A CONCERT on Friday, June 5 at the Assembly Rooms in Presteigne, marks the 100th anniversary of Sir Edgar and Lady Leonora Speyer’s departure from London into exile.
Sir Edgar and Lady Leonora Speyer and their family were forced to leave Britain for exile in the USA, solely because of their German origins. This concert pays tribute to the generous way in which Sir Edgar had benefited his adopted country, not least by saving the Proms. The concert programme consists of music closely associated with the Speyers.
Edgar, a conspicuous figure in the financial, cultural and social life of Edwardian London intervened in 1902 to save the Proms from extinction when Proms manager Robert Newman went bankrupt, subsidising affordable tickets and persuading Elgar, Strauss, Debussy and Grieg to perform, all at his expense.
The Presteigne concert will include music played at the Speyers’ house-concerts at which the composers themselves were present and performing and Leonora Speyer, a professional violinist and Pulitzer prize-winning poet, was soloist. The programme also includes a new song cycle by David Lawrence, setting the words of a poem by Leonora Speyer which evokes the nightmare of the Speyers’ last days in their London home when they became ostracised by society and mercilessly harried by the Press.
Tickets available from
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