, and the glory” of the highest manifestation of empire that the world has seen.