Jean Stewart (17 February 1914 – 28 December 2002) was an English

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

player. She played in chamber music and orchestral music, and appeared as a soloist; Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated a string quartet to her.

Life

Jean Stewart was born in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated populat ...

in 1914, daughter of the musician and cricketer Haldane Stewart. She was educated at

Headington School Headington School is an independent girls' school in Headington, Oxford, England, founded by a group of evangelical Christians in 1915. The ''Good Schools Guide'' called Headington "A delightful school, hichnurtures and entertains its pupils wh ...

in Oxford, and at Stratford House in Kent, and was a student at the music school in London run by the violinist Editha Knocker. She won a Leverhulme scholarship to the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...

, where she was a pupil of the 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 ...

. During her time there she turned from the violin to the viola, and studied with the violist Ernest Tomlinson."Jean Stewart"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 17 January 2003. Via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

. She played with the Leighton Quartet, whose leader was Irene Richards. In 1941 she was recommended by

Ivor James Ivor James CBE (1882–1963) Percy A. Scholes. "James, Ivor". ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press, 1964. was a British cellist. He taught for many years at the Royal College of Music; among his pupils were those who bec ...

, her chamber music teacher at the Royal College of Music, to the Menges Quartet (founded by Isolde Menges), to stand in for their regular viola player who was ill; she became their permanent violist. Percy A. Scholes. "Stewart, Jean" in ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. OUP, 1964. Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated to her his Second String Quartet in A minor, with the words "For Jean on her birthday". It was first performed on 12 October 1944 (Vaughan Williams's birthday) by the Menges Quartet. In a letter to Vaughan Williams, after receiving the music and before the performance, she wrote "Without exaggeration this Quartet is the most lovely thing that has happened to me in my life"."Letter from Jean Stewart to Ralph Vaughan Williams"
The Letters of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Retrieved 5 March 2019. From 1947 she played with the Richards Piano Quartet, led by Irene Richards, after her death led by Nona Liddell. In 1947 Jean Stewart married George Dickinson Hadley, a physician. They had three daughters. From 1956, for six years, she did not play regularly, to devote time to her family. In later years she was a successful chamber music coach. She played in chamber orchestras, including the

English Chamber Orchestra The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and their ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall. The orchestra regularly tours in the UK and internationall ...

, the London Bach Orchestra and the Monteverdi Orchestra, later renamed the

English Baroque Soloists The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque to the Classical period. History The English B ...

. She appeared as soloist in music written for her: ''Elegiac Meditation'' for viola and string orchestra by

Robin Milford Robin Humphrey Milford (22 January 1903 – 29 December 1959) was an English composer and music teacher. Biography Milford was born in Oxford, son of Sir Humphrey Milford, publisher with Oxford University Press. He attended Rugby School ...

, Sonata for unaccompanied viola by

Elisabeth Lutyens Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer. Early life and education Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...

, and Sonata in C minor for viola and piano by

Julius Harrison Julius Allan Greenway Harrison (26 March 1885 – 5 April 1963) was an English composer and conductor who was particularly known for his interpretation of operatic works. Born in Lower Mitton, Stourport in Worcestershire, by the age of 16 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Jean 1914 births 2002 deaths People from Tonbridge People educated at Headington School English classical violists Women violists Alumni of the Royal College of Music Ralph Vaughan Williams