A Guide to the Songs of Poldowski (Lady Dean Paul) 1879-1932

Foreword

‘Do look after my music!’ These were among the last words uttered by Poldowski (Lady Irène Dean Paul) before she died in 1932. The importance of these words bears witness to a fear which many composers would acknowledge, concerning the promotion of performance of their works after death. In the case of a female composer living during the early part of this century, this fear was well-founded. Poldowski’s life and career chronicle an archetypal response to female composers of the early twentieth century and their work.

In recent years the valuable contribution of female composers to music has prompted an escalation in interest resulting in intensive research and debate. This renewed attention has been greatly shaped by the social events of the last forty years, in particular the roles of the women’s movement and feminism. The rediscovery of a corpus of hitherto ignored music has generated a new canon of research and most importantly, a desire to study, perform and record it.

In the case of Poldowski, the restoration of her entry in the New Revised Grove Dictionary was a pivotal moment in the rehabilitation of her legacy. Over the last twenty years since this writer wrote a doctoral thesis on her works, there have been many new recordings of the works and the republication of her songs and violin sonata has brought her most substantial published work to the attention of a new audience.

This study concentrates solely on her songs, a diverse collection of accessible works in English and French with a particular interest in the poetry of French poet, Paul Verlaine.

It also contains the most comprehensive biography to date, based on more than twenty years of research. Details of the life of Poldowski are quite sparse. She has no living relatives and due to the fact that her father died when she was only one year old, she received no mention in his biographies. Information about this enigmatic woman has been assembled from public documents, contemporary periodicals, biographies of contemporary musicians and newspaper articles, in particular the many obituaries which were published after her death. Her daughter Brenda’s autobiography gives us an important and more intimate glimpse of the woman, particularly as a mother and close friend. There emerges, despite enormous gaps, a portrait of her personality and influences, certain aspects of family life, her career as a performer and composer and the circumstances of her death.

Acknowledgements

This project would never have happened without the invitation of Professor Una Hunt, whose interest in Poldowski stems back to a time when we were both writing our doctoral theses. Una was writing on the pianist George Alexander Osbourne and discovered the Wieniawski connection – Osborne and Poldowski were cousins! A trip to an international Wieniawski conference in Poznan cemented the research interest and the kind invitation to join this series of books has finally allowed me to bring the first monograph on this composer to fruition.

Special thanks are due to Anthony Mason at Peter Lang who has been quietly helpful in the background and to Professor Harry White of University College Dublin, who supervised the original doctoral dissertation on the complete published works of this composer and to Orla Boylan for agreeing to perform the songs with me. Thanks also to Pierce Cullen for typesetting the music examples.

I have long accepted the fact that researching the life of this fascinating woman would be my life’s work. Each year brings new snippets of information as the jigsaw of her life and career continues to provide challenges. There are still so many mysteries to solve and so many questions to answer.

Above all, my most heartfelt thanks go to Denise who has always been there since the beginning and continues to support me in every way. This book is dedicated to my parents, Des and Norrie for their unwavering support and encouragement since my musical life began at the tender age of three.