Robert Sidney Pratten
Robert Sidney Pratten (born January 23, 1824 in Bristol , † February 10, 1868 in Ramsgate ) was a British flautist .
Life
He was the second son of a music professor, his mother's maiden name was Sidney. As if by himself, Pratten became a musician, growing up in a thoroughly musical family, only when he was seven years old did his older brother Frederick - later a famous double bass player - help with instruction in the flute. At the age of twelve he played solos in concerts in Bath and Bristol, and as a boy he received a position in the orchestra of the Dublin Theater Royal .
After traveling much of the UK, he settled in London in 1845 and became "first flute" at the Theater Royal, Covent Garden. He gained fame after playing Charles Nicholson's Twelfth Fantasia (Air from "Nina") in a concert , and his full tone and expressive style were praised in particular.
The performance of music alone did not make him completely satisfied; he wanted to sound out his suitability as a composer, took lessons in harmony and counterpoint from the well-known cellist Charles Lucas and proved to be a surprisingly docile student. In 1846/47, supported by Sir Warwick Hele Tonkin, he went on a tour of Europe with performances, even the Kaiser in Vienna heard him. His popular piece L'espérance for flute with piano accompaniment was published in Leipzig in 1847 . Back in Great Britain, after Joseph Richardson's departure he was able to take up his position at Jullien's orchestra to succeed José Maria del Carmen Ribas at the Italian opera in 1851 - Pratten was on his way to becoming England's leading flautist.
With the tour across the continent behind him, he had switched from his previously used eight- key transverse flute made by Rudall & Rose to a model made by the flute maker Abel Siccama , for which he was full of praise. Nevertheless, in 1852, because of a deeply rooted aversion to additional keys, he wanted to go back to a flute with only eight keys and had a Siccama flute modified in this sense. While Charles Nicholson had advanced and cultivated the London style of the instrument with the “ Nicholson's Improved ” stamped wooden flutes - drilled wide and equipped with large finger holes and a blow hole - the borderline “ Pratten's Perfected ” with a unique sound and not unproblematic handling followed.
In 1853 Alfred Mellon founded an ensemble called The Orchestral Union , where a friendship began between Pratten and his colleague Richard Shepherd Rockstro , who incorporated a Pratten biography into his work The Flute , published in London in 1890 . In 1854 Rockstro heard him perform his concert piece for the first time , which in his view was by far Pratten's best work, and his marriage to Catharina Josepha Pelzer took place , also in Rockstro's opinion, a stroke of luck in the life of the high-minded, generous, amiable and warm-hearted man.
On November 22, 1867, Pratten fell seriously ill during a performance of Elijah in Exeter Hall and died on February 10, 1868 in Ramsgate.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b M.L. Middleton / David J. Golby: Pratten, Robert Sidney (1824−1868) , in: HCG Matthew / Brian Harrison (eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Volume 45 , Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, p. 230 (online)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pratten, Robert Sidney |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British flautist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1824 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bristol |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 10, 1868 |
| Place of death | London |