Fanny Davies (27 June 1861 - 1 September 1934) was a British
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
who was particularly admired in
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
,
Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
,
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
, and the early schools, but was also a very early
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
performer of the works of
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
and
Scriabin
Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and compos ...
. In England, she was regarded as the 'successor' of
Arabella Goddard
Arabella Goddard (12 January 18366 April 1922) was an English pianist.
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 expatriat ...
, though her style and technique differed from Goddard's considerably.
Davies was born in
Guernsey. Her first public performances were in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
at the age of six. She studied privately in Birmingham, then at
Leipzig Conservatory
The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig) is a public university in Leipzig (Saxony, Germany). Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn ...
under
Carl Reinecke and
Oscar Paul
Oscar Paul (8 April 183618 April 1898) was a German musicologist and a music writer, critic, and teacher.
Biography
Oscar Paul was born in Freiwaldau in Silesia (now Gozdnica in the Województwo lubuskie of the Poland). He studied at Görlitz ...
: she then studied under
Clara Schumann
Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...
at
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. Her concert career began with the Saturday and Monday popular concerts in 1885; with the Philharmonic concerts 1886;
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, 1887;
Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics.
History
The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'')
The f ...
,
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, 1888;
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, 1889; Beethoven Festival at
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
, 1893;
Vienna Philharmonic
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...
, 1895;
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, 1895 and 1904;
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, 1902, 1904 and 1905; Netherlands, 1920 and 1921;
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
, 1920 and 1922; and Spain 1923. She was frequently engaged by the
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...
, making her last appearance in its Society programme on 15
November 1915 under the baton of
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...
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
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
was not a great admirer, and in 1891 described 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
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
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
Harold Charles Schonberg (29 November 1915 – 26 July 2003) was an American music critic and author. He is best known for his contributions in ''The New York Times'', where he was chief music critic from 1960 to 1980. In 1971, he became the fi ...
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 (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
. In 1892 (28 March, 2–4 April), she appeared with
Richard Mühlfeld and
Alfredo Piatti in the first London performances of the Brahms
Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114, when the Joachim Quartet with Mühlfeld was also performing the
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115. She also gave the first London performance of Brahms's
D minor Violin Sonata, also with Joachim. In her accompaniment of Joachim in the Brahms
Hungarian Dances Hungarian dance refers to the folk dances practised and performed by the Hungarians, both amongst the populations native to Hungary and its neighbours, and also amongst the Hungarian diaspora.
According to György Martin, a prominent folklore expe ...
(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 Scull Bispham (January 5, 1857 – October 2, 1921) was an American operatic baritone.
Biography
Bispham was born on January 5, 1857 in Philadelphia, the only child of William Danforth Bispham and Jane Lippincott Scull.W. Bispham, 274 Bo ...
, in Schumann and Brahms (including the Op. 112 ''Liebeslieder''); and in Brahms lieder for
Gervase Elwes
Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, DL (15 November 1866 – 12 January 1921), better known as Gervase Elwes, was an English tenor of great distinction, who exercised a powerful influence over the development of English music from the early 1900s up u ...
and
Marie Brema on their German tour in 1908.
Like
Leonard Borwick
Leonard Borwick (26 February 1868 – 15 September 1925) was an English concert pianist especially associated with the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.
Early training and debuts
Born in Walthamstow, Essex, of a Staffordshire ...
(another Clara Schumann pupil and accompanist in lieder to
Harry Plunket Greene
Harry Plunket Greene (24 June 1865 – 19 August 1936) was an Irish baritone who was most famous in the formal concert and oratorio repertoire. He wrote and lectured on his art, and was active in the field of musical competitions and examination ...
), 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 (born Hermann Klein; 23 July 1856 – 10 March 1934) was an English music critic, author and teacher of singing. Klein's famous brothers included Charles Klein, Charles and Manuel Klein. His second wife was the writer Kathleen Cla ...
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, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
. She also gave the first public 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).
Davies died, aged 73, in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England.
Recordings
*Schumann: ''Kinderscenen''.
Columbia Records C-L2321/2, 2×12" records, 4 sides.
*Schumann: ''Davidsbündlertänze'', Op. 6, omitting nos 3, 7, 15 and 16.
Columbia Records 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 Ansermet
Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor.
Biography
Ansermet ...
.
Columbia Records, C-67580/3 (in Alb CM-114) or C-9616/9, in Darrell but deleted c. 1936.
* On 28 March 1909 Fanny Davies recorded 14
piano rolls in London for
Welte-Mignon
M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832.
Overview
From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical musi ...
.
[Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: '']Welte-Mignon
M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832.
Overview
From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical musi ...
-Reproduktionen / Welte-Mignon Reproductions. Gesamtkatalog der Aufnahmen für das Welte-Mignon Reproduktions-Piano 1905–1932 / Complete Library Of Recordings For The Welte-Mignon Reproducing Piano 1905–1932''. Stuttgart 2006. , p. 433, 525
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).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Fanny
1861 births
1934 deaths
English classical pianists
English women pianists
Women classical pianists
Guernsey women
19th-century English musicians
19th-century classical pianists
20th-century English musicians
20th-century classical pianists
University of Music and Theatre Leipzig alumni
20th-century English women musicians
19th-century British women musicians
19th-century English women
19th-century women pianists
20th-century women pianists