Myra Hess
Dame Julia Myra Hess , DBE , (born February 25, 1890 in London , † November 25, 1965 there ) was a British pianist .
Life
Julia Myra Hess was born in London on February 25, 1890, the youngest of four children to Lizzie Hess, née Jacobs, and Frederick Solomon Hess, the son of a Jewish immigrant from Alsace. She received a strict upbringing in the sense of Orthodox Judaism. In the following, she emancipated herself from the conservative ideas of her parents, which stood in the way of her wishes for a music career. There is evidence of an rapprochement with Christianity, even if Myra Hess never converted to Christianity out of solidarity with her Jewish environment.
At the age of five she took her first piano and cello lessons, increasingly concentrating on the former. She began taking classes at Trinity College of Music at the age of seven and was the youngest student at the time to receive the Trinity College Certificate. She then studied music theory and piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with the composers Julia Pascal and Orlando Morgan, who later dedicated some of their works to her. During her studies she met the pianist Irene Scharrer , with whom she founded a piano duo. At the age of twelve she switched to the Royal Academy of Music with the help of the Ada Lewish scholarship , where she was taught by Tobias Matthay .
Concert tours took her through Great Britain , Germany , Austria , France , Holland and North America (on her tour after the Second World War accompanied by Arturo Toscanini ), where she performed with her interpretations , especially by Ludwig van Beethoven , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Robert Schumann , Johann Sebastian Bach , Johannes Brahms and Domenico Scarlatti , celebrated successes.
By organizing concerts during the Second World War in the National Gallery (London) at lunchtime, the patriot Myra Hess became part of the cultural resistance against National Socialism . The first concert took place on October 10, 1939, the last, 1,698. Concert on April 10, 1946. In 1941 she was honored with the title Lady . In 1942 she received the gold medal (Gold Medal) of the Royal Philharmonic Society .
Due to her poor health, Myra Hess had to give up her concert activity in the 1960s. She died in London on November 25, 1965.
Honors
Myra Hess was named Commander of the British Empire in 1936 and Dame of the British Empire five years later in 1941.
literature
- Marion McKenna: Myra Hess: A Portrait. Hamish Hamilton, London 1976, ISBN 0-241-89522-7 (biography).
- Cord Garben : Past luck ... the art and fate of legendary pianists. 2nd Edition. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2018, ISBN 978-3-7959-1013-6 , pp. 134–154.
- Irene Scharrer : A Unique Friendship. In: Denise Lassimonne (ed.): Myra Hess: By Her Friends. Vanguard Press, London 1966, ISBN 0-8149-0140-9 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Myra Hess in the catalog of the German National Library
- Myra Hess in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ruth Rosenfelder: "Lady Myra Hess." In: Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. English, accessed July 3, 2019.
- ^ List of recipients of the gold medal on the RPS website , accessed on February 18, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hess, Myra |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hess, Julia Myra (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 25, 1890 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 25, 1965 |
| Place of death | London |