Barbirolli Briefs

[Guest]

I never met Sir John Barbirolli and certainly was never able to watch him at rehearsal, but the anecdotes about him are many more, I'm sure, than those which were related to me, so I hope that others will contribute with their own experiences.

For this reason, I will not set out all those that I have heard until other message boarders have a chance to contribute, to avoid duplication (or contradiction) but I will start the ball rolling with message Nº 3, which was related to George Hurst and me during the interval of a concert by that great and lovable horn player Ifor James.

[amateur51]

Many thanks for starting this HS.

Apologies if this film of a Barbirolli rehearsal is well-known but I think it's a wonderful example of 'man management' - how he gets the orchestra to find its own solution "..not enough portent about it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcDBBYBTP-4

[Hornspieler]

I will start the ball rolling with message Nº 2, which was related to George Hurst and me during the interval of a concert by that great and lovable horn player Ifor James.

I shall highlight JB's words in red:

Sir John Barbirolli was about to start a performance of "The Dream of Gerontius":
The choir, orchestra and soloists were ready. Sir John went into his famous `start-up' routine, which was as follows:


1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

A door opened behind the choir and a gentleman appeared. He did not move beyond the doorway.
Sir John lowered his baton and waited. The man still did not move.

J.B. "Aren't you going to sit down?"

Customer "No thank you, Sir John. I'm fine just here."

J.B. "Oh well, suit yourself."

Back to the start-up routine:

1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

J.B. "Are you sure you don't want to sit down?"

Customer "No Sir John, really. I'm just fine here. You carry on."

J.B. "Well close the door, then -- if you must stand there."

Once again:

1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

J.B. "It's a very long piece, yer know!"

George Hurst had fallen off his chair and was rolling about, laughing.

"Stop it, Ifor" he pleaded "I've got to go out there and conduct in a few munutes.

Over to you MBs

[amateur51]

I shall highlight JB's words in red:

Sir John Barbirolli was about to start a performance of "The Dream of Gerontius":
The choir, orchestra and soloists were ready. Sir John went into his famous `start-up' routine, which was as follows:


1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

A door opened behind the choir and a gentleman appeared. He did not move beyond the doorway.
Sir John lowered his baton and waited. The man still did not move.

J.B. "Aren't you going to sit down?"

Customer "No thank you, Sir John. I'm fine just here."

J.B. "Oh well, suit yourself." Back to the start-up routine:

1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

J.B. "Are you sure you don't want to sit down?"

Customer "No Sir John, really. I'm just fine here. You carry on."

J.B. "Well close the door, then -- if you must stand there."

Once again:

1. Clear the throat.
2. Chew the false teeth into position.
3. Check the left shirt cuff.
4. Check the right shirt cuff.
5. Pick up the baton.
6. Have another chew, whilst looking around to capture every eye.
7. Raise the baton and ....

J.B. "It's a very long piece, you know!"

George Hurst had fallen off his chair and was rolling about, laughing.

"Stop it, Ifor" he pleaded "I've got to go out there and conduct in a few munutes.

[salymap]

I neve spoke to Barbirolli but wasted at least two days at work when I was sent to the RAM to take various new catalogues for his perusal. My boss had the strange idea of sending me on various such jaunts, Boult, Colin Davis and others seemed to be relatively easy and pleasant. Barbirolli was said to have 'nerves' but I was always sent, only to find that JB was 'not well' and couldn't see me. I don't want to malign him but never got to the bottom of it. I never visited Manchester but attended one ortwo of his RAH concerts during my years in London. IMO he never got used to the RAH echo and the Halle brass was always much too loud for me.

[Hornspieler]

Many thanks for starting this HS.

Apologies if this film of a Barbirolli rehearsal is well-known but I think it's a wonderful example of 'man management' - how he gets the orchestra to find its own solution "..not enough portent about it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcDBBYBTP-4

Thanks for that link, AM

Now other message boarders will know how JBs voice sounded, which was so superbly reproduced by Ifor James in my message #3.

HS

[Nick Armstrong]

Many thanks for starting this HS.

Apologies if this film of a Barbirolli rehearsal is well-known but I think it's a wonderful example of 'man management' - how he gets the orchestra to find its own solution "..not enough portent about it"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcDBBYBTP-4

I do know that clip, ammy... the music does sound tremendous by the end, but what has always bemused me is how many go's it takes for the orchestra to pick up on JB's rhythmic instruction to start with. He's so clear about what he wants, repeatedly, and the orchestra seem simply not to do it. I think he shows amazing patience with them. Am I being unfair?

[Nick Armstrong]

Sir John Barbirolli was about to start a performance of "The Dream of Gerontius".... etc

Absolutely magnificent, HS!!

[Karafan]

I was responsible for getting that old Monitor film uploaded there - great, isn't it?

And the rather squalid-looking Zion Institute on Mulberry Street Manchester is still there - I imagined it must have been flattened in the '60s redevelopment as many of the houses were being at the time of filming.

[Hornspieler]

All the students at the Manchester College of Music were looking forward to the forthcoming visit of Sir John except one young lady who, because the 1st orchestra operated a system of rotating the desks in the string sections, realised that she would be sitting right on the front desk of the second violins. She was terrified! In fact, she almost siezed up and her bow was barely moving across the strings.
It was during a fortissimo passage that JB decided he could abide the sight of her almost stationary, trembling bow no longer.

He flung down his baton, leaned across his full score and stared straight at her.

"Bah! Where did you learn the fiddle? In a phone box?

[amateur51]

I do know that clip, ammy... the music does sound tremendous by the end, but what has always bemused me is how many go's it takes for the orchestra to pick up on JB's rhythmic instruction to start with. He's so clear about what he wants, repeatedly, and the orchestra seem simply not to do it. I think he shows amazing patience with them. Am I being unfair?

I love the way he basically gets the various sections to grass each other up as to who is missing the accent or playing too slowly ... and they get there in the end and no-one has been screamed at or abused, beyond a little scowling & stick-tapping

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Late arrivals at concerts were something he really did not like. He would be just about ready to conduct when a middle-aged woman would appear at the door. Sir John would lower his baton and stare at the unfortunate woman, his eyes fixed one her as she shuffled half-way round the Free Trade Hall to her seat. Then he would turn back to face the orchestra and the concert would begin.

[pastoralguy]

My fiddle teacher told me a wonderful Story about Sir John...

A wind player in the Halle was having a fling with a young singer half his age. His wife was, understandably, distraught at this turn of events. She decided to talk to Sir John and ask if he could intervene.

She was invited round to speak to him during the interval of a concert at the Free Trade Hall. Sir John was enjoying his interval whisky and soda as she unburdened herself to him. He patted her hand and said "My dear, you have nothing to worry about. He's playing better than ever...!"

[Ferretfancy]

There's a great story told by Barbirolli in an interview included in the Dutton CD set 'Glorious John'

In the early days he was auditioning players for the Halle, and a humble cellist appeared before him. He was asked to play a very high passage, and asked "Oop there? I've never been 'oop there! "

[Barbirollians]

The Monitor programme was repeated one day in the 1980s .By the end of that Bruckner rehearsal sequence I was off out to buy my first Bruckner LP . Indeed. it would be instructive to many of the laborious , sluggish Bruckner conductors of our day and days in the past.

Barbirolli was a genius in my view .