Arthur Hirst - A Dear Friend

Since substantial research into Rachmaninoff's life and work got underway only decades after his death, we should count ourselves especially fortunate that his sister-in-law Sophie Satin built a considerable collection of memoirs written by family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately we often know but little about the personalities and life stories of these first hand witnesses - therefore it is not easy to assess the bias of their statements. Who were they, what was their attitude to life, what was their relationship to Rachmaninoff?

During our work at SENAR we found numerous traces that give colour and personal meaning to his remarkably diverse entourage.

Among the portrait pictures in the collection is one made by no lesser a photographer than the renowned London-based Claude Harris. The man in the picture wears a lorgnette - status symbol for a man of culture. The date is not fully legible - possibly 1924 - but the signature is clear: Arthur Hirst. Given the early year, we may assume that this was one of the framed photographs that Rachmaninoff singled out for display at his music studio at SENAR.

Arthur Hirst is one of the many friends from Rachmaninoff’s inner circle who seem all but forgotten today. His memoirs ‘Rachmaninoff the Man’ can be found at the Library of Congress in box 51/19. However, finding even a date of birth and death is no easy task. The name Arthur Hirst is common and even after filtering based on address details and country of birth, for example, we were unable to find a clear match. In old newspapers and magazines on the internet however, one find reports about Arthur Hirst’s musical activities. For example, on June 4, 1921 in The Swiss Observer (UK) wrote about a recital with Lucerne based Swiss singer Felia Dorio in Oxford’s Mortimer Hall:

‘Mr. Arthur Hirst's fine playing needs no other comment but praise. He is a master of his art and plays with great brilliancy, beauty of expression and delicacy of touch, and he held his audience with his fine execution of the selections fro'm Beethoven and Chopin.’

The Musical Times of January 1928 provides more details about the format of Arthur Hirst's performances:

'Modern Music' was a big enough title to allow Mr. Arthur Hirst, at Hove, to cover much ground. As part of his educational purpose, he showed how Grieg built up his form from the fiddlers of his native land, who played without reference to a text- book. These people used all sorts of strange harmonies and strange colours as their fancy led them. Grieg discovered that it was possible to use all of them in all kinds of chromatic harmonies. He collected an enormous number of these native airs and harmonized them. That gave him the idea for original work of his own and his work has affected practically every musician since.’

Arthur Hirst's enthusiasm for the music of Edvard Grieg is also evident in a book written by his piano teacher Mathilde Verne - a pupil of Clara Schumann. A first edition copy of this book, published in 1936 and signed by Arthur Hirst, was found on SENAR. Hirst himself had made a substantial contribution to the book, which is indicated in the copy in the outer margins of pages 131 to 136 with red pencil. In it he tells the reader about his friendship with Sergei Rachmaninoff.

It was not for nothing that Hirst had been elevated from fan to friend. He clearly had a keen eye for the inner workings of the family. Striking in his account in Mathilde Verne’s book is the attention paid to Rachmaninoff’s wife. He saw them as a team and in his inscription he refers to both of them by their initials – which, not coincidentally, also form the name of Rachmaninoff's country residence on Switzerland's Lake Lucerne.

set: 0004991

type of set:

hard cover book

title: Chords of Remembrance

language:

English

author:

Mathilde Verne

publisher:

Hutchinson & Co (Publishers) Ltd. London

date:

1936

subject:

memoirs

related subjects:

music

musicians

related natural persons:

Athur Hirst (handwritten dedication)

Sergei Rachmaninoff (dedicatee)

Natalia Rachmaninoff-Satin (dedicatee)

related legal persons:

The Mayflower Press, Plymouth

William Brendon & Son, Ltd.

related documents:

letter dated 10/25/1935 from Arthur Hirst to Sergei Rachmaninoff (LoC Washington, published in Russian translation Literaturnoye Naslediye Tom III, page 277)

letter dated 11/19/1935 from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Arthur Hirst (LoC Washington, published in Russian translation Literaturnoye Naslediye Tom III, page 65)

scan: 0004991.jpg & additional scans in folder 0004991

transcription:

1. dedication on first page

[handwritten ink]  To my dear friends Se - Na - R from Arthur Hirst, 1936 [handwritten ink]

2. passage from Chapter Twelve ‘Pupils and Others’ highlighted by means of a vertical line (red pencil) in the outer margins of pages 131 - 136

[printed text] [page 131] I am proud to have numbered so many men among my pupils. I confess I really like teaching men best.

In addition to those I have already mentioned I think with special pleasure of such really musical amateurs as the Rev. Ramsay L'Amy and his brother Macleod Ramsay L'Amy, and Lt.-Col. Sykes. A pupil with an unusually interesting personality came to me with an introduction from Professor Engesser - Arthur Hirst. I was immensely struck by the courage he had shown in giving up a business career for an art which might offer very little in the way of financial benefit. He has often told me, to my great amusement, that at his first lesson I "ordered" him to prepare two pieces of Scarlatti, two of the "Forty-eight," two Songs without Words (for a man with a beard), the "Papillons" of Schumann and the Tschaikowsky Concerto. He returned, after a week of terrific effort, with the whole list prepared, more or less. Can one wonder that I dubbed him my "enthusiastic pupil", or could one wonder if he secretly dubbed me a slave-driver, devoid of human feeling? Nevertheless, my enthusiastic pupil he remained and enthusiastic he remains to this day. I have always followed his work with affectionate interest, and that work has been in a class by itself. Largely at the suggestion of his friends, Sir Frank Dicksee and Mrs. Julian Marshall, he developed the idea of giving lecture-recitals, briefly explaining the circumstances in which the compositions were conceived, and showing the connection between the composer's life and the music, wisely avoiding technical analysis, but giving the listener a general idea of what to listen for. His name is better known in the provinces than in London, and he has performed in more than a hundred different towns, returning to some annually for ten years in succession, accomplishing great things in true musical education. Furthermore, in 1929, he made a tour of his native country, New Zealand, giving thirty-four recitals in the course of two months, and he has played in France, Switzerland and Scandinavia.

I am indebted to my pupil, Arthur Hirst, for the following pen picture of Rachmaninoff:

“My friend Rachmaninoff has so often urged me to write about music and musicians that it seems peculiarly fitting that I should turn my pen to a short tribute to the great man himself. It is also pleasant to have an opportunity to record my homage to the supreme artist and my affection for the man, feelings which sprang spontaneously from my heart the very first time I heard him play and was brought face to face with him.

"That was long ago. He played his own second Concerto at one of the great concerts in Frankfurt-on-Main, in which city I was studying with Professor Engesser. The work was very warmly received, and upon me personally it made an unforgettable impression, as did the perfect playing of the composer, and when one of the directors of the concerts took me to the artists' room afterwards and I actually shook hands with the creator of the [Prelude, I felt as if it were all a dream.

"That meeting he has never remembered, naturally enough, but equally naturally for me it remained a redletter day in my existence. Then, eight years later, in 1918, in a music shop in Bergen in Norway, where I was engaged on Naval Service, I suddenly found myself standing side by side with him again, and I could not help speaking to him to remind him of the past introduction. Though he had no recollection of that humble student he seemed to sense sincerity and enthusiasm in the man before him, and as he was a stranger in a strange land, any hand of warm friendship might well have been welcome to a man in the tragic circumstances in which he found himself. At any rate, we were drawn together, and during the few days he was in the town we had delightful walks and talks, and I managed to get off duty [end of page 131]

[printed text][continued from page 131] in order to hear one of his two recitals. I speak of his tragic circumstances, and tragic they were. That was just after the Bolshevist revolution in Russia, and he, a true Russian of ancient family, had been robbed of all his possessions and obliged to flee his beloved native land. At a most unpropitious moment, with the whole of Europe involved in the chaos of war, he had to leave his wife and children in Copenhagen and embark upon a concert tour in Scandinavia for the sake of earning a little money. Whenever I think of the man then, in the light of my present knowledge of him, I marvel at the courage he displayed, and my heart trembles at the sufferings he bore, for I am sure a more devoted husband and father never drew mortal breath, and equally sure that no human being ever knew more profound patriotism. But he never talked of his sorrows. Music and humour were the subjects which engaged our interest, and I was entirely overpowered by the range of his musical knowledge and by the penetrating truth of his estimates of all composers, past and present. I was particularly struck by his warm admiration for Grieg, whose true originality and whose influence upon the best modern music has been observed by all too few of our mentors. To this day I remember him sitting down at his piano and playing one of the tiny miniatures of that composer with a delicacy that showed the work to be as profound as any Cosway. His own strong personality coloured all his views, even as it colours all his performances and compositions, but everything about him bespeaks absolute artistic integrity and ingrained musicianship, so that one simply accepts him.

"After his Scandinavian tour was over he was joined by his family, and they all sailed for America. Only those who actually experienced it can know the difference in the atmosphere that was found on crossing the Big Pond. Though the U.S.A. were actually in the war, Europe still seemed far, far away, and the miseries of the Old World were unknown. The very name of Rachmaninoff was enough to ensure his welcome among a people always clamorous for the best, and the solid worth of his musicianship soon rallied the most informed interest to [end of page 132]

[printed text][continued from page 132] his assistance. One concert tour after another was arranged, with ovations everywhere, with festivals of his compositions to follow, and America has done herself honour in the way she has appreciated the sublime genius.

"My own next meeting with him, after Bergen, was in New York a year later, and then I had the pleasure of meeting his wife and two little girls. No account of Rachmaninoff would be complete without reverent mention of the better half, who always seems to me personally to be sort of guardian angel a to him. I could not imagine her being anything but quietly sympathetic with her artist-husband's every wayward mood. I felt her qualities instantly on meeting her in New York and I have seen them in evidence a hundred times since then. We had further meetings in America, first at Colorado Springs by chance, and later at Palo Alto in California by invitation. Then there are always reunions in London and Paris or Lucerne, where he has built himself a charming villa on the lake, with the delightfully characteristic name which fuses their own two Christian names, 'Villa Senar' (Sergei and Natalia R.). There, there is always the same warm greeting, always the same humour and always the same keen interest in everything that appertains to every form of music, composition, performance or criticism.

"I have alluded to Rachmaninoff's humour. How many people who have seen the modest solemn figure of the man on the concert platform have any idea of the real personality. Acute observers cannot fail to detect the humorous quality in his performances, peeping out in the subtle emphasis of a rhythmic point or a turn of melody, and what fun there is in Etudes Tableaux and in the fourth Piano Concerto, and in the recently published Variations. Indeed, he is in his element in a scherzo of any kind, like all truly great composers. 'Im echten Manne steckt ein Kind, das will spielen!' There must always be an element of the pure-hearted child present in every real man. I feel that I must tell the public something of the heart of the man they love so much, if only that they may know how right their devotion to him really is. One of [end of page 133]

[printed text][continued from page 133] his recent recitals at Queen's Hall was given while he was in a very bad state of health, and before going on to the platform he was in the depths of depression. Weak and ill, he faced up to his task and walked on and took his seat at the piano. I will repeat what he told me after- wards. 'I love London,' he said, 'and I love the English. And when I saw all those dear people there and heard the warmth of their welcome, I just pulled myself together and said to myself: "Now then, Rach, you must play your very best for such a nice audience." And all my weakness seemed to go from me and I worked in the strength of the sympathy and affection I felt flowing up to me from the people. I love London and the London people.'

"I often think it would be an eye-opener to students to hear the way he practises. I have heard him going through passages he has played for years, at a snail's pace, with loving care for every note, every metrical accent, every shade of tone. I have heard him sit down to his piano, immediately after getting home from a recital, to practise some bar which had not given him satisfaction. That artistic conscience may perhaps be taken as the symbol of his greatness, for it is really a matter of true service to the ideal he has in mind, and I could tell of a hundred ways in which I have seen that profound idealism in evidence. I believe the only time I have ever known a disapproving look in his eye was once when I sat down at his piano and played, merely to illustrate a remark, a few bars of Schubert. He looked at me, very seriously, and said: 'You have not been practising.' I wilted under the quiet admonition.

"I do not think that anything I here set down can be construed into flattery or adulation. Such feelings would not please the man himself, and I have lived too long in the world to be bothered with hero-worship of any kind. After much experience of music and musicians, art and artists, life and mankind, one learns to accept factual worth. The factual worth of this great man is patent to all who have enough knowledge to judge, and that is all that matters. I might also say, however, that quite apart from Rachmaninoff's achievements, he constitutes a [end of page 134]

[printed text][continued from page 134] direct link with the great Russian School of last century, with Taneieff and Arensky, who were among his actual teachers, and with Rimsky-Korsakoff, Tschaikowsky, Borodin, Rubinstein and others of that galaxy, and is therefore bearer of a great tradition and claims our homage as such.

"It would be nice to go on at length and it would be interesting to discuss the spirit of beauty which is inherent in his every composition and analyse the mastery with which he handles all musical material which comes to his mind. But this is not a critical or technical treatise, and I must close with two more interesting sidelights on the personality of the man himself. His delight in motoring and his gen generosity are two of the characteristics which always impress me. He loves a high-powered car, and I have never driven with a better chauffeur. Speeding along a modern roadway in California, or whipping through tortuous lanes at midnight in the country districts round Lucerne, he seems as much a part of his machine as he is part of the instrument when he plays the piano, with a similar perfect control and a similar delicate consideration. Even his motor-boat which he steers over the Lake of Lucerne is handled with a skill that is surprising in one who always gasps at the equanimity with which English people sail the seas of the world.

"In referring to the generosity of Rachmaninoff's nature, I touch on something about which he himself characteristically could never speak; but I have had ample opportunity to observe it, and I can guess at much I have seen indicated. I have known him play in Paris, at his annual concert for the benefit of his distressed compatriots, when ill-health has compelled him to cancel a whole row of other engagements arranged for his own advantage and at which he would have been certain of packed audiences. I have seen the way in which he has undertaken concert tours, with all the nervous strain involved, in order to earn comfort for the family he adores, and I know that many relatives and old friends who have suffered loss and who have to live in alien lands do not look to him in vain. The open hand is as natural to the [end of page 135]

[printed text][continued from page 134] man as is the modesty which precludes any reference to it, and which is evident in his quiet yet dignified bearing and in every word he ever utters. Who can ever forget his shyness when he was presented with the medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society by the Duchess of Athol? And where could one find another man of such world-wide fame capable of such native modesty? He told me, after that memorable concert, that he felt miserable and ashamed of himself for having been unable to express his gratitude and appreciation in flowing words. But if he had launched forth into some carefully prepared rhetoric, delivered with perfect self-assurance, he would not have been the great Master we know him to be. He is just himself musicians and to 'imperial, plain and true,' a pattern to all men." [printed text]

---

The composer clearly appreciated such attention. Obviously referring to it on December 21 1939, in his response to Hirst's annual Christmas greeting, Rachmaninoff actually writes in characteristic tongue-in-cheek fashion:

From October 20 to December 10, my wife and I gave 23 concerts.

In the letter however, the composers worries soon overshadow all humor and good news:

I am very sad and worried about Tatiana. When I left Europe, I bought her a small estate forty miles from Paris, where she lives all alone, except for her little boy. Her husband, fortunately, is not at the front, but he is serving somewhere in France as an instructor. Only with such a strong character as Tatyana can one endure such circumstances. In the last two months she has managed to obtain a French passport and a driver's license. This last fact worries me no less than the war. I have never felt that she had the talent to drive.

On December 5th 1939, weeks before Rachmaninoff’s reply arrived, Arthur Hirst had already written a letter to Tatiana Conus-Rachmaninoff on his own accord.

She too cherished the thoughtful gesture. And today it survives as part of the private correspondence Tatiana carefully preserved at SENAR. Given the tragedy that in the end overtook the entire world, including Rachmaninoff and his youngest daughter, one can imagine that the letter was of particular emotional value.

set: 0001389_0001391

type of set: one folio, handwritten letter, on headed paper & envelope

title: letter, dated 12/05/1939 from Arthur Hirst to Tatiana Conus-Rachmaninoff

language: English

sender: Arthur Hirst

date: 12/05/1939

subject: Christmas Greetings

related subjects: Nazi Germany World War II

related natural persons: Tatiana Conus-Rachmaninoff (addressee) Boris Conus (addressee’s husband) Alexandre Borisovich (addressee’s son) Sergei Rachmaninoff (addressee’s father)

related documents: letter dated 12/21/1939 by Sergei Rachmaninoff to Arthur Hirst [LoC Washington, published in Russian translation in Literaturnoye Naslediye Tom III, pages 169/170]

transcription:

[0001389] recto

[embossed print] Brackenhirst Roehampton, S.W.15. Putney 2027. [embossed print]

[handwritten][ink] 5th Dec 1939

My dear Tatiana I wonder if you are in Paris – or where? I think about you all so often - & now that Xmas approaches I have written my usual letter to your father & feel I must write to you too & ask for news. Of course he would like to have you safe in New York, with Sacha – but poor Boris will be in service, no doubt, & it would be hard for him if you were all far away overseas – so I rather fancy that this will

[0001390] verso

[handwritten][ink] find you in France, at least, & perhaps in your own home in Paris just as I am in my own home here. Wherever you are, you can be sure that my affectionate Xmas wishes go to you as always – the war, & existence of so much ugliness in the world, seems to make love & all beautiful things doubly precious. We must hope that 1940 may see revolt of the Germans against Nazi Tyranny and the dawn of a new era throughout the world. If the disaster teaches us to see anew the value of our fine old traditions, it will not be in vain! My love to you both - & Sacha! Yours affectionately Arthur Hirst

[0001391] envelope, partly torn

[post stamp] Putney 7 -PM 5 DEC 1939 S. W. 15 [end of post stamp]

[pencil] Madame Boris Conus [crossed out] [pencil] 45. Blvd Beauséjour [pencil] [crossed out] [ink] Chaude Joute [ink] [pencil] [crossed out] [underlined] Paris XVIme [pencil] [underlined] [crossed out] [ink] par Condé sur Vesgre (S et O) [ink]