| Contents |
N. Vert 'A veritable Napoleon of managers' -- An American venture and the death of Vert: 1902-1905 -- Memoirs of Pedro Tillett -- The first year: 1906 -- Clara Butt's Australian tour: 1907 -- Artists and auditionees: 1906-1912 -- Artists and auditionees: 1912-1914 -- Concerts and festivals: 1910-1914 -- Artists and auditionees: 1914-1918 -- Agencies and artists: 1918-1923 -- Artists and auditionees: 1920-1929 -- Letters from artists: 1920-1929 -- Letters from conductors: 1930-1939 -- Letters from pianists: 1930-1939 -- Letters from instrumentalists, singers and composers: 1930-1939 -- Artists and auditionees: 1930-1939 -- The politics of music: 1930-1939 -- A conductor in 1933 -- Concerts, artists and auditionees: 1940-1949 -- Agency changes: 1940-1949 -- Kathleen Ferrier -- Artists and agents: 1950-1959 -- The winds of change: 1960-1969 -- End of an era: 1970-1982 -- The final decade: 1980-1990 -- Appendices. Artists' brochures 1907-8, 1908-9 -- Artists' brochures, 1911-12, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1919-20, agency bulletin 1913 -- Artists' brochures 1923-24 (for chamber music societies), 1924-25, 1929-30 -- Artists' brochures 1934-35, chamber music 1935-36, artists' brochures 1938-39 -- Northern concert tours 1939-40, chamber music 1939-41, 1946-48, artists' brochures 1940-41, 1948-49 -- LSO-CEMA 1940-44 -- Promenade concerts 1945, 1947 -- Chamber music 1949-51, artists' brochures 1951-52, Strok, Tillett and Holt 1957-58 -- Artists' brochures 1962-63, 1964-65, 1968-69 -- Artists' brochures 1973-74, 1977-78, 1982-83, 1989-90 -- Contracts with Julius Isserlis 1938-62 -- Emmie Tillett's five-year diary 1965-69 -- Letters from Edward Elgar 1899-1932 -- Letters from Sergei Rachmaninov 1911-1930 -- Letters from Myra Hess 1922-49 -- Correspondence with Kathleen Ferrier 1943-46 -- Correspondence with Kathleen Ferrier 1947 -- Correspondence with Kathleen Ferrier 1948-53. |
| Abstract |
For the greater part of the twentieth century, Ibbs and Tillett's concert agency was to the British music industry what Marks and Spencer is to the world of the department store. The roll-call of famous musicians on its books was unmatched, and included such international stars as Clara Butt, Fritz Kreisler, Pablo Casals, Sergei Rachmaninov, Andres Segovia, Kathleen Ferrier, Myra Hess, Jacqueline du Pre, Clifford Curzon and Vladimir Ashkenazy, to name but a handful. From 1906, the success of the company was due to the dedication of its founders, Robert Leigh Ibbs and John Tillett. After their deaths, the agency was run by the latter's wife, Emmie, who, dubbed the 'Duchess of Wigmore Street', became one of the most formidable yet respected women in British music. The history of this unique institution and its owners is told here for the first time, often through the letters that were exchanged between the artists themselves and the agency. |
