BBC Orchestra and New British Works for Viola
BBC 管弦樂團與英國新中提琴作品

In the summer of 1929 Lionel Tertis and Albert Sammons were involved in a major undertaking. The BBC had decided to form its own symphony orchestra. The string principals were appointed individually, but auditions for rank and file players were held in London and the regions between May and the autumn. Sammons and Tertis heard more than 1,000 auditions to select the sixty-strong string section of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. To lick the players into shape, the orchestra’s founding conductor, Adrian Boult, adopted Tertis’s suggestion of separate sectional rehearsals.
1929 年夏天，萊昂內爾·特蒂斯（Lionel Tertis）和阿爾伯特·薩蒙斯（Albert Sammons）參與了一項重大項目。英國廣播公司（BBC）決定組成自己的交響樂團。首席弦樂手是單獨任命的，但普通樂手的試奏在五月至秋季期間在倫敦及其周邊地區舉行。薩蒙斯和特蒂斯聽了 1000 多場試奏，最後選拔 BBC 交響樂團 60 人的弦樂組。為了讓樂手們盡快適應，樂團的創始指揮阿德里安·博爾特（Adrian Boult）採納了特蒂斯的建議，即進行分組排練。

Women had played for years in Sir Henry Wood’s orchestra at Queen’s Hall, and some were included on occasions in the orchestra at Royal Philharmonic Society concerts. During this period there was also the London-based British Women’s Symphony Orchestra. Dame Ethel Smyth was very critical of the choice of players for the newly formed BBC Symphony Orchestra and wrote to the Daily Mail on at least two occasions about this matter. Tertis replied in a letter that appeared in the Daily Mail on 9 July 1929:
多年來，女性音樂家們一直在亨利·伍德爵士在女王音樂廳的管弦樂隊中演奏，有些女性甚至曾參加皇家愛樂協會的音樂會。當時，倫敦還成立了英國女子交響樂團。埃塞爾史密斯女爵士對新成立的英國廣播公司交響樂團的樂手選拔提出了嚴厲批評，並至少兩次就此事致函《每日郵報》。特蒂斯在1929年7月9日刊登在《每日郵報》上的一封信中回覆：

Sir, - my name having appeared twice recently in The Daily Mail (in connection with the new BBC Orchestra) with what I might mildly call an unjust inference, I shall be greatly obliged if you will allow me space to refute the suggestions made.
先生，我的名字最近兩次出現在《每日郵報》上（與新成立的 BBC 管弦樂團有關），我可能溫和地稱之為不公正的推斷，如果您能給我空間來反駁所提出的建議，我將不勝感激。

Now, if an official (as stated by Dame Ethel Smyth) told ‘Musician’ that ‘Sammons and Tertis can at once recognise the sex of a concealed player’, I, for one, did not know I possessed this peculiar X-ray faculty. Neither was I ‘safely guided’ by any question or answer.
現在，如果一位官員（正如埃塞爾·史密斯女爵士所說）告訴“音樂家”，“薩蒙斯和特蒂斯可以立刻識別出隱藏球員的性別”，那麼我自己並不知道我擁有這種奇特的透視能力。任何問題或答案也無法「安全地引導」我。

In adjudicating for the new BBC Orchestra I had no interest whatever as to whether the candidates were male or female. My sole and unbiassed purpose was to judge of their efficiency.
在為新 BBC 管弦樂團進行評審時，我對候選人的性別完全不感興趣。我唯一且公正的目的就是評判他們的演奏水平。

As a matter of fact I was, with regret, unable to pass a single candidate I heard (and in most cases I did not know their sex). Their performances
事實上，我很遺憾，我聽過的每一個候選人都沒能通過（而且大多數情況下，我都不知道他們的性別）。他們的表現
were, unfortunately, all below the standard required for a first-rate orchestra.
不幸的是，所有這些都達不到一流管弦樂團所要求的標準。

The suggestion that the candidates were made fools of is childish. I undertook the auditions with a full sense of the responsibility laid upon me, and no indication was at any time given to me that only one sex would be acceptable.
認為候選人被愚弄的說法很幼稚。我完全意識到自己肩負的責任，參加了這次試鏡，而且我從未被告知只接受一種性別的候選人。

I might add that - having been through the mill of a very wide experience of orchestral playing, and with all due deference to my friend Dame Ethel Smyth - I feel fully qualified to know what is wanted in an orchestral player; and if the qualification of teacher (as well as executant) is necessary, then, may I meekly say, I have also had experience.
我想補充一點——憑藉著豐富的管弦樂演奏經驗，並且對我的朋友埃塞爾·史密斯女爵士懷著應有的敬意——我覺得自己完全有資格知道管弦樂演奏者需要什麼；如果教師資格（以及演奏者資格）是必要的，那麼，我可以謙虛地說，我也有經驗。

Dame Ethel, writing in the Daily Mail, agreed with ‘Musician’ that it was a strange fact that ‘so far not one single woman has been selected by audition for the BBC Orchestra.’ She added: ‘Of course, the enforced reply to “necessary questions” such as “Are you ready?” makes the screen business (designed to hide the sex of the applicant) a farce, and no wonder the women are angry. Moreover the suspicion that one is being made a fool of is enough to unnerve a sensitive spirit.’ She suggested that artists like Mesdames Suggia and Fachiri, ‘who are distinguished teachers as well as executants’, should join the board of judges.
埃塞爾女爵士在《每日郵報》撰文，贊同《音樂家》雜誌的觀點，認為“迄今為止，BBC 管弦樂團還沒有一位女性通過試鏡被選中”，這實在令人匪夷所思。她補充說：“當然，強制回答‘你準備好了嗎？’之類的‘必要問題’，讓這場旨在隱藏申請人性別的選拔賽變成了一場鬧劇，難怪女人們會如此憤怒。此外，懷疑自己被愚弄，足以讓一個敏感的心靈感到不安。”她建議，像蘇吉亞女士和法奇里女士這樣既是傑出的教師，也是“既是傑出的教師，也是應該加入評委”的藝術家。

On 20 July 1929 the Star reported:
1929 年 7 月 20 日，《星報》報道：
The National Orchestra which has been formed by the BBC in conjunction with Sir Thomas Beecham will soon begin rehearsals, and their first public appearance will be probably at the Queen’s Hall on October 18. They may perform before then, though it is not likely, but it is definite that they will on that date start a series of 22 weekly symphony concerts, which will be broadcast.
由英國廣播公司（BBC）與托馬斯·比徹姆爵士聯合組成的國家交響樂團即將開始排練，他們的首次公開亮相很可能是在 10 月 18 日女王大廳。他們也可能在此之前演出，儘管可能性不大，但可以肯定的是，他們將在那一天開始每週舉辦 22 場交響音樂會，並將進行廣播。

Ten per cent. of the instrumentalists will be women. The orchestra will consist of nearly 100, all of whom have now received their contracts for signature.
10%的演奏家將是女性。樂團將由近100名成員組成，目前她們都已收到待簽約的合約。

The gallant 100 have been chosen from about 1,000 applicants, every one of whom was given an audition. The auditions took three months to complete. Marks were given for points in their playing, and far more than were wanted for the orchestra passed the audition. The percentage of women, I am assured, represents a fair proportion of those who passed the tests as compared with the men.
這100名英勇的演奏家是從大約1000名申請者中選拔出來的，每一位都參加了試奏。試奏歷時三個月完成。分數是根據他們的演奏水平來計算的，最終通過試奏的人數遠遠超過了樂團的預期分數。我確信，女性在通過測試的人數中所佔比例與男性相比相當高。

The autumn and winter concerts will be regarded as an experimental season, and the orchestra, it is hoped, will be placed on a permanent basis next year.
秋季和冬季音樂會將被視為一個實驗季，希望明年樂團能成為永久樂團。

In 1929 Tertis played Bax’s Viola Sonata and Delius’s Violin Sonata no. 2 during a series of recitals to promote the viola, three at the Wigmore Hall and three at the Aeolian Hall. He began the series on 3 October at the Wigmore Hall, with George Reeves as his partner. They played Martini’s Sonata in E, Dale’s Romance and Finale and sonatas by Delius and Bax; Dale’s Introduction and Andante, op. 5, for six violas, was played by Tertis, Rebecca Clarke, Dorothy Jones, Raymond Jeremy, Leonard Rubens and James Lockyer. They rehearsed at Rebecca Clarke’s home on 30 September and had a further rehearsal at the Wigmore Hall on 1 October. Clarke noted: ‘We feel like the advanced viola class.’ As usual, the reviews the next day were glowing:
1929 年，特蒂斯在一系列推廣中提琴的獨奏音樂會中演奏了巴克斯的中提琴奏鳴曲和戴利厄斯的第二小提琴奏鳴曲，其中三場在威格莫爾音樂廳，三場在伊奧利亞音樂廳。他於 10 月 3 日在威格莫爾音樂廳拉開了系列音樂會的序幕，喬治·里夫斯擔任他的搭檔。他們演奏了馬蒂尼的 E 大調奏鳴曲、戴爾的《浪漫曲》和《終曲》以及戴利厄斯和巴克斯的奏鳴曲；戴爾為六把中提琴創作的《引子與行板》（作品 5）由特蒂斯、麗貝卡·克拉克、多蘿西·瓊斯、雷蒙德·傑裡米、倫納·德魯本和詹姆斯·洛本和詹姆斯·洛本。他們於 9 月 30 日在麗貝卡·克拉克的家中排練，並於 10 月 1 日在威格莫爾音樂廳進行了進一步排練。克拉克寫道：「我們感覺像是高級中提琴班。」第二天的樂評一如既往地好評如潮：

Mr. Tertis is a highly skilled arranger as well as performer. The music, then, if it may sound different, will sound well. This was certainly the case with the Delius Sonata no. 2 yesterday, lately arranged with the sanction of the composer and played for the first time in this version. Mr. Tertis has a fine command over tonal variety, indeed in the upper register his instrument often sounds like a violin; he seems to be able to get rid of the somewhat ‘pinched’ quality of the viola, while it is seldom there is any passage in which he is unable to speed up its speaking power. With the composer at the pianoforte, the sonata of Bax also went extremely well, and the performance was warmly applauded.
特蒂斯先生是一位技藝精湛的編曲家和演奏家。因此，即使音樂聽起來可能有所不同，但聽起來仍然很美妙。昨天演奏的戴利厄斯第二奏鳴曲就體現了這一點，這首奏鳴曲最近經作曲家批准改編，並以這個版本首次演奏。特蒂斯先生對音調變化的掌控非常出色，事實上，在高音區，他的樂器常常聽起來像小提琴；他似乎能夠擺脫中提琴略顯“緊繃”的音質，同時，他很少在任何樂段中無法加快中提琴的表達速度。在作曲家的鋼琴伴奏下，巴克斯奏鳴曲也演奏得非常出色，演出獲得了熱烈的掌聲。
(The Times)  （《泰晤士報》）

There can rarely have been so many British composers performed within a few hours as to-day. … Arnold Bax’s sonata with the composer at the piano, struck one as successful in a different way; it is music that seems to have grown to a definite shape and quality out of the viola’s very peculiarities. A Romance and Finale by Benjamin Dale (with Mr. George Reeves at the piano) … is pleasant and well made in a conventional manner. So is the same composer’s Introduction and Andante for six violas, but this suffered from being written for a combination that is comparatively ineffective as well as impractical. To avoid too close a spacing of the harmony the treble parts have to be kept too long in the higher registers, the viola compares unfavourably with the violin, and the bass is not solid enough as a foundation for a longish work.
很少有像今天這樣，在幾個小時內就能演出如此多的英國作曲家的作品。 ……阿諾德·巴克斯的奏鳴曲由作曲家本人彈奏鋼琴，以不同的方式給人留下了深刻的印象；這種音樂似乎從中提琴的獨特性中發展出了明確的形式和品質。班傑明戴爾的浪漫曲與終曲（由喬治李維斯先生彈奏鋼琴）…旋律優美，製作精良，風格傳統。同一位作曲家為六把中提琴創作的引子和行板也是如此，但這首歌的缺點是，它的組合效果不佳，也不切實際。為了避免和聲間隔過近，高音部分必須在高音區保持太長時間，中提琴的表現不如小提琴，而低音部分作為較長作品的基礎也不夠堅實。
(Manchester Guardian)  （曼徹斯特衛報）
The critic Ernest Newman suggested to the Columbia Graphophone Company that they should ask Arnold Bax to record his Viola Sonata with Tertis, the dedicatee. The sessions were held on 27 May 1929 and the two of them turned in a superbly dramatic performance. It seems likely, however, that the recording did not pass the factory ‘wear test’, as it was very vivid and therefore the ‘highs’ on any commercial pressings would have become worn very quickly
評論家歐內斯特紐曼建議哥倫比亞留聲機公司邀請阿諾德巴克斯與受贈者特蒂斯錄製他的《中提琴奏鳴曲》。錄製於1929年5月27日舉行，兩人奉獻了一場精彩絕倫的演出。然而，這張唱片似乎未能通過工廠的“磨損測試”，因為它過於清晰，因此任何商業發行的唱片的“高音”都會很快磨損。