NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

iography, Hess’ biographer, who claims to have had access to her private
papers, makes no reference whatsoever to D’Aranyi as though the omission
were deliberate at Hess’ request. Jelly D’Aranyi had a number of associations
with Newcastle and possibly made her British debut in the town. She came to
Newcastle first as a young woman with a friend of Sir Andrew Noble of Vickers
Armstrongs and he engaged Jelly and her sister to play at a chamber concert.
According to her biographer she never forgot the double-decker trams in
Newcastle. The D’Aranyi sisters were always willing to appear for charities. They
were neither socialists nor slummers but they were never unaware of peoples’
hardships and the deterioration of the common working man’s standards in the
1920s. This prompted Jelly to tour England giving free concerts in churches at
which collections were taken. She kept it up for years appearing in Newcastle a
number of times. The Dean of Newcastle wrote to her saying “This house and
our Cathedral have been blessed by having you”. Her tours were called a
‘Pilgrimage of Compassion’ but by 1933 the concerts in draughty and unheated
venues were taking a toll on her health and in a sense were the destruction of
her.
Artur Rubinstein gave a piano recital in November 1938 and in the 1946/47
Season that renowned partnership ,Pierre Bernac, French Baritone and Francis
Poulenc, the composer, appeared in programme of French Song. Greatest of all,
however, was the appearance of Sergei Rachmaninoff on the 19 th March 1935 in
the following varied programme of piano music.
Sonata in D, Op. 10 No 3……………………Beethoven
Sonata in B minor, Op 35……………………Chopin
Sonatas in D major and F minor……………..Scarlatti
Ballade in G minor………………………… Brahms
Moment Musical……………………………..Rachmaninoff
Prelude in G………………………………….Rachmaninoff
Oriental Sketch……………………………….Rachmaninoff
Etude-Caprice de Concert F minor…………..Dohnanyi.
There is evidence to show that the Chamber Music Society continued until
1948 reaching its 56 th Season. It retained an almost 19 th century quality, as
though time had stood still, even as late as 1938 a note at the bottom of a
programme reads, ‘To facilitate egress at the close of the Concert, the audience
is requested not to block the doors but to wait in the Vestibule until the Carriages
are called.’ The very last vestiges of a way of life that within a year would be
swept away forever. For those readers who care about such things I would
suggest a stroll along Percy Street to the point at which it joins Leazes Park
Road, where on the upper part of the corner building there is still to be seen,
perhaps the last remaining reference to the carriage trade, in the words, ‘T
HOWE & Co. Carriage Proprietors’
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