Mary Isabel Portman

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Portrait of Mary Portman 1905
Mary Isabel Portman in her 9.5 hp Clément

Mary Isabel Portman (born April 27, 1877 in London , † January 29, 1931 in Montreux ) was an English noblewoman, violinist and early motorist.

Life

Mary Portman was the youngest child of William Henry Berkeley Portman , 2nd Viscount Portman and his first wife, Mary Selina Charlotte Wentworth Fitzwilliam, the granddaughter of 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, at 22 Portman Square, London W1. As the daughter of one of the richest landowners in England, Mary lived in privileged circumstances. From 1894 the family lived in the newly built, imposing Bryanstan House in Dorset. After her mother's death in 1899, Mary ran the household of 30 servants for her father until he remarried in 1908.

Mary Portman was an early motorist . In 1903, The Car Illustrated magazine devoted an extensive illustrated article to Portman. a. shows the French De Dion and Clément carriages at Bryanston.

She became an accomplished violinist who received lessons from Richard Wagner's concertmaster August Wilhelmj , who moved to London in 1894. In the course of her life she owned three famous violins: a Stradivarius from 1722, a present on her 21st birthday, which she gave to her teacher Wilhelmj in 1908, a Guarneri from 1735 owned by Fritz Kreisler , which is still known today as “ Mary Portman ”, and another Guarneri from 1738, which was previously owned by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Bull .

In 1908 Portman went to Berlin for further training, where he developed a lifelong, intimate friendship with the pianist Amy Hare (1862-1939), who taught at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin . The two lived together in Charlottenburg, where Portman was registered in 1910 as "Frl., Privatiere" at Schlueterstrasse 51. They performed together at charity events in England until the 1920s. Even in 1927 Hare joins the soloist accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic with Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto on. In her will, Portman bequeathed a large part of her stately fortune including the "Mary Portman" Guarneri. The Australian violinist Elsie Playfair (1884–1966), who lives in a London house owned by Portman, donates this property and her “Ole Bull” Guarneri. There is no evidence of any alleged relationship with the English composer and suffragette Ethel Smyth in some sources .

Kranzbach Castle

In 1913, on the occasion of a trip to chess , Portman spontaneously decided to build his own property with a concert hall on a secluded hill near Klais (Krün) with impressive views of the Wetterstein and Karwendel mountains , later the Kranzbach Castle . The planning was entrusted to the respected architecture firm Blow and Billerey. Since it was no longer possible for her to withdraw money from “enemy territory” after the start of the war in Germany in 1914, she was threatened with arrest because of outstanding bills. Only the intervention of the American ambassador and the consul general in Munich , who took over the debts for the almost finished building, saved Portland from prison in Munich. Due to the uncertain situation in Germany, she immediately moved back to London. She never saw the property in the Bavarian mountains, which was completed in 1915.

According to the consular death certificate, Mary Isabel Portman died on January 29, 1931 at the Hotel Eden in Montreux. The local tourist book shows that her brother George Berkeley Portman and his wife were also in Montreux. The deceased was buried next to her parents in Durweston Cemetery.

Web links

  • [2] Ian Gaunt and John Tory (2014), Mary Portman's Violin (1877–1931)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The article essentially follows the information in: Ian Gaunt (2010) with amendments and additions by John Tory (2014), Mary Portman's Violin (1877-1931)
  2. ^ The Car Illustrated. A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea, and Air , Volume 3, No. 35, Jan. 21, 1903, pp. 303-306
  3. ↑ Berlin address book 1910
  4. ^ Estate of the Hon. Mary Portman in Times , April 10, 1931, p. 7
  5. ↑ The construction plans can be viewed on the website of "Das Kranzbach": [1]
personal data
SURNAME Portman, Mary Isabel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Portman, Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobleman, violinist and early motorist
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1931
Place of death Montreux