Musicians, Artists and Writers

Artists with known associations with the studio:

Stravinsky with Nijinsky at the time they visited No 19A

Pianists: Harold Bauer, Cortot, Ethel Leginska, Moiseiwitsch, Artur Rubinstein, Irene Scharrer, Carlos Sobrino

Violinists: Arbós,  Daisy Kennedy, Kochanski, Pedro Morales, Tivadar Nachez, Louis Persinger, Albert Sammons, Sylvia Sparrow, Thibaud, Ysaye

Violists: Gertrude Bauer, Rebecca Clarke, Pierre Monteux, Lionel Tertis

Cellists: Casals, Rubio, Felix Salmond, Suggia, May Mukle

Double-bass: Victor Watson

Wind players: Georges Barrère. Charles Draper, Leon Goossens, Adolph Goossens

Quartets:  Flonzaley Quartet, London String Quartet (leader: Sammons)

Rubinstein in 1906

Conductors: Eugene Goossens, Landon Ronald

Speaker: Ruth Draper

Staying in the house: Ruth Draper. Rubinstein, Szymanowski. Ysaye

Listeners and visitors included: Henry Ainley, Chaliapin, Montague Chester (of Vert’s Concert Agency), Sybil Colefax, Robin de la Condamine, Lady Cunard, Norman Douglas, Henry James, Henry Melville, Pedro Morales, Monteux, Nijinsky, John Singer Sargent, Gertrude Stein, Stravinsky, Szymanowski, Emerson Whithome

Find the piano Rubinstein procured for 19a

In 1912 Rubinstein went to what was then Bechstein Hall, now the present day Wigmore Hall and chose the piano that was to be at the centre of musical life at 19a. A group of us thought it might be fun to try and locate this. Happily, the library at the Royal College of Music had kept the sales records for the Bechstein firm in London during that period, so we started wading through three thick tomes to try and find proof of the sale. At the end of only a few minutes of perusing we had found it! Below you will see the relevant entry, including a discount given of £25.00p as a form of payment to Rubinstein in view of the fact that he was giving a concert series in Bechstein Hall. The piano in question is a model E concert grand in blackwood, no. 100.767. We would very much like to know if it still exists! Therefore we are asking our readers/web browsers to start on a hunt to find it. If by any chance you have any leads please contact us via the contacts page, it would be greatly appreciated. If located and restored, it may even be possible to get it back to 19a if the instrument is up for sale.

David Hoyland, Organist/Composer

The second column down has the entry for the sale of the piano to Paul Draper
By permission of the Royal College of Music

As seen above, a special price was given as Rubinstein personally chose the piano (see  his autobiography, “My young Years”). He gave a series of concerts at Bechstein Hall in 1912. His last ever concert was also held there, in the renamed Wigmore Hall, in May of 1976. 

Right hand page of the ledger showing the selling price of £250.00 
By permission of The Royal College of Music