Isolde Marie Menges (16 May 189313 January 1976) was an accomplished English violinist who was most active in the first part of the 20th century.

Life

The daughter of George Menges, a native of Germany, she was born in

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Her parents both played the violin and operated a music school. Menges became a student of

Leopold Auer Leopold von Auer (; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers. Early life and career Auer was born in ...

and

Carl Flesch Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian classical violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy. Life and career Flesch was born in Moson (now part of ...

. She concertised widely, as soloist and with the Menges Quartet (founded by her in 1931) and Quintet, in locations such as Darmstadt (at 14 years of age), Liège, Wiesbaden, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and throughout England, Scotland, Canada and the United States. Her Quartet gave a complete cycle of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

quartets in

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in London in 1938, and another in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. She gave concerti with noted orchestras and conductors such as the

New Queen's Hall Orchestra The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...

conducted by Henry J. Wood, and

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

conducted by

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...

, and the

Royal Philharmonic Society The Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) is a British music society, formed in 1813. Its original purpose was to promote performances of instrumental music in London. Many composers and performers have taken part in its concerts. It is now a memb ...

. In 1916 she played the

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

and

Édouard Lalo Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo (27 January 182322 April 1892) was a French composer, violist, violinist, and academic teacher. His most celebrated piece is the '' Symphonie Espagnole'', a five-movement concerto for violin and orchestra that re ...

's '' Symphonie espagnole'' with

Ernest Bloch Ernest Bloch (; ; July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959) was a Swiss-born American composer. Bloch was a preeminent artist in his day, and left a lasting legacy. He is recognized as one of the greatest Swiss composers in history. Several of his most no ...

. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, because her German heritage brought her loyalty into question in England, Menges toured North America from 1916 to 1919. She gave more than 100 free concerts for children in Canada. In 1920, she married the composer Harold Tod Boyd; the couple had one child. In 1923, she recorded Beethoven's violin concerto for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

with

Landon Ronald Sir Landon Ronald (born Landon Ronald Russell) (7 June 1873 – 14 August 1938) was an English conductor, composer, pianist, teacher and administrator. In his early career he gained work as an accompanist and ''répétiteur'', but struggle ...

conducting the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, which is the first known recording of this work. A major prize commemorates her at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

, where she taught from 1931. Her younger brother was the composer and conductor (Siegfried Frederick) Herbert Menges.

Press notices

Menges generated considerable acclaim. For instance, the New York Times in 1917 called her "first rate". More specifically, notices included the following: ''February 1913: Queen's Hall, Tchaikovsky V concerto:'' "...remarkable command of the bow and ... almost childish delight in displaying her mastery. Sometimes the conductor had to restrain her when she was on the point of making off with a passage at breakneck speed, and her phrasing was of the impulse kind which makes such frankly bravura music as this entertaining... r tone was extraordinarily pure and her style clean and crisp... n a Chopin nocturnegreat beauty of cantabile quality, but she missed some of the daintiness of Kreisler's "Schoen Rosmarin" by taking it too fast" And in this piece in April 1913: "... clean double-stopping, and ... brilliant manipulation of exacting passages... She.. succeeded in making the listener take a good deal of interest in it". ''May 24, 1913: Queen's Hall, Brahms V concerto:'' " lthough in the Tchaikovsky in February she showedimpulsiveness which bordered upon rashness... ow in the Brahmsher playing... was exceedingly careful of detail, and there was a very great beauty in her whole performance. She had evidently studied the work musically as well as technically, as the distinction of her phrasing showed... utshe did not quite succeed in making clear.. the intricate development of the slow movement". ''1915: Aeolian Hall, London, Brahms sonata in D minor, acc. Hamilton Harty:'' ".. performance was an exceedingly well thought out one, in which the only disadvantage seemed to be a too meticulous care for the emphasis of certain rhythmic accents... hewas at her best alike in the .. pieces of Kreisler and the .. chaconne by Vitali... In the former her great variety of bowing and her feeling for the effect of sharply contrasted rhythms... gave remarkable life to her playing. In the latter it was chiefly her splendid tone and the display of an accurate technique in high octave passages... which gave the feeling of complete assurance..." ''January 23, 1918: Kelowna Theatre, British Columbia:'' "..she gave a free performance to 350 school children, and had bidden them shut their eyes and hear the bees humming and dream dreams of an imagination known only to childhood... in her evening's programme were: "Devil's Trill," Tartini; "Nocturne in D," Chopin; "Gavotte," Ph. E. Bach; "Prophet Bird," Schumann-Auer; "Hornpipe," Handel-Harty; Andante and Rondo from "Symphonie Espagnole," Lalo; Pradulium and Allegra, Pugnani; "Le Plus que Lente," Debussy; "Pensee Capricieuse," Albert Sammons; " Liebesfreud," Kreisler; " Schön Rosmarin," Kreisler". ''1920: Wigmore Hall, Wieniawski concerto, Handel sonata:'' "The double stops and other ornaments are a model of neatness, and these are helped by a sensitive bow-hand". On February 21, same venue: "... she seems to be absolutely happy when giving out the charming melody; she enjoys it and has the gift of conveying her enjoyment to her hearers". ''1923: Queen's Hall, Dvorak v concerto:'' "Miss Menges fully realized the warmth and passion of the Czech and the power of the fiddle to convey it" ''1926, Queen's Hall, Beethoven v concerto:'' "..capably played.. ut sheimproved as the work proceeded. In the first movement her playing was rather cold and uninspired ith anunimaginative performance by the orchestra.. However she warmed up to the lyrical dialogue in the second movement, and entered upon the third with a gusto..."

Notable recordings

Handel 1923 – Sonata in D. "...the best thing on the violin n the 2nd quarter of 1923.. This is a glorious piece of playing...." Bach 1924 – Chaconne, His Master's Voice D 875-6 Beethoven 1923 – Concerto; with

Royal Albert Hall Orchestra The New Symphony Orchestra (NSO) was founded in London in 1905 by the clarinettist Charles Draper and the flautist Eli Hudson. After ten years it became the orchestra of the Royal Albert Hall, and continued under that name until 1928, after which ...

under

1925 – Kreuzer sonata; with

Arthur De Greef Arthur De Greef may refer to: * Arthur De Greef (composer) (1862–1940), Belgian pianist and composer * Arthur De Greef (tennis) (born 1992), Belgian tennis player {{hndis, Greef, Arthur De ...

Brahms 1929 – 2nd and 3rd sonatas; with Harold Samuel Schubert 1928 – Sonata (Sonatina) for Violin and Piano in G minor, D408; with

Arthur de Greef Arthur De Greef may refer to: * Arthur De Greef (composer) (1862–1940), Belgian pianist and composer * Arthur De Greef (tennis) (born 1992), Belgian tennis player {{hndis, Greef, Arthur De ...

Vaughan Williams 1928 – ''

The Lark Ascending "The Lark Ascending" is a poem of 122 lines by the English poet George Meredith about the song of the skylark. Siegfried Sassoon called it matchless of its kind, "a sustained lyric which never for a moment falls short of the effect aimed at, s ...

'' for violin and orchestra (premiere recording); with

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 ...

Life

Press notices

Notable recordings

References

External links