Oscar Lampe...

[pastoralguy]

Does anyone know anything about this legendary violinist who was respected by Beecham, Richard Strauss and Mr. Heifetz? I thought I could just Google him and all would be revealed but, (so far), I've found little about him.

Could anyone fill in the gaps please? Thanks.

[Hornspieler]

Does anyone know anything about this legendary violinist who was respected by Beecham, Richard Strauss and Mr. Heifetz? I thought I could just Google him and all would be revealed but, (so far), I've found little about him.

Could anyone fill in the gaps please? Thanks.

Pastoralcuy:

It is 810 days ago that you posted your enquiry , but I have only jusy found it on the message boards.

Oscar was Leader of the RPO at the time of Beecham's mono recording of Ein Heldenleben probably circa 1947.

His playing, alongside Dennis Brain is legendary and I have a CD copy made from that recording on my shelves.

All I can tell you about Oscar is that he lived somewhere in Camden Town when I was at the RAM and a fellow horn student (the late Aileen Way), was resident in the same block of flats. Apparently, Oscar was a bit of a joker.

I have not played this CD for some years but I will try it out today. There may be some distortion after all this time, but I will give it a try..

Hornspieler

[pastoralguy]

Thank you, Hornspieler. He seems to have been forgotten by musical history, (apart from the Heldenleben recording). However he was very highly regarded as a violinist, so much so that Heifetz admired his playing! I did hear a story that he went along on a LPO tour as a back desk second fiddle player since he was keen to visit whatever country they were going to. They were playing a V.W symphony and Boult was becoming exasperated with the violins inability to play a particularly difficult passage convincingly. Boult was called away to take a 'phone call giving, he thought, the fiddles a few minutes to practice the offending passage. Sure enough, he returned to find the violins beavering away apart from Lampe who had put his fiddle down and was reading the paper.

"You there, at the back! Why aren't you practicing?", enquirer the Maestro. Whereupon Lampe picked up his fiddle and played the passage flawlessly in 3rds, 6ths and Octaves! Much sniggering was then to be heard throughout the band.

[LeMartinPecheur]

pg: you may well know this but Lampe is billed as the solo violin in Beecham's RPO Don Quixote and Bourgeois Gentilhomme from 1948/9: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Quix...cham+bourgeois

EDIT The notes in that CD record that at the sessions for the latter, "carried away by Oscar Lampe's brilliant violin playing in 'Dance of the Tailors' [Strauss] actually broke spontaneously into noisy applause which earned a reproving 'Shush' from his old friend at the conductor's desk..."