Biography
New Zealand-born conductor, Warwick Braithwaite, was a seminal figure in the musical life of Britain for more than fifty years. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and went on to tour with Joseph O’Mara’s Grand Opera Company. At the time, he was believed to be the country’s youngest professional conductor.
Braithwaite worked with all the major British orchestras and many of the greatest artists of his day. He was associated with important musical institutions at key moments in their development, becoming the first Musical Director of the Welsh National Orchestra, and guiding the Scottish Orchestra through the difficult years of WWII. Much of Braithwaite’s career was spent conducting opera for Sadler’s Wells, Welsh National Opera, Carl Rosa, and Covent Garden. He also worked with the Royal Ballet in London, and toured with them to Germany, France and Italy. Extensive post-war engagements took him to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Iceland and the Republic of Ireland.
Editor Roger Flury, former Curator of Music at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, had unique access to Braithwaite’s archive – including the conductor’s substantial autobiography, published here for the first time. Flury contributes additional chapters covering Braithwaite’s musical legacy in Wales and his later years with Sadler’s Wells Opera. The volume is enriched with several important appendices charting Braithwaite’s family, his significant recording career, his writings and – most important of all – his many compositions. Braithwaite emerges as an unsung hero in the history of music-making in the first half of the 20th century.
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
From a scholarly perspective, this study of Braithwaite provides much commentary about conducting opera, the experience of conducting and working with contemporaries in 20th century England, and more. For the everyday reader, this book is not only a scholarly read, but something that is also enjoyable outside of its scholarly prowess. From this perspective, one of the best parts of this work is Warwick Braithwaite’s unique perspective in which to view the happenings of the 20th century. It was enthralling to read about events of the 20th century from the perspective of a musician to see the impacts of world events on opera companies, musicians, and regular people within this field. The Golden Shore would be an excellent addition to any library, suitable for casual readers
This is a weighty proposition of a book. Its bulk promises and delivers much. There are 502 pages in all, of which 362 comprise the central feature, namely an otherwise unpublished autobiography by New Zealand-born conductor Warwick Braithwaite (1896-1971). Editor/librarian Roger Flury has thus rescued and made a viable proposition of a fascinating autobiography. Braithwaite’s narrative is buttressed and underpinned by Flury’s Preface, by his mid-book ‘Bridge Passage’ chapter (plugging a 1930s gap) and a Postlude. The main self-drawn life-narrative is decked out with unfailingly helpful footnotes by Mr Flury, none of which are indulgent or garrulously unfocused. The book is a good read and the pages fairly fly by with a schema being, for the most part, laid out chronologically. The early childhood chapters keep up the tempo and avoid the slough of despond that bogs down many authors’ memoirs in this department. Warwick’s account of old conflicts, disappointments, torments and scandals is gripping, as is his immersive commitment to music and orchestral and singing standards. His own life-account ends in a sheer drop into chasmal silence in 1956. Flury takes over with an Epilogue covering the years to 1971. The latter includes invaluable documentation around the conductor’s obsequies. A warm welcome is due this exemplary book which has been so well realised.
Warwick Braithwaite...left an incomplete autobiography, which the musicologist Roger Flury has edited for publication, researching and filling in gaps as necessary and providing context as well as brief but useful annotations. He writes in a lively and immediate style that testifies to his passion for music and its furtherance, causes he espoused with a tenacity that at times probably told against the success of his own career - though always with the benefit of music, musicians and audiences in mind, as opposed to any personal advancement. The breadth of his musical interests was remarkable.
This is an absorbing book: we learn a great deal about a gifted and sometimes 'difficult' musician, but also about the times in which he lived, and about his warm, sympathetic relationships with friends - as well as waspish dealings with those he came to regard as enemies. Extremely well edited (the footnotes are a mine of useful information) and fleshed out with valuable additional information by Flury, it is a significant contribution to British musical life (particularly operatic life) in the first half of the twentieth century. I recomend this well-produced and very reasonably priced book most warmly.
