| Abstract |
A conductor is the most public of musicians, for he depends entirely on the response of others. The career of Sir Adrian Boult is a virtual history of music in the twentieth century. This anthology of letters looks at the history through the eyes of those who helped make it. Letters from Elgar show the recognition of a chosen interpreter. Vaughan Williams and Holst share working details of a composer's life. The long correspondence with Bruno Walter ripens before the darkening sky of world events. In the 1960s and 1970s the affectionate friendship of the Menuhins speaks for music and friends throughout the world. The background is a rich tapestry. There are letters from Parry, Stanford, Delius, Bantock, Ireland, Bax, Bliss, Walton, Tippett and Malcolm Williamson at home, from Sibelius, De Falla, Franz Lehar, Hindemith and Alan Berg abroad. Among Boult's colleagues on the performing platform whose correspondence is included are Toscanini, Henry Wood, Bernard Haitink, Gervase Elwes, Casals, Schnabel, Solomon, Emil Gilels, and Paul Tortelier. And there are letters from the great musical scholars of his time - Sir Donald Tovey, E.J. Dent, E.H. Fellowes, Nadia Boulanger. These letters of friends are set off with extracts from Adrian Boult's writings and interviews showing vivid pictures of his work as musician and teacher at Oxford early in the century, at the Royal College of Music, as Director of Music for the B.B.C. through twenty crucial years, and finally as the elder statesman of British music. |
