From the Spring 2005 MT
In memoriam
Felix Aprahamian
To describe Felix Aprahamian as a ‘music critic’ seems a woefully inadequate description of a writer, concert promoter, publisher’s adviser, supporter of young musicians, and friend to some of the last century’s greatest musicians [writes Nigel Simeone]. He was an urbane and warm-hearted man, aptly described by John Amis (The Guardian, 21 January 2005) as ‘a mixture of characters from Proust and P. G. Wodehouse’.
At the age of 17 he became Assistant Secretary to the Organ Music Society, and he developed into an excellent (largely self-taught) keyboard player. His father took him to France in 1933 to visit Delius in Grez-sur-Loing, and in Paris he met Widor. In 1935 he was made Secretary of the OMS, and the same year his first article, ‘Eugene Goossens in London’, was published in the MT. During World War II he worked as Concert Director of the LPO and from 1942 onwards helped Tony Mayer organise the Concerts de Musique Française. In 1946 he joined United Music Publishers as a consultant and, with Mayer at the French Embassy, played a central role in bringing French music to post-war British audiences. In 1948 he became Deputy Music Critic of the Sunday Times and stayed for 41 years; his reviews were notable for their elegant prose and genuine enthusiasm.
He first corresponded with Messiaen in the 1930s. They developed a warm friendship which lasted until the composer’s death. My own first sighting of Felix was at the Free Trade Hall in 1974 for the Trois petites Liturgies: Messiaen’s delighted cry of ‘Ah – Félix!’ alerted me to the arrival of his friend. Afterwards Messiaen signed autographs for dozens of students (myself included), before writing a magnificent inscription in Felix’s copy of the Liturgies.
Felix met Poulenc before the war; their first encounter was at J. & W. Chester’s, when he asked the composer to sign a photograph, duly inscribed ‘Qui est ce monstre?’. The two became firm friends and Felix often visited Poulenc in Paris. His talent for making friends such as these led to many memorable events at Felix’s house in Muswell Hill. Poulenc first played through his Elégie in memory of Dennis Brain there, and in 1945 Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod gave a private rendition of Visions de l’Amen.
Among British composers, Felix’s passion was Delius (he was an adviser to the Delius Trust from 1961), and he was on amicable terms with Britten, Walton and Tippett: while at the LPO, he was instrumental in arranging the premiere of A child of our time in 1944. Other friends included the conductors Beecham, de Sabata and Munch, and Maggie Teyte, Pierre Fournier and Monique Haas.
Organ music was a lifelong enthusiasm, and his vast library of organ music is now at the Royal College of Organists. The installation in his Muswell Hill house of an organ inherited from his friend André Marchal in 1982 has been a constant musical inspiration to his protégé, the organist and composer David Liddle.
In 1994 Felix was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the only music critic to receive this accolade, and he was touched to be in the same company as Berlioz, Ravel and Sibelius. Aside from music his passions included tropical fish, Proust and his exquisite Japanese garden (a miniature Giverny
in London N10).
My own friendship with Felix started when I wrote to him asking for help with a Messiaen project. In reply I received an invitation to Muswell Hill, the first of many such visits. After Felix showed me his letters from Messiaen I suggested publishing them. He was delighted, and after Messiaen we moved on to Poulenc and Tournemire with considerable relish. Felix Aprahamian was an irrepressible and affectionate friend to many musicians and scholars, motivated by an insatiable love of music, and
of life.
Felix Aprahamian, music critic and animateur: born 5 June 1914; died 15 January 2005.
|
