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Eleanor and husband John Barbirolli at work in the kitchen |
Lady ‘B’ excelled from the oboe to oaks
LADY Barbirolli, who has died aged 97, was a leading oboist who spent much of her professional life performing and teaching the instrument, and her private life promoting and protecting the legacy of her late husband, the leading conductor and composer Sir John Barbirolli.
Born Evelyn Rothwell in Wallingford-on-Thames, Berkshire in 1911, her father, a tea merchant, was not originally keen on her plans to become a professional musician, and it was only with her mother’s support that she was allowed to take up a scholarship she won at the Royal College of Music.
After graduating, she joined the Covent Garden touring orchestra: it was rare for a woman to join such a band, especially playing in the woodwind section. During her early career she worked for a number of London theatres in the orchestra pit, gaining valuable experience and contacts.
Other leading orchestras she played for included the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. She became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1971.
Lady Barbirolli met Sir John in 1933. His brother, Peter, was a violinist and recommended her for a six-week stint at the Royal Opera House. The pair married in 1939, and although she continued to work, she was dedicated to supporting her husband’s career, which took him around the world to prestigious venues with prestigious orchestras.
After his death in the early 1970s, she concentrated on keeping his legacy in the public eye.
Lady Barbirolli settled in Belsize Park in the 1980s. She had been living in Marylebone and as her professional commitments diminished, she became more interested in gardening: but she found the small patch that came with her flat insufficient for her needs.
It changed when she noticed a small advert in the back of the Royal Horticultural Society’s monthly magazine advertising a house for sale in Belsize Park, whose main attraction – hence the advert – was a large garden. The house in Buckland Crescent was owned by a Mrs Stein, and as soon as Lady Evelyn saw it, she put in an offer.
For the next 25 years the garden became a consuming passion. She opened it each year to the public, and in her later years hired help to tend the numerous beds.
She loved a traditional English country-style garden, and her special passion was roses; she had huge varieties climbing over frames and up walls. She also had a large vegetable patch, a wormery and a green house.
Lady Barbirolli’s interest in growing vegetables was partly linked to the joy she found in cooking. Her friend and New Journal contributor Ruth Gorb recalls her love of food.
“She was a real gourmet,” said Ruth.
“We would eat out together in Belsize Park and St John’s Wood. Her particular favourite was the Italian restaurant Artigiano, in Belsize Square.”
As well as tending her large, half acre garden, she continued working as a teacher and being involved in the academy for many years into her retirement, travelling the length of the country as a judge in music competitions and Eistedfodds.
The Royal Academy of Music’s principal Professor Curtis Price, KBE, met Lady ‘B’ – as she was affectionately known at the academy – 15 years ago.
He recalled a lifetime of being one of the world’s leading oboists.
He said: “Her career was incredible – she was renowned. When I met her, she was no longer performing, but she was still playing, and she taught people privately. She also worked tirelessly to promote her late husbands legacy.”
And he recalled her character: “She was always very kind. She was self assured without being over bearing. And when she had to be, she was as tough as old boots.”
Vice-principal Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood recalled her help in organising scores and memorabilia relating to her late husband. He said: “Evelyn never lionised Sir John, but could see the remarkable aspects of his musicianship. She could talk about her husband without ever being in his shadow.”
Singer Helen Marcus, who organises the annual Hampstead and Highgate Festival, recalls meeting Lady Barbirolli at a party – and then approaching her to become a patron of the Friends of Hampstead Town Hall.
She said: “She was happy to become a patron. We were grateful to her for lending her name. It was a generous gesture.”
DAN CARRIER |
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