Marion Stein/Harewood/Thorpe has died.

[Mary Chambers]

I was very sad to see that Marion Thorpe has died. She was the co-founder if the Leeds Piano Competition (with Fanny Waterman), and part of the Aldeburgh scene from its earliest days. She was the daughter of Britten's publisher Erwin Stein, and a close friend of Britten and Pears - in fact they shared a London house at some point. They never really forgave Lord Harewood for leaving her for Patricia Tuckwell (sister of Barry). She was also a first-rate pianist in her own right.

[Richard Tarleton]

I always felt she must have had a sad life for reasons that don't need expanding on. I found myself sitting next to her and JT in the Maltings at an all-Mozart concert (ECO/Perahia) in the late 70s.

[Mary Chambers]

I always felt she must have had a sad life for reasons that don't need expanding on. I found myself sitting next to her and JT in the Maltings at an all-Mozart concert (ECO/Perahia) in the late 70s.

Yes. I feel she deserved better. Perhaps she derived happiness from the music she was always involved in. I believe Jeramy T. is still around, but suffering from Parkinson's Disease. She seems to have been loyal to him.

I think I last saw them in 1980, also at the Maltings.

She had the unusual distinction of seven forenames/Christian names/whatever you like to call them. Seven!

[VodkaDilc]

Reading the Britten letters, you realise what an important part she played in his life. Those years must have been very rewarding for her.

The Waterman/Harewood piano tutors used to be very popular. These days they seem a bit dated perhaps, but they give a good grounding to the average to above average pupil (the sort who don't need the pictures and twee comments.)

[Mary Chambers]

The Waterman/Harewood piano tutors used to be very popular. These days they seem a bit dated perhaps, but they give a good grounding to the average to above average pupil (the sort who don't need the pictures and twee comments.)

I'd forgotten those. My son learnt from them.

[Petrushka]

I found myself sitting next to her and JT in the Maltings at an all-Mozart concert (ECO/Perahia) in the late 70s.

I found myself sitting next to Jeremy and Marion Thorpe at a 1995 Prom (Concertgebouw/Chailly Mahler 1). Also there with them was Donald Mitchell.

[Ferretfancy]

Her full name was interesting, Maria Donata Nanetta Paulina Gustava Ermina Wilhelmine Stein! An added name was, of course, Marion.

[Mary Chambers]

It must have been a nuisance writing all those names on official documents. 'Marion' seems to have been a sort of nickname, perhaps considered suitable for use in England.

There are obituaries in the Guardian and Telegraph. The Guardian one is by John Amis, who himself died last year. Rather sad.

[amateur51]

It must have been a nuisance writing all those names on official documents. 'Marion' seems to have been a sort of nickname, perhaps considered suitable for use in England.

There are obituaries in the Guardian and Telegraph. The Guardian one is by John Amis, who himself died last year. Rather sad.

imagine having to get all those names (or initials) onto her Cash's name-tapes at school

For several summers in the 1990s I used to go to Aldeburgh on Sunday afternoons with friends to see ther likes of Miecyslaw Horszowski and Annie Fischer giving wonderful p[iano recitals. Marion and Jeremy Thorpe were always there, she full of life and chatting to all & sundry, he looking evermore poorly as the Parkinson's Disease took a tighter grip on his brain, poor man.

Marion was very loyal to Jeremy Thorpe such that on one occasion at a press conference around the time of the trial relating to the attempted murder of Norman Scott, a journalist asked Thorpe directly if he had ever had a homosexual relationship. There was an audible gasp in the room and Marion Thorpe suddenly leapt to her feet demanding loudly to know just who had asked that question.

Her musical achievements, particularly those at Leeds, will ensure that she will be remembered rightly as a hard-working and influential person in the musical life of Britain.

[Flosshilde]

A good & entertaining obituary in the Guradian, which, after giving her full name, says that 'from early on [she] answered to an eighth forename, 'Marion', by which she was known thereafter.' On her marriage to the Earl of Harewood she survived the transition from a flat in St Johns Wood to Harewood House, where she shared the housekeeping with the Earl's mother, Princess Mary: "it cannot have been easy." Later on: "she liked to laugh (not difficult living with Thorpe)"

Well worth reading.

[Mary Chambers]

Here's a link to a tribute to Marion Thorpe from the Britten-Pears website: http://www.brittenpears.org/page.php?pageid=875

[EdgeleyRob]

Here's a link to a tribute to Marion Thorpe from the Britten-Pears website: http://www.brittenpears.org/page.php?pageid=875

Thanks Mary.

[vinteuil]

She had the unusual distinction of seven forenames/Christian names/whatever you like to call them. Seven!

... ah, but now we say farewell to :

Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright

[Mary Chambers]

... ah, but now we say farewell to :

Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright

Eleven! She wins.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... ah, but now we say farewell to :

Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright

That's not a name: that's a football team!