This post is the second in a series written by pianist and teacher Julian Jacobson. These articles are dedicated to the music, and, more specifically, the Piano Concerto written by his mother Margaret Lyell.
Around 1935 my mother returned to London and joined the staff of J Curwen & Sons, of which my father Maurice Jacobson was the chief reader and later the managing director among his manifold activities as composer, pianist and adjudicator. They never married but carried on a discreet relationship till his death in 1976 while both sustaining normal marriages. I therefore had three older brothers, one Jacobson and two Dawsons (older readers will remember my former professional name Julian Dawson-Lyell, which I used till 1983).
Margaret and my two older Dawson brothers spent the war years in Scotland, where I was born in Peebles in 1947. We all then moved to the south of England (Worthing) where I grew up. By then she and her husband, Maurice Dawson, had separated, so that she was in effect a single mother of three boys. With all that that entails, it isn’t surprising that there was little time for composition. She continued to work for my father, contributing translations to songs and arias that he had arranged among other things, and she continued to compose. There are many piano pieces for children, or suitable for students or amateurs. Her biggest “hit” was a piece called The Whistling Sailor, which she used to say was the reason we got jam on our bread as well as butter (“For the best all-round short piece I nominate Margaret Lyell’s rousing ‘The Whistling Sailor’” – CORE magazine, Canada, September 1952). She also wrote the words for three songs that I composed between the age of 7 and 9 which were then published by Curwen’s – no favouritism there, of course! The last and best of these was “The Magic Night”, and I was delighted to find a performance on YouTube from a recent Hong Kong Schools Music Festival, showing that the song hasn’t completely died! You can hear it by clicking here.
She also continued to play the piano, and I remember a Russian evening for which she provided the music, introducing me to the delights of Tchaikovsky and Borodin though I think not Rachmaninov. However, round about that time – I was about 9 – she acquired the huge box set of Rachmaninov playing the 2nd Concerto on 78s, which was an opening for me onto a magical, unsuspected world of romance, piano virtuosity and exotic harmony.
There were no more large scale orchestral works to join the “Schiehallion” Piano Concerto. But there was a steady stream of piano music, songs and choral pieces. The latter was perhaps her particular strength. She composed “Love is enough” to words by William Morris for the Pisa Opera Group in honour of the Royal Wedding in 1981 and received an acknowledgment from Prince Charles. Her songs and choral music, though in no sense progressive (her most adventurous music was written in her student years), are distinguished by impeccable craftsmanship, great literary sensitivity (setting classic poetry of which she was a great lover), and unfailing melodic charm. A good deal was published, though now mainly out of print, initially by Curwen’s and later by Roberton Publications and Bardic Edition. Much of the music deserves revival and I hope that our concert on May 30th can act as a starting point.
While we were still in Worthing my mother taught in a local private school, general subjects as well as music. However, in 1971 at the age of 60 she decided to up sticks and return to London, which was always her spiritual home since her student years. At this time she wrote an article, “I retired to London” which was published in, I believe, The Lady magazine, though I have mislaid it. This coincided with my own move back to London after Oxford, so I was constantly in touch with her. At one point she had three part-time jobs, but the longest lasting one, and the one that gave her the most satisfaction, was as an usherette at the London Coliseum for English National Opera. Here she had a wide circle of friends among the staff, singers and musicians. She retired only in 1992 – at 82, way beyond the official retirement age and I was rather relieved! – and her retirement was celebrated by a special concert performed by her friends in the company. I still meet many people who remember her fondly from her Coliseum years. In the next post I shall go into more detail about her Piano Concerto and other music.
Find out more about Margaret Lyell by clicking here and you can purchase tickets to hear the concert by clicking here.
Thank you Melanie, nice to read this too! 😉
Thank you, Martin. Really glad that you enjoyed this article. Melanie 🙂