Natasha Spender

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Natasha Spender, Lady Spender (née Litvin; 18 April 1919 – 21 October 2010)[1] was an English pianist and author. She was the second wife of the writer Sir Stephen Spender.[2]

She was born in

Old Vic. Her father, who was married to another woman, was the music critic, Edwin Evans.[4]

At age 16, Litvin won a scholarship to the

The Proms on 13 September 1947 from the Royal Albert Hall.[5]

She first met Stephen Spender in 1940, marrying him in 1941, and the couple were for many years part of a literary circle which included W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood, T. S. Eliot and Sir Isaiah Berlin. They divided their time between their homes in St John's Wood and Mas St Jerome in Provence.[6]

In her forties she was forced to give up the piano because of

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. A collection of writings, about her late husband and her passion for gardening, An English Garden in Provence, appeared in 2004.[6]

Lady Spender died on 21 October 2010 at the age of 91. An archive of her papers is held at the Bodleian Library[6]

She had two children with Stephen Spender: their daughter Elizabeth "Lizzie" Spender, previously an actress, is the widow of the Australian actor and satirist Barry Humphries, and their son Matthew Spender is married to the daughter of the Armenian-born artist Arshile Gorky.[7]

References

  1. ^ Sutherland, J. (2010): Natasha Spender obituary The Guardian (22 October 2010). Retrieved on 23 October 2010.
  2. ^ Obituary, The Times, 23 October, 2010
  3. ^ a b "BBC Radio 4: Desert Island Discs". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Obituary: Lady Spender". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  5. ^ BBC Proms performance archive
  6. ^ a b c Bodleian Archives
  7. ^ A conversation on Arshile Gorky, with Maro Gorky, Matthew Spender, and Saskia and Cosima Spender. Hauser and Wirth