Lucy Anderson

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Lucy Anderson
Lithograph by Richard James Lane
Born18 February 1795
Died24 December 1878

Lucy Anderson (bap. 18 February 1795 – 24 December 1878) was the most eminent of the English pianists of the early

Victorian era.[1] She is mentioned in the same breath as English pianists of the calibre of William Sterndale Bennett.[2]

She was baptised Lucy Philpot in

flautist George Loder, the brother of violinist John David Loder.[6][7] Lucy had lessons from her cousin, a Mr. Windsor of Bath, and from William Crotch. She first achieved recognition as a pianist in Bath, moving to London in 1818.[8] In July 1820 she married a well-known violinist, George Frederick Anderson
.

Lucy Anderson was the first woman pianist to play at the Philharmonic Society concerts.[5] She appeared 19 times between 1822 and 1862, and was the first pianist to play Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto with the society.[9] She championed Beethoven's concertos and played them more often than any other English pianist up to 1850.[10] In 1843, she was piano soloist in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, conducted by Ignaz Moscheles.[11] In 1869 she became an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a rarely awarded honour.

In 1830, Johann Nepomuk Hummel composed a "Grand Military Septet" in C major, Op. 114, for violin, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, trumpet and piano. One source says this was dedicated to Lucy Anderson,[12] although another says it was dedicated to Madame Adolphe de Lanneau.[13]

In 1837 the publisher Alfred Novello gave Lucy Anderson exclusive rights for six months to play Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 2 in England. This was a condition of an interest-free loan of £30 from her husband, the money being needed by Novello to publish the concerto.[14]

She is described as "formidable" and "a manipulator of wide patronage".[1] Two queens appointed her as their pianist, Queen Adelaide in 1832 and Queen Victoria in 1837, Anderson having been Victoria's piano teacher from 1834 or earlier.[15] She taught the piano to Victoria's children, as well as to other high-born ladies.[1] She was a teacher of Arabella Goddard.[16]

In 1848 her husband

Master of the Queen's Music
. Lucy Anderson retired in 1862, and died in London on 24 December 1878.

Her portrait by

National Portrait Gallery.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  2. ^ Deborah Adams Rohr, The Careers of British Musicians 1750–1850. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  3. ^ The English Bach Awakening: Knowledge of J.S. Bach and his Music in England, edited by Michael Kassler
  4. ^ Some sources say she was born on 12 December 1797; this is impossible given her baptism date almost three years earlier.
  5. ^ a b Grove's Dictionary of Music, 5th ed. 1954
  6. .
  7. ^ "Lawleys of Bath Tree". Ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  8. ^ The Georgian Era: Politics and rural economists. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  9. ^ Linda L. Clark, Woman and achievement in 19th Century Europe. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  10. ^ Ellsworth, Therese (October 2003). "Women Soloists and the Piano Concerto in Nineteenth-Century London" (PDF). Ad Parnassum. 1 (2): 182. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  11. ^ Memories: Ignaz Moscheles on Beethoven. Mvdaily.com (9 April 1999). Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  12. ^ James Arthur Brownlow, The Last Trumpet. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  13. ^ Liner notes to the Turnabout recording played by Collegium con basso
  14. ^ R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn Studies. Books.google.com.au (27 November 1992). Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  15. .
  16. ^ Famous Pianists of Today and Yesterday. Archive.org. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  17. ^ National Portrait Gallery n NPG.org.uk.

Sources

  • Grove's Dictionary of Music, 5th ed. 1954