|
Dame Julia Myra Hess, DBE (25 February 1890 – 25 November 1965) was a British pianist. ==Career== She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, and at the age of five began to study the piano. Two years later, she entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Tobias Matthay. Her debut came in 1907 when she played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting. She went on to tour through Britain, the Netherlands and France. Upon her American debut (New York City, 24 January 1922) she became a prime favourite in the United States, not only as a soloist, but also as a fine ensemble player. She also has a link to jazz, having given lessons in the 1920s to Ivy Brubeck, mother of Dave Brubeck. Hess garnered greater fame during World War II when, with all concert halls blacked out at night to avoid being targets of German bombers, she organised what would turn out to be some 1700 lunchtime concerts spanning a period of six years, starting during the London Blitz. The concerts were held at the National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square; Hess herself played in 150 of them. For this contribution to maintaining the morale of the populace of London, King George VI awarded her with the Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in 1941. (She had previously been created a CBE in 1936.) Hess makes a brief appearance performing at one of her lunchtime concerts in the 1942 wartime documentary ''Listen to Britain'' (directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stuart McAllister).〔(Listen to Britain (1942) – IMDb )〕 In 1946, Arturo Toscanini invited Hess to perform with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in New York City. According to Toscanini's biographer, Mortimer Frank, after Hess and the conductor had failed to agree on tempos for Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, they decided instead to perform Beethoven's Third. The 24 November 1946 broadcast concert was preserved on transcription discs and later issued on CD by Naxos Records.〔(Mortimer H. Frank, ''Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years'', Amadeus Press, 2002, p. 87. )〕 Hess was most renowned for her interpretations of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann, but had a wide repertoire, ranging from Domenico Scarlatti to contemporary works. She gave the premiere of Howard Ferguson's Piano Sonata and his Piano Concerto. She also played a good amount of chamber music, and performed in a piano duo with Irene Scharrer. She promoted public awareness of the piano duo and two-piano works of Schubert. She arranged the chorale prelude of ''"Jesus bleibet meine Freude"'' (known in English as ''"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"'') from Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantata ''Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147'' for piano.〔(Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Arranged my Myra Hess )〕 Her protégés included Clive Lythgoe and Richard and John Contiguglia. She was a teacher of Stephen Kovacevich (then known as Stephen Bishop). Hess began her lunchtime concerts a few weeks after the commencement of the Second World War. They were presented weekdays, Monday through Friday, for six-and-a-half years without fail. If London was being bombed, the concert was moved to a smaller, safer room. Every artist was paid five-guineas no matter who they were. In all, Hess presented 1,968 concerts seen by 824,152 people. Hess's lunchtime concerts influenced the formation of the City Music Society. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Myra Hess」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|