Elizabeth Headlam-Morley 1866-1950

[giles.enders]

Elizabeth Charlotte (Carlotta) Henrietta Ernestine Headlam-Morley, nee Sontag  Born 1866 Luneburg  Died 1950  Wimbledon, Surrey.

Daughter of Dr Carl August Sontag. Elizabeth was a pupil of Marie Wieck. In 1881 she became a pupil of Franz Liszt and after his death in 1886, studied with Xaver Scharwenka. She was married in 1892 to James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley. They had two children ¹ Her works and other material are with Durham University.

She also used the names Else Sontag and Else Headlam

Orchestral

Romantische Sinfonie
'Herbststimmung' (Autumn moods) concert piece 1932
'Leonarda' overture
Piano concerto, 3 movements. Circa 1903. known performance at the Aeolian Hall, London, with the Queens Hall Orchestra 1925. There is also version for 2 pianos. Both now exist as numerous fragments. I believe there are enough parts for it to be reassembled.
'Deutschland' Konzertstuck  1919. known performances; London 1925  Berlin 1931. There is also a version for 2 pianos.

Opera

Leonarda 1925
DieTulpen

Songs


1.

Son. Kenneth Headlam-Morley OBE, Historical advisor to the foreign office

Daughter. Agnes Headlam-Morley

[semloh]

Interesting, Giles, thank you. Just to expand on that a little, the Archives Hub, referring to the Durham University Archives, says:

Elisabeth Charlotta Henrietta Ernestina Headlam-Morley (ne Sonntag) was born at Luneburg on 18 September 1865. Known as Else, she was the youngest daughter of Dr. August Sonntag. She learnt the violin from a former pupil of Friedrich Wieck and the piano from her eldest sister Hedwig (Heidi), who was also a pupil of Wieck, and at the age of seven she wrote her first composition. After her family's move to Dresden, she played at the musical evenings given by Marie Wieck and Clara Schumann.

When she was thirteen she was accepted as a pupil by Liszt, and studied with him at Weimar for five years, until his death in 1886, and afterwards with Franz Xaver Scharwenka in Berlin. Among Liszt's older pupils whom she knew at Weimar were Alfred Reisenauer, Alexander Siloti, Emil Sauer and Arthur Friedheim. She travelled with Liszt to Budapest and appeared as a pianist there and in Vienna under Julius Epstein. She also studied harmony etc. with Heinrich Schulz-Beuthen. In 1892 she married James Wycliffe Headlam-Morley, who was knighted in 1929 for his work as historical adviser to the Foreign Office.

After her marriage, Else Headlam-Morley devoted her time increasingly to composition. She composed two operas Leonarda and Die Tulpen , and numerous songs and works for piano and orchestra. Leonarda, composed in 1925, was staged in Salzburg and in Innsbruck, under Dr. Nicholai van der Pals, and other performances of her music took place in the twenties and thirties in Berlin with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Dr. Ernst Kunwald, in Munich, Leipzig and Stuttgart, at the Queen's Hall in London, and in Bournemouth under Sir Dan Godfrey. Leonarda received concert performances in London in 1950 and in Aachen in 1962. Lady Headlam-Morley died on 25 February 1950.

I can't find any evidence of recordings - but surely there must be something?

[giles.enders]

My object with this post is  hoping someone will investigate the piano concerto and also perhaps add to her work list.

[Gareth Vaughan]

The problem with the piano concerto is that, while there are plenty of copies in the Durham University Archive of the two-piano score, only two unconnected pages of the ms full score appear to exist and I don't see any parts listed. Fortunately, the two extant full score pages do list the instruments called for, so a reconstruction could be undertaken.

A complete full score and parts, however, is held of the later Konzertstuck for piano and orchestra, so this could certainly be performed.

I can't find any evidence of recordings - but surely there must be something?

Why would you think so? There are lots of composers who died within living memory whose works have received no recordings.

[semloh]

Yes, of course, Gareth. I just think she has quite an impressive CV, with some reputable performances, so it wouldn't seem unreasonable to find something on a pre-war German 78.

[giles.enders]

I too can think of many composers who died within living memory and it is a mercy that there are no recordings. It is up to other members of the Forum to suggest some who might be worth recording.