__NOTOC__ Mabel Lander (1882 – 19 May 1955) was a British pianist and teacher, mostly remembered today as piano tutor to the

Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

in the 1930s and 1940s, though her real legacy comes from her teaching several generations of prominent pianists, composers and musicians.Obituary, 'Miss Mabel Lander', ''The Times'', 21 May 1955, p 10

Early career

Lander began her musical studies at the Berlin Hochschule in 1898 at the age of 17. She spent four years there, playing in concerts with the violin pupils of

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

. Becoming disillusioned with the teaching she moved to Vienna and studied with

Theodor Leschetizky Theodor Leschetizky (sometimes spelled Leschetitzky; ; 22 June 1830 – 14 November 1915) was a Polish pianist, professor, and composer active in Austria-Hungary. He was born in Landshut in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, then a crown land ...

, who himself had been a pupil of

Carl Czerny Carl Czerny (; ; 21 February 1791 – 15 July 1857) was an Austrian composer, teacher, and pianist of Czech origin whose music spanned the late Classical and early Romantic eras. His vast musical production amounted to over a thousand works an ...

. After several years in Vienna she moved to Dublin, where she established herself as a concert pianist and teacher. However, her career as a public performer was cut short (around 1917) when she developed a rheumatic complaint in her hands, which left her unable to satisfy her own high standards.

London

During the war, Lander met another Leschetizky pupil (and disciple of the Leschetizky method), the Russian-born British pianist

Benno Moiseiwitsch Benno Moiseiwitsch (22 February 18909 April 1963) was a Russian and British pianist. Biography Moiseiwitsch was born to Jewish parents in Odessa, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire, and began his studies at age seven with Dmitry Klimov at t ...

. She took some further lessons from him and he persuaded her to move to London and teach there, effectively working as his assistant.Foreman, Lewis. ''The John Ireland Companion'' (2011), p 68
/ref> They had intended to establish a piano school together, but the plans were abandoned due to Moiseiwitsch's increasingly heavy international concert schedule. Her private pupils included (in oldest to youngest order)

Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

(who lodged with her for many years),

Alan Bush Alan Dudley Bush (22 December 1900 – 31 October 1995) was a British composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and political activist. A committed communist, his uncompromising political beliefs were often reflected in his music. He composed prol ...

, William Busch, David Ellenberg (conductor at the Unity Theatre), Mary and Geraldine Peppin, Roger Sacheverell Coke, John Kuchmy and James Gibb. Alan Bush remembered her as "an absolutely systematic and devastating teacher of the piano hotaught me the Leschetizky method systematically". From 1946 she was associated with the Surrey College of Music.

Royal tutor

However, by far her most famous pupils (if perhaps less distinguished pianistically) were the Princesses

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and

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

. Elizabeth began lessons aged eight in 1934 and Margaret aged seven in 1937. The lessons, which were held at 145 Piccadilly, continued into the mid 1940s. Another of her royal pupils was the exiled Prince George Chavchavadze of Russia. Bedells, Phyllis. ''My Dancing Days'' (1954)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lander, Mabel 1882 births 1955 deaths 20th-century British pianists English classical pianists British women classical pianists Pupils of Theodor Leschetizky