Fanny Davies

• Name — Fanny Davies • Born — 27 June 1861 • Birthplace — Guernsey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, United Kingdom • Died — 1 September 1934 • Place of death — London, England • Alma Mater — University of Music and Theatre Leipzig • Occupation — Pianist • Years Active — 1867-1934

Fanny Davies was born in Guernsey, United Kingdom, on 27 June 1861. She was sent to live with her aunt Miss Woodhill as a toddler. She first started learning piano at the age of three and had her first formal lessons when she was five. Davies studied privately in Birmingham, then at Leipzig Conservatory under Carl Reinecke and Oscar Paul. Next, she studied under Clara Schumann in Frankfurt. She died, aged 73, in London, England.

Davies's first public performances were in Birmingham at the age of six. Her concert career began with the Saturday and Monday Popular Concerts in 1885; the Philharmonic concerts 1886; Berlin, 1887; Gewandhaus, Leipzig, 1888; Rome, 1889; Beethoven Festival in Bonn, 1893; Vienna Philharmonic, 1895; Milan, 1895 and 1904; Paris, 1902, 1904 and 1905; Netherlands, 1920 and 1921; Prague, 1920 and 1922; and Spain 1923. She was frequently engaged by the Royal Philharmonic Society, making her last appearance in its programme at age 15. In November 1915, with Thomas Beecham as her conductor, she performed Mozart's G major Concerto, K. 453. She appeared in a Mozart concerto during Beecham's London debut at the Bechstein (Wigmore) Hall on 5 June 1905. • Illustration — Writing from Fanny Davies Her once-popular late 1920s recording of Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor represents a direct tradition from the composer. Davies was also admired in chamber music, playing often in trio with Joseph Joachim. In 1892 (28 March, 2–4 April), she appeared with Richard Mühlfeld and Alfredo Piatti in the first London performances of the Brahms Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114, when the Joachim Quartet with Mühlfeld was also performing the Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115. She also gave the first London performance of Brahms's D minor Violin Sonata, also with Joachim. She accompanied Joachim in the Brahms Hungarian Dances in April 1892. She was accompanist for lieder recitals given in 1894–6 by the baritone David Bispham, in Schumann and Brahms (including the Op. 112 Liebeslieder); and in Brahms lieder for Gervase Elwes and Marie Brema on their German tour in 1908. • Illustration — Etching from a photograph c.1891 Fanny Davies was the first person to give a piano recital in Westminster Abbey. She also gave the first public performance of Edward Elgar's Concert Allegro, Op. 46, in 1901. The piece was written only after constant requests from her for a new piece, and was dedicated to her. Her performance, however, attracted negative reviews, and it may have even been what caused Elgar to revise the work, a revision he never finished (the score was lost from around 1906 until 1968).