Public Research Seminar: Siân Derry
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire - Workshop 2
200 Jennens Road, B4 7XR
Free - booking required
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Public Research Seminar: Siân Derry (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire)
Exploring Charles Hallé as an untapped source for Beethoven studies
Charles Hallé is best known for establishing the first professional orchestra in England, but he was also a Beethoven champion and interpreter par excellence. Hallé gave the first known complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle and systematically increased awareness of Beethoven’s works, helping to establish their popular appeal. Yet Hallé’s potential as a source for Beethoven studies has yet to be fully uncovered. This paper examines letters, contemporary newspaper reports, and Hallé’s own editions to reveal his depth of knowledge about the composer and the potential insights he can offer.
Siân Derry is Assistant Director of Postgraduate Studies at RBC. After training as a pianist, she completed her PhD at the University of Manchester with a thesis on ‘Beethoven’s Experimental Figurations and Exercises for Piano’. Her interests include piano organology, pedagogy, and performance practices of the 18th and 19th Centuries. She has published on Beethoven’s Fingering Indications for the Fourth Piano Concerto (Bonner Beethoven Studien); Beethoven as a Child Prodigy (OUP); Beethoven’s Tied-Note Notation (HKB Bern); and Charles Hallé as a Beethoven Champion (MUP). Her forthcoming edition for Bärenreiter is entitled Figurations and Exercises for Piano. Beethoven on Piano Playing.
Running time approx. two hours and 30 minutes.
Our Public Research Seminars are held simultaneously at RBC and online via Zoom. A link to view the seminar online will be sent to you once a ticket is booked, should you wish to join the virtual session.