Walter Bache

Walter Bache (June 19, 1842—March 26, 1888) was an English pianist and conductor.

Born at Birmingham as the second-oldest son of a Unitarian minister, Bache attended his father's school and, like his older brother Francis Edward Bache, studied with the city organist of Birmingham, James Stimpson. In August 1858 he travelled, again like his brother, to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles. However, after a short trip to Milan and Florence he arrived in Rome in the summer of 1862. Between 1862 and 1865 he received regular lessons there with Franz Liszt; these lessons became for him a life-defining experience.Temperley, 1:879]

In 1865 he returned to London and soon began a lifelong crusade to wining popularity for Liszt's works in England, beginning with playing a two-piano arrangement of "Les Préludes" in recital with Edward Dannreuther. In the summer of 1867 he and Dannreuther formed "The Working Men's Society," a small association to promote the music of Wagner and Liszt in England, with Karl Klindworth as an elder statesman for the group. At first the society had to be content with piano arrangements. By 1871, the group had graduated to orchestral concerts, which were led by Bache.Temperley, 1:879.]

Many of Liszt's larger works enjoyed their initial hearings at Bache's annual orchestral concerts in London. In the course of these concerts, held between 1871 and 1886, Bach introduced five of the symphonic poems, the Faust and Dante Symphonies, the "Legend of St. Elisabeth" and other major works, not only by Liszt but also by other like-minded composers. In this enterprise, Bache faced a continual barrage of opposition and scorn from critics and fellow musicians. Largely through his perseverence, at least some of the public was gradually convinced of the music's worth. [Temperley, 1:879-80.]

Bache also took piano lessons from his fellow Liszt pupil Hans von Bülow in 1871,Kennedy, 39.] following Bülow's lead in what Harold C. Schonberg called "stringent, no-nonsense programming," meaning works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms instead of the vapid, purely virtuosic compositions then in favor by much of the listening public. [Schonberg, 249, 252.] Bache also translated Bulow's letters, which were published posthumously in 1896.Kennedy, 39.]

For Bache, Liszt wrote his concert arrangement of the Sarabande and Chaconne from Handel's opera Almira in 1879. [Baker, 103.] During Liszt's last visit to England in 1886, Bache entertained him at a memorable reception at the Grosvenor Gallery. Bache died in London.

Bache was professor of piano at the Royal Academy of Music for some years before his death. The foundation of the Liszt scholarship at that institution was mainly due to his efforts.

A memoir of the Bache brothers, written by their sister Constance, appeared in 1901 under the title "Brother Musicians".

Bibliography

* Baker, James M., ed. Kenneth Hamilton, "A survey of the late piano works", "The Cambridge Companion to Liszt" (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005). ISBN 0-521-64462-3 (paperback).
* Kennedy, Michael, "Bache, Walter," "The Oxford Dictionary of Music" (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1986, 1985). ISBN 0-19-311333-3
* Schonberg, Harold C., "The Great Pianists" (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987, 1963). ISBN 0-671-64200-6
* Temperley, Nicholas, "Bache. English family of musicians. (2) Walter Bache," "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, First Edition" (London: Macmillian, 1980), 20 vols. ISBN 0-333-23111-2

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External Links

[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Francis_Edward_Bache Brittania Encyclopedia Eleventh Edition article on Francis and Walter Bache]

References