I thought it appropriate to make the first Adolph I write about, the man who I was named after. My mother was a piano student of Adolph Hallis and thus I received this conspicuous name. I am proud to know that I am named after Hallis, as many musicians looked up to him in South Africa and the world over.
Adolph Hallis was born on the 4th of July 1896. He grew up in Port Elizabeth which at the time was a British colony (now named "Nelson Mandela Bay") until he moved to England to study at the Royal Academy of Music in 1912. There he learnt from Tobias Mathey, famous author of the book "The Act of Touch". Due to the circumstances of World War One Hallis returned to South Africa, and then again at age 23 returned to England. On Return, he made his debut at the Wigmore Hall which today still hosts hundred of concerts a year.[1] Of all of Mathey’s students it was said that Hallis was his best. Mathey provisioned for his students to make a record with him where Adolph Hallis played Debussy’s Etudes.[2]
Hallis performed many pieces for BBC radio programmes along with Benjamin Britten, the author of “The Young Man's Guide to the Orchestra”. In Britten’s diary, he mentions that he and Hallis would often meet for lunch to discuss their BBC performances and to plan to compose duets together. Britten described Hallis as a "very entertaining man.".[3] Britten wrote some pieces set to the Poetry of W.H Auden, who at one stage was his lover.[4] Beyond these famous people Hallis also was the composer for two Alfred Hitchcock Films, “Rich and Strange” (1931) and “Number 17”(1932) both of which he composed under the pseudonym Hal Dolphe.[5] It is interesting that he used a pseudonym since these movies were produced just before Adolf Hitler was elected as Chancelor of Germany.[6] Hitchcock produced some other films with Paramount Pictures, which was the empire of Adolph Zukor.[7]
This was not the only reason why Hallis was a star. Not only was he taught by Mathey but he was a friend of Debussy and Ravel and also a student of Theodor Leschetizky, who was a famous Romantic composer. Leschetizky was the student of Carl Czerny, who was more famous for his pedagogical work than his actual playing, his piano studies are still used to teach students today! Perhaps the reason why Czerny focused his attention on pedagogics of the piano more than on actually playing, is because his teacher was one of the Rock Stars of piano, Beethoven. Czerny all the same managed to transfer what he learned from Beethoven to his two top students Leschetizky and Franz Liszt. Ludwig von Beethoven had great talent, but he also had a helping hand from his teacher, Joseph Haydn. A common theme running from teacher to student is that through all these pianists, if the teacher was a virtuoso player the student became a great composer and vice-a-versa. This also speaks truly of Haydn, who was a great composer, but not a wunderkind like his friend and rival Mozart.[8]
From this rich history of pianists which go back to the very invention of the piano, it is not surprise that Hallis stated that he wanted to promote “forgotten works of the past, as well as new works of the immediate present.”[9] In keeping to his word he premiered the works of Shostakovich to England and was the first to record all the etudes of Debussy in 1938. Unfortunately this recording was not well circulated and thus Charles Rosen was made somewhat famous for being the ‘first’ to record all the etudes of Debussy in 1951 despite the fact that Hallis did it 13 years before.[10] According to the Times, music critiques praised Hallis for his remarkable playing with a great sense of colour and tone.[11]
After his debut at Wigmore Hall, he toured Europe for twenty years before returning to South Africa at the outbreak of World War Two. Hallis was a star while he was in Europe, and he remained a star in South Africa albeit to a much smaller audience. Many fled Europe during the war to the previous English colony of South Africa, such as the famous Erik Chisholm, who revived the Scotish music and became the head of music at the University of Cape Town. For one of Hallis's concerts, Chisholm snuck his dog into the concert hall to listen to Hallis perform the Rachmaninov-Paganini rhapsody. Chisholm was very upset when the usher told him that no dogs are allowed in the Concert Hall and argued that this “happened to be one of Towser’s (his dog) favourite piano pieces”. This was not the first time that Erik Chisholm brought his dog to listen to concerts.[12] Chisholm greatly appreciated Adolph Hallis and dedicated his second piano concerto “Hindustani" which was inspired by Indian music to Hallis, who later performed the piece for an ISCM concert with Chisholm conducting.[13] Hallis continued being a great pianist in South Africa where one of the most prestigious piano competition was named after him. Competing in the Hallis competition is a great stepping stone for any classical musician around the world.[14]
Hallis took on students since returning to South Africa and did so well into his 90’s. He attributed his long life to having a glass of milk and whisky at night.
The winner of the 2000 International Web Concert Hall Competition, Petronel Malan, was a student of Hallis. She said of Hallis that she learned a lot from him and often wishes she can speak to him today for advice since he lived in Paris knew Debussy, Tobias Mathey and performed with John Barbirolli.[15]
My mom often mentions the things Hallis used to say such as “you play like an angel with your hands and ruin it with the devil of your feet”. Meaning that too much of the sustain pedal ruins the music. When my mother asked him to teach her some jazz, he said, “you cannot serve two masters.” You either play classical music or you play jazz. She also remembers a concert he played where before going on stage he had a craving for some jam, he cut open the can and in the process cut his hand, nonetheless he went on stage to preform his piece, the audience said he played so well that he bled.
Hallis is not the only Adolph that made a difference to the History of the piano, in fact, there were a number of piano builders such as, Adolf Lehman from Berlin, Adolf Voigt,Adolf Geyer, Adolf Resner, Adolph Lerch from Barcelona and Adolph Max. Which I will eventually write about.
Hallis is also not the only Adolph that played a role in the movies, there were a number of movie actors; Adolfo Larrue Martinez III, Adolph Caesar, Adolphe Jean Menjou, Adolph Milar, Adolph Green to name a few. A more famous Adolph of the movies is none other than Adolph Zukor the founder of Paramount Pictures.
References
[1] http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_APR6014
[2] http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Tobias-Matthay/Composer/279622-1
[3] John Evan, "Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938" pg 283
[4] http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/nov/07/britten-auden-philip-hensher
[5] http://www.pianosage.net/recordings.html England’s piano sage pp324-25
[6] http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/named.htm
[7] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0958532/
[8] http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2005-02-11/258627/
[9] http://www.pianosage.net/recordings.html England’s piano sage pp324-25
[10] http://www.naxos.com/person/Charles_Rosen/10899.htm
[11] The Chesterian, Issues 129-146, 1937 pg 107
[12] http://www.erikchisholm.com/articles10.php
[13] http://erikchisholm.com/news/hindustani-concerto/
[14] http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2005-02-11/258627/
[15] http://www.webconcerthall.com/interview/malan.htm