Marie Novello, also known as Marie Novello Williams (born Maria Williams; 31 March 1884 – 21 June 1928) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. She was one of

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 ...

's last students and performed in public from childhood. Her early death cut short a promising career just as she began to record for one of the major English labels, having already amassed a considerable discography for one of its second-rank competitors.Biographical sketch
at the Naxos records Web site, accessed 6 November 2008

Life

Marie Novello was born in 1884 as Maria Williams in

Maesteg Maesteg (; ) is a town and community in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Maesteg lies at the northernmost end of the Llynfi Valley, close to the border with Neath Port Talbot. In 2011, Maesteg had a population of 20,612. The English translatio ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, the daughter of collier and musician William Thomas Williams and his wife, Anne Bedlington Kirkhouse. She owed the surname "Novello" to adoption by her piano teacher,

Clara Novello Davies Clara Novello Davies (7 April 1861 – 7 February 1943) was a Welsh singer, teacher, composer, and conductor. She used the pen name Pencerddes Morgannwg. Early life Clara Novello Davies was born on 7 April 1861. She was named after Clara Nove ...

, mother of

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

and also a celebrated singing teacher. Following studies with her adoptive mother, Marie was among the last students of

studying with him in Vienna between 1905 and 1907. Novello's professional career began early. In July 1899, at the age of fifteen, she won the Gold Medal piano prize at the

Welsh National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competitor ...

in Cardiff, and she shared piano playing honors with

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

at the September 1907 Cardiff Triennial Music Festival. In 1908, she toured the English provinces with a company assembled by Percy Harrison, a promoter who regularly organized such groups; among her compatriots were John McCormack, fresh from his first season at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

and participating in a Harrison tour for the first time, and Dame

Emma Albani Dame Emma Albani, DBE (born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse; 1 November 18473 April 1930) was a Canadian-British operatic coloratura soprano, later spinto soprano and dramatic soprano of the 19th and early 20th century, the first Canadian ...

. Around the same time, Novello performed at

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 ...

, then known as Bechstein Hall. A year later, in 1909, she made the first of her seven appearances at the

Promenade Concerts The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

, when on 22 September she played the Piano Concerto no. 1 in E-flat by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

accompanied by the Queen's Hall Orchestra led by Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

. She repeated that appearance every year until 1914, with two appearances in 1912, always in concerted works accompanied by the same forces. Besides the Liszt concerto, which she reprised in 1910, she performed the same composer's Hungarian Fantasia (1911 and 1912); Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto no. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1912); and the Africa Fantasy, Op. 89, of

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

(1913 and 1914). Aside from these festival performances, Novello performed regularly in London, often as one of multiple soloists sharing a recital. In her early twenties, she began appearing at Ballad Concerts and Sunday League Concerts and in music festivals at Brighton and Cardiff. Novello traveled to the United States in late 1921, arriving on 28 December aboard the

White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...

liner RMS ''Olympic''. On 23 February 1922, she made her New York debut at The Town Hall, where she played a program including works of Chopin,

Domenico Scarlatti Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque music, Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical peri ...

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Selim Palmgren Selim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren (16 February 1878 – 13 December 1951) was a Finnish people, Finnish composer, pianist, and conducting, conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki ...

, and

Ede Poldini Ede Poldini (13 June 186928 June 1957) was a Hungarian composer of the late romantic / early modern period. Famous in Hungary for writing many operas, he became internationally famous when Fritz Kreisler transcribed his piano piece "La poupée va ...

. On 21 January 1923, she made her recital debut in Chicago at the Playhouse under the auspices of F. Wight Neumann. During this period, she made numerous recordings for the English

Edison Bell Edison Bell was an English company that was the first distributor and an early manufacturer of gramophones and gramophone records. The company survived through several incarnations, becoming a top producer of budget records in England through t ...

company. Marie Novello recorded reproducing piano rolls for the Aeolian Company's

Duo-Art Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of ...

system;Duo-Art Piano Roll Catalogue
, Albert M. Petrak, ed. The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation, accessed 6 November 2008. doubtless as a fruit of this connection, she once partnered with a reproducing piano in a public performance of the Variations on a Theme of Beethoven for two pianos, four hands by Saint-Saëns. A few years later, at the dawn of electrical recording, she formed an association with

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 ...

, but she died when she had recorded only a few sides.

Death

Novello died on 21 June 1928, aged 44, at her home in London from endothelioma of the pharynx and soft palate and was buried in Maesteg Cemetery.

Repertory and style

In her choice of repertory, Novello showed preference for music of the romantic era and particular affinity for virtuoso works such as Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor. She did not entirely neglect contemporary works, however; she achieved notice for performing the premiere of the ''Rhapsody on Tipperary'' for piano and orchestra by

Frank Tapp Frank Harold Tapp (1883 – 15 June 1953, often Frank H. Tapp, sometimes Frank W. Tapp) was a British composer, pianist and conductor associated with the City of Bath, where he was the director of the Pump Room concerts between 1910 and 1917. T ...

, a composer well represented in English concert halls at the time but now forgotten. She then took the work on tour throughout the United Kingdom. Critical reception to her work appears to have been mixed, with more than one suggestion that she tended toward impulsiveness and a lack of firm control. Her tone sometimes drew critical disparagement but critics praised her technical facility and capacity to communicate.

Recordings

Novello evidently had some interest in the mechanical reproduction of sound, as, on 14 June 1924, she participated as a judge in a public competition between gramophones sponsored by ''

The Gramophone ''Gramophone'' (known as ''The Gramophone'' prior to 1970) is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continue ...

'' magazine. Her fellow judges included Alfred Kalisch,

Percy Scholes Percy Alfred Scholes (pronounced ''skolz''; 24 July 1877 – 31 July 1958) was an English musician, journalist, vegetarianism activist and prolific writer, whose best-known achievement was his compilation of the first edition of the '' Oxford Co ...

, Peter Latham, Alec Robertson, and

Francis Brett Young Francis Brett Young (29 June 1884 – 28 March 1954) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, composer, doctor and soldier. Life Francis Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He received his early education at Iona, a private s ...

. Over the course of the evening, the judges and the audience of 400 marked ballots comparing the performance of some 15 different machines divided into two price classes, nearly all bearing names now long forgotten. She joined her compatriots in unanimous preference for a machine called The Three Muses reproducing the ''Adagio'' from

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 ...

's ''Spring'' Sonata performed by

Albert Sammons Albert Edward Sammons CBE (23 February 188624 August 1957) was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation re ...

and

William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish chemist, inventor, and mechanical engineer. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engin ...

; that vote was the sole instance of a unanimous panel, and her other opinions are not recorded. During the interval, the audience was treated to a demonstration of a

reproducing piano A player piano is a self-playing piano with a pneumatic or electromechanical mechanism that operates the piano action using perforated paper or metallic rolls. Modern versions use MIDI. The player piano gained popularity as mass-produced home ...

, but on the

Welte-Mignon M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832. Overview From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical mu ...

system, not the Duo Art for which Novello cut a few rolls. Making her own records almost entirely for Edison Bell, Novello accumulated an extensive discography of acoustic recordings, albeit, as was typical of the time, one weighted heavily to the sort of short works that could fit on one or at most two sides of a 78 RPM record. Her sole multi-disc set was a recording spreading over five sides of

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

's Op. 25 piano concerto. Her association with His Master's Voice yielded but two issued sides, her sole electrical recordings: a

gavotte The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, accordin ...

Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; ; – ) was a French composer and music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera a ...

and an Étude de Concert by

Arensky Anton Stepanovich Arensky (; – ) was a Russian composer of Romantic classical music, a pianist and a professor of music. Biography Arensky was born into an affluent, music-loving family in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and ha ...

Acoustic 78 RPM

Acoustic 78 RPMs issued by

: * Velvet Face (VF) series: ** No. 529:

Ludwig van 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 ...

's ''

Moonlight Sonata The Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, marked ''Quasi una fantasia'', Op. 27, No. 2, is a piano sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven, completed in 1801 and dedicated in 1802 to his pupil Countess Julie "Giulietta" Guicciardi. Although known throu ...

'' (first and third movement) ** Nos. 640–642:

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

's Concerto no. 1 in G minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 25 (with Royal Symphony Orchestra under Joseph Batten), and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 14 ** No. 676:

Carl Tausig Karl Tausig (sometimes "Carl"; born Karol Tausig; 4 November 184117 July 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most distinguished pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time. ...

's arrangement of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, BWV 565, is a composition for Pipe organ, organ by, according to the oldest sources, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. It is one of the most widely recognisable works in the organ re ...

(two disc sides) * The Winner series: ** No. 2340:

Cécile Chaminade Cécile Louise Stéphanie Chaminade (8 August 1857 – 13 April 1944) was a French composer and pianist. In 1913, she was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, a first for a female composer. Ambroise Thomas said, "This is not a woman who composes, but a ...

's ''Air de Ballet'' and

Benjamin Godard Benjamin Louis Paul Godard (18 August 184910 January 1895) was a French violinist and Romantic-era composer of Jewish extraction, best known for his opera '' Jocelyn''. Godard composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin conce ...

's Mazurka ** No. 3424:

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

's '' Wedding Day at Troldhaugen'' (

Lyric Pieces ''Lyric Pieces'' () is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 ( Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as '' Wedding ...

Book VIII, Op. 65, No. 6) and

Christian Sinding Christian August Sinding (11 January 18563 December 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known for his lyrical work for piano '' Frühlingsrauschen'' (Rustle of Spring, 1896). He was often compared to Edvard Grieg and regarded as his succ ...

's ''

Frühlingsrauschen ''Frühlingsrauschen'', Op. 32, No. 3 ('Rustle of Spring') is a solo piano piece written by the Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856–1941) in 1896. It is Sinding's most popular piece of music. The piece is written in ''salon'' style as ...

'', Op. 32, No. 3 ** No. 3443:

's '' Liebestraum'' No. 3 and

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

's Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3, No. 2 ** No. 3479:

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

's Etudes, Op. 10, No. 5, in G-flat major (''Black Key'') and Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2 ** No. 3599:

's Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 (abridged) ** No. 3609:

's Incidental Music to ''The Ruins of Athens'', Op. 113, and Turkish March;

's ''Poupee Valsante'';

Cyril Scott Cyril Meir Scott (27 September 1879 – 31 December 1970) was an English composer, writer, poet, and occultist. He created around four hundred musical compositions including piano, violin, cello concertos, symphonies, and operas. He also wrot ...

's ''Danse Negre'', Op. 58, No. 3 ** No. 3768:

's 4eme Valse and ''Pas des Amphores'' ** No. 3813: Marche Militaire by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

and Toccata by

Electrical 78 RPM

Both of the following sides were recorded on 1 March 1927; they appeared coupled as two sides of a single His Master's Voice 10" record, no. B 2592: *

: 24 Characteristic Pieces, Op. 36, No. 13, Étude de Concert in F-sharp major *

: '' Les Boréades'', Act IV – Gavottes pour les Heures

Reproducing piano rolls

Duo Art issued two reproducing rolls cut by Marie Novello: * Dvořák: Humoresque in G-flat major, Op. 101, No. 7 *

: Gamin

Reissues

Very few of Novello's recordings, acoustic or electrical, have achieved reissue since the end of the 78 RPM era. * The Ivor Novello Duo-Art roll is presently available as a reproduction. * The His Master's Voice Arensky Etude de Concert appears on Naxos 8.111120, ''Women at the Piano: An Anthology of Historic Peroformances, Volume 1 (1926–1952)''.Review of "Women at the Piano"
accessed 5 November 2008 * The His Master's Voice Rameau Gavotte and the Edison Bell Leschetitzky Toccata appear on Pearl Opal 9839, ''Pupils of Leschetitzky''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novello, Marie 1884 births 1928 deaths 20th-century British classical pianists 20th-century British musicians Welsh classical pianists Welsh women pianists 20th-century British women classical pianists Deaths from esophageal cancer in England Ivor Novello 20th-century British women pianists