My father, flute, RVW and Leith Hill Festivals
Professor Sir Alec Skempton was one of the most influential British civil engineers of the 20th century and a keen amateur flautist, performing at one of the first Imperial College lunchtime concerts. His daughter, Kate Sisum, former Chair of Exmouth Choral Society, reflects on her father's association with Ralph Vaughan Williams and the Leith Hill Musical Festivals.
My father was an academic; professor at Imperial College, London. He always ensured that, if he started something new, he would attain the highest standard. So, when in his twenties, he decided to learn to play the flute he had lessons with Fritz Spiegel and attained a standard that allowed him to consider becoming a professional flautist. However, he did not. His performances were restricted to chamber music recitals with friends and colleagues at Imperial College in the 1950s and for seven years, 1947 to 1953, the great choral works under RVW's baton, in Redhill, Bury St Edmunds and the Leith Hill Musical Festival. RVW's elder sister Margaret had co-founded the LHM Festival in 1905 (and it is still going strong). At the time of the festival in 1954 my father was giving a lecture tour in the USA and Canada. From then on the time for flute practice rapidly decreased. But I suspect that it is no coincidence that 1953 was also RVW's last year of conducting the festival.
The St Matthew Passion was performed regularly during the LHMF, alternating with the St John Passion (and, only in much more recent years, Handel's Messiah) in the Dorking Halls. My father played second flute (Geoffrey Gilbert frequently played the Flute obligatti). He assiduously practised "the gloves off" passage - the chorus of movement number 33 vivace. The nickname came about because the hall was so cold that for most of the rehearsal and performance he played in fingerless gloves. However, the gloves were ceremoniously removed for No.33 "Have Lightnings and Thunders forgotten their fury". In September 1958 "Ralph Vaughan Williams died in his sleep at the age of 86 and was buried at Westminster Abbey. Skem attended the commemoration and funeral service and mourned the passing of a man he regarded as a musical hero". (Niechcial (2002) "A Particle of Clay: The Biography of Alec Skempton, Civil Engineer") |
KATE SISUM (née Skempton) Exmouth Choral Society