Harold Samuel (23 May 187915 January 1937) was a distinguished
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
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 ...
and
pedagogue
Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...
. He was one of the first pianists of the twentieth century to focus purely on the works of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
, and was known for his academic and cerebral approach. He was also a minor composer.
Career
Harold Samuel was born in
London
London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and studied at the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
there - piano with the eminent scholar and pianist
Edward Dannreuther
Edward George Dannreuther (4 November 1844, Strasbourg – 12 February 1905, Hastings) was a German pianist and writer on music, resident from 1863 in England. His father had crossed the Atlantic, moving to Cincinnati, and there established a pia ...
and composition with Sir
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 – 29 March 1924) was an Anglo-Irish composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Romantic music, Romantic era. Born to a well-off and highly musical family in Dublin, Stanford was ed ...
. Later he was on its faculty as professor of pianoforte.
Harold Samuel was particularly distinguished as an interpreter of Bach, whose entire keyboard oeuvre he learned by heart.
Paul Kildea
Paul Francis Kildea is an Australian conductor and author, considered an expert on Benjamin Britten.
Life
Paul Francis Kildea was born and raised in Narrabundah, Canberra, and attended St Edmund's College, Narrabundah, where his piano teacher w ...
, '' Benjamin Britten: A Life in the Twentieth Century'', p. 54 At his London début in 1898 he played Bach's ''
Goldberg Variations
The ''Goldberg Variations'', BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also have ...
'' (BWV 988), unknown at that time in London. He and
Walter Gieseking
Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made inte ...
were among the first pianists of the twentieth century to play pure-Bach, distinguished for having programmed large scale works by Bach in their recitals.
To make a living Harold Samuel taught (he was, for example, the piano teacher of the British composers
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
and
Elizabeth Poston
Elizabeth Poston (24 October 1905 – 18 March 1987) was an English composer, pianist and writer.
Early life and career
Poston was born in Highfield House in Pin Green, which is now the site of Hampson Park in Stevenage. In 1914, she moved ...
), did vocal coaching and became a sought-after accompanist (performing especially with violinist
Isolde Menges
Isolde Marie Menges (16 May 189313 January 1976) was an accomplished English violinist who was most active in the first part of the 20th century.
Life
The daughter of George Menges, a native of Germany, she was born in Sussex, England. Her p ...
). His solo career, however, was at a standstill until 1919 when he played an all-Bach programme in London. He soon found a ready audience for large amounts of Bach's keyboard works in their original form. In 1921 he gave six successive Bach recitals in London and a similar cycle in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. He toured the US regularly from 1924. He wrote a musical comedy, ''Hon'ble Phil'', songs and piano pieces.
On 15 January 1937 he died at his home in Hampstead, London aged 57. He had fallen ill two months before on board a ship returning from a tour of South Africa.
Performance style
Compared with Gieseking's instrumental and musical mastery, Samuel may sound correct, academic and less interesting, but we have too few documents of how he played other composers to gain a full understanding of his art. He helped prepare listeners for then unfamiliar compositions by Bach through an honest and earnest approach. His interpretations of
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 ...
were also admired. In 1925 he gave the first performance of
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells (17 October 1892 – 23 February 1983) was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.
Life
Background and early education
Howells was born in Lydney, Gloucest ...
's Piano Concerto.
Recordings
A few recordings (apparently 'live') by Samuel can be heard on Duo-Art piano-rolls (- at least via their MIDI scans). Recordings made acoustically by Samuel can also be heard via YouTube (see ). APR has collected Samuel's complete solo recordings in a 2-disc set.
Publications
The edition of Bach's 48 Preludes and Fugues (''
The Well-Tempered Clavier
''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...
'') in two volumes, published in 1924 for the
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an examination board and registered charity based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by Ofqual to award graded exams and diploma qualification ...
, still in print (in revised form) and in use today, was prepared by Professor
Donald Tovey
Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...
, but was fingered throughout by Harold Samuel.
Sources
* Eaglefield-Hull, Alfred. ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'', Dent, 1924.
* Lyman, Darryl. ''Great Jews in Music'', J. D. Publishers, 1986.
* Sadie, Stanley. ''The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians'', Macmillan, 1980.
* Schonberg, Harold C. ''The great pianists'', Simon and Schuster, 1963
* Sendrey, Alfred. ''Bibliography of Jewish music'', Columbia University Press, 1951.
* https://archive.org/details/4-harold-samuel-english-suite-no-2-bwv-807/1+Harold+Samuel+-+Bach+Partita+no+1+BWV+825.flac
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Harold
1879 births
1937 deaths
English musicologists
English classical pianists
Male classical pianists
English composers
English Jews
Jewish classical pianists
British music educators
Piano pedagogues