This is a massive book
that everyone researching figures who
crossed Britiish concert thresholds
during the last century must have or
be able to consult.
It bears all the signs
of a labour of professional compulsion
such is its broad sweep and its presentation
of detail: 692 pages for just under
thirty pounds. No doubt some ex-Ibbs
and Tillett money went in to keep the
price down.
Essentially this is
a history of a concert agency - in fact
THE British concert agency. It was founded
in the late nineteenth century and foundered
amid allegations of scandal in 1990.
Along the way anyone who was anyone
in the classical music field nationally
or internationally was on Ibbs and Tillett’s
books.
The book hits all the
right notes and hits them adroitly,
capturing a range of audiences. The
narrative by Chris Fifield races along,
pausing for fascinating asides. If it
feels like a name-dropping fest what
else would you expect from a history
of a concert agency. And this is, after
all, a large part of its draw.
The main body of text
runs to 372 pages. I suspect that Fifield's
challenges included what to leave out.
I get the impression that the I&T
Archives are well stocked and there
may yet be make rich pickings for researchers
of other musical subjects. There are
18 appendices covering in total about
270 pages and a bibliography as well
as an unstinting 42 page index.
Anecdotes and vignettes
abound. How about this one recalled
by pianist Joseph Cooper who remembered
that Emmie Tillett liked: having good-looking
young men around her ... ‘she also enjoyed
playing bridge with Solomon, Moiseiwitsch
and Hess Hesss could speak and wouldn't,
Solomon couldn’t speak but tried and
Moiseiwitsch never said anything so
everything was conducted in silence.’
Joeske Van Walsum's
fully quoted description of the world
of the classical artist agent brings
us up to date with the rise of word
of mouth and the decreasing influence
of newspaper critics.
We can witness artists
like Casals, Pears and Ferrier declining
engagements due to the poor fees on
offer.
Emmie gave many after-concert
meals for the famous. Her household
kept notes of the food preferences of
celebrities. Cherkassky loved ice creams
plenty; Clara Haskil very light food,
no salt
There’s also Emmie's
lionising of the great and gorgeous
and of those rising to greatness.
There are board room
struggles alongside last minute substitutions
e.g. Heather Harper when Vishnevshkaya
was denied access from USSR for Britten's
War Requiem as well as squabbles with
artists who felt themselves short-changed.
Emmie’s 'control-freak'
nature led to her dismissal of two visionary
members of staff who had signed up Radu
Lupu behind her back. She is noted as
expecting ‘such behaviour from Harrison
who is from Yorkshire but she did not
expect it from Jasper with his
family background'.
Of the firm’s refusal
to use anything other than surface mail
even for international correspondence
and their antediluvian office procedures..
How about the splenetic
Joseph Holbrooke who wrote complaining
that his name was reproduced in smaller
letters than that of other composers
and of the codes used to hide the fees
paid to one artist from other artists
and from the competition
And it's not just a
London story - all the regional festivals
are there and there are plenty of international
references.
It is naturally very
much an artists' history rather than
a composer one but composer-performers
are of course mentioned. Appendix 13
reproduces the letters between Ibbs
and Elgar 1899-1932, 14 between Rachmaninov
1911-1930.
Emmie Tillett's only
surviving diary covering the years 1965
to 1969 is aflood with names and telegraphed
impressions and reminiscences including
being an extra in a crowd scene for
'Dixon of Dock Green'.
There are 77 truly
striking plates; many seem unfamiliar.
Rachmaninov in 1911 living up to his
smile-shrivelled reputation, a smouldering
Dora Labbette, a youngish Monteux in
1927, a time-worn Harriet Cohen striking
an affected ecstatic stance, Hess and
d'Aranyi horsing around swapping violin
and piano in two pictures, Serkin in
his twenties, film star lookalikes Cyril
Smith and Phyllis Sellick, Ashkenazy
with black hair, Ogdon similarly dark
and intense (Mrs Tillett in her diary
recalls with some relish cutting Brenda
Lucas dead - why ...?) and a very young
Lesley Garrett.
The across-the-page
width of the printing is notable and
makes the book a little recalcitrant
to read.
This is a great big
palatial book; that's the first impression.
Its splendour is in its detail and its
finish. It is also very readable - packed
with good stories but with a fascinating
sweep across the decades.
Rob Barnett
CONTENTS
Contents: Preface; N. Vert: 'a veritable
Napoleon of managers'; An American venture
and the death of Vert: 1902–5; Memoirs
of Pedro Tillett; The first year: 1906;
Clara Butt's Australian tour:1907; Artists
and auditionees: 1906–12; Artists and
auditionees: 1912–14; Concerts and festivals:
1910–14; Artists and auditionees: 1914–18;
Agencies and artists: 1918–23; Artists
and auditionees: 1920–29; Letters from
artists: 1920–29; Letters from conductors:
1930–39; Letters from pianists: 1930–39;
Letters from instrumentalists, singers
and composers: 1930–39; Artists and
auditionees: 1930–39; The politics of
music: 1930–39; A conductor in 1933;
Concerts, artists and auditionees: 1940–49;
Agency changes: 1940–49; Kathleen Ferrier;
Artists and agents: 1950–59; The winds
of change: 1960–69; End of an era: 1970–82;
The final decade: 1980–90; Appendices;
Select bibliography; General index.
