Mary Portman's Violin - Blandford Town Museum

MaryPortman’sViolin1877-1931

MARY ISABEL PORTMAN

1877 - 1931

By Ian Gaunt (2010) with amendments and additions by John Tory (2014)

Hon. Mary Isabel Portman (1877-1931) The Hon, Mary Isabel Portman was born at 22 Portman Square, London W1 on 16 April 1877. She was the last of the eight children of William Henry Berkeley, who succeeded to the Portman family estates as 2nd Viscount Portman in 1888. Her mother, Mary Selina Charlotte Wentworth Fitzwilliam, was the granddaughter of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam and sister of the 6th Earl. Viscount Portman was born in 1829. He was educated at Eton and Merton College Oxford. He was a Member of Parliament from 1852 to 1885 but was chiefly known as a notable Master of Foxhounds. On his death at the age of 90 in 1919 his obituary in “The Times” (17 October 1919) reported: “He will be chiefly remembered for the munificence with which he hunted the famous pack of foxhounds. From boyhood he was devoted to riding ….he was recognised as a representative of the best type of English sportsman…..He was a stickler for etiquette in the hunting field and it was a tradition that he was never seen without a tall hat” A portrait of Lord Portman from the famous “Spy” series published in “Vanity Fair” magazine captioned “An old Master” shows the Master of Foxhounds in 1898 in his immaculate pink coat and top hat.

“An old Master” 1898 Viscount Portman was extremely rich. Again to quote his Times obituary: “Lord Portman was one of the great ground landlords of London. The Portman estate, covering some 270 acres [110ha.] in the West End was once the property of the Knights of St John and was acquired by Lord Chief Justice Portman in the 16th century…The town house of the family is in Portman Square which was begun in 1764…..The Dorset seat is at Bryanston [where] a new mansion was built by Lord Portman in the Elizabethan style…it is reckoned to be one of the finest country houses in England.”

The wealth of the Portman family came from the huge estate in the north and west of central London around Oxford Street as well as large estates in Dorset and Somerset. The land in London St Marylebone had been in the family for 2 centuries and mostly devoted to pig farming when it came to be developed as part of the rapid westward expansion of London in the mid 18th century. Portman Square became one of London’s most fashionable addresses, as did other squares on the estate. Portman Square still has fine buildings from this period.

Portman Square in the 18th century Much of the West End of London stands on land which belongs to a small number of aristocratic families: Cadogan, Devonshire, Portland, Howard de Walden and Portman, being the most prominent. During the 18th and 19th centuries the vacant land was mostly let by these aristocratic landlords on 99 year building leases. In the case of the Portman land, many of the leases in St Marylebone came to an end in the late 1880s when the Portman family was again able to regain possession of the land and buildings. By 1890, Lord Portman was reckoned to have an income of £100,000 a year, an incredible sum in those days. Depending on the method of calculation, this might be equivalent to up to £50 million today. This was the late Victorian and Edwardian world in which Mary Portman was brought up, a world of great privilege for families such as hers and the zenith of the British aristocracy.

Bryanston

Bryanston was one of the last great country houses built by members of the British aristocracy before death duties, introduced in 1894, started to erode their tremendous wealth. The house was designed by the famous architect Norman Shaw and no expense was spared on its building. By the end of the First World War the world of the Edwardian aristocracy had changed, even though the Portmans were still extremely wealthy. In 1927 the house was sold to pay death duties following the death of the 3rd Viscount in 1923. It is now occupied by one of Britain’s leading private schools. The Portman Estate, and the 10th Viscount, still own 110 acres [45ha.] of the original London estate and the family is still one of the wealthiest in Britain.

Unfortunately, Portman House in Portman Square in which Mary Portman was born no longer exists. It was burned out in the London blitz in 1941 and pulled down in the early 1950s to make way for the Portman Hotel which still stands on the site at the north west corner of Portman Square. The house itself had an interesting history as the former home of Mrs Montagu, a famous London saloniste of the 18th century, whose guests included the famous Dr Samuel Johnson. It continued to be occupied by the Montagu family and was known as Montagu House until the Portmans took possession and renamed it Portman House shortly before Mary Portman was born there. The 1st Lord Portman built Knighton House in Durweston (the next village to Bryanston) in the 1850s for his eldest son to live in on his marriage. Here Mary grew up. Following the death of the 1st Lord in 1888 his successor continued to live at Knighton while the new Bryanston House was built. He and his family moved on its completion in 1894 when Mary was aged 17. In the 1901 Census she is recorded as living there aged 23 with some 30 live-in servants. Her mother had died in 1899 and, with both her sisters being married, Mary had a role in supporting her father until he re-married in 1908.

The Reception Room, Portman House,

22, Portman Square, London W1 Destroyed in 1941

A portrait of Mary Portman was made by the US born society artist A.S. Cope in 1897 when she was 20. The portrait was exhibited at the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy in London in 1899. The picture hung in the Drawing Room at Bryanston until the contents of the house were sold in 1925. Afterwards its whereabouts are unknown but it may well have been transferred to Portman House in London and destroyed when the house was hit by bombing in 1941.

There are some mentions of Mary Portman in society columns in Britain in the years before the First World War. She was an early motor enthusiast being mentioned by the Times at a “meet” of the Ladies’ Automobile Club in June 1904 driving a 16 horse power Clement car of her own. There is also a report in the society column of the Los Angeles Herald of an automobile club meet in Baden-Baden in July 1906 where Mary Portman again makes an appearance as an early lady motorist with Lady Margaret Kerr, daughter of the Marquess of Lothian. She also seems to have had scientific interests being mentioned at meetings of the Royal Institution at a lecture on [ ] in [ ] and at the Chemical Society in [ ].

Mary Portman was clearly a capable violinist In England she was a pupil of the famous German virtuoso August Wilhelmj. Wilhelmj moved to England in 1894 when he became a professor at the newly founded Guildhall School of Music. A letter from Wilhelmj dated 1905 addressed to “Lady” Portman thanks her for sending him a copy of her portrait and referring to himself as her Colleague and Master. Shortly before his death in London in 1908, Wilhelmj acquired a 1722 Stradivarius violin owned by Mary Portman (quite possibly as a gift). This was surely an indication of the closeness of their collegial relationship, especially as the violin may have been originally a gift to Mary Portman from her mother. In about 1907 Mary Portman moved to Berlin and it seems that she may have continued her studies there privately or at the Sternsches or Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatorien. It has been mentioned that she may also have studied in Leipzig and have there met the famous English composer and enfant terrible Ethel Smyth. I have not found any evidence for this and indeed Ethel Smyth left Leipzig in 1880. Mary Portman is nowhere mentioned in Ethel Smyth’s memoirs nor in her biography “Impetuous Heart” In Berlin Mary Portman met pianist Amy Hare, who would become her lifelong friend and companion. The daughter of a draper, Amy Hare was born in Taunton, England in 1862 and was thus 15 years Mary Portman’s senior. Although she came from a more lowly social background than Mary Portman, Amy Hare had in common an early life in the English West Country. She graduated with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London and was a pianist of international reputation at this time, having toured Germany and America with some success. She became a Professor at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatorium in Berlin, one of the top national and international music schools of the time (the other leading music school in Berlin at this time being the Sternsches Conservatorium). These schools were the training ground for many of the most celebrated musicians of the early 20th century.

In Berlin Amy Hare and Mary Portman lived in Schlueterstr, Charlottenburg. They were members of an active social and musical scene in pre-war Berlin and their concerts were reported on by the New York Times in its musical and social columns.

Another important member of the musical community in Berlin at this time was Wilma Neruda, the widow of Sir Charles Halle, and internationally recognised as one of the leading violinists of her time. After the death of her husband in 1895 she lived mostly in Berlin. She was a Professor at the Sternsches Conservatorium from 1900 until 1902 and died in Berlin in April 1911. It seems certain that Mary Portman knew her well. At her death Mary Portman owned a “tourte” bow which had belonged to Lady Halle and no doubt a bequest from the famous violinist. Sir Henry Wood, the founder of the London “Prom” Concerts, wrote of Lady Halle thus: “Lady Halle – far and away the greatest lady violinist of the time – played the Max Bruch concerto superbly. The nobility of her style reminded me of Joachim but, to be quite candid, I thought her tone was more musical than his, certainly her intonation was better”

Mary Portman’s inspiration to build a home in the Bavarian Alps with a concert hall attached coincided with the similar ambitions of the Mueller-Elmau family. Unfortunately for her, whilst Schloss Elmau was completed, Mary Portman’s dream was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. She had engaged Detmar Blow as architect for her project. He was a British architect noted for designing principally in the “arts and crafts” style. His clientele came mainly from members of the aristocracy in the west country and Mary Portman may well have been familiar with some of his work. The outbreak of war made it impossible for Mary Portman to remain in Germany as an enemy alien. But it seems she was unable to leave as the builders of Schloss Kranzbach threatened to have her arrested unless the balance of the price of the nearly completed building was paid. Whilst the Portmans clearly had ample means, British laws now made it impossible to transfer money from England to Germany. The impasse was resolved by the Ambassador of the neutral United States (Mr Gerard) and its Consul-General at Munich (Mr Gaffney), as was reported by The New York Times on 5 December 1914.

The report reads:

“How the daughter of a British Peer was saved from a German prison through the efforts of Ambassador Gerard and T. St John Gaffney, Consul General at Munich, has just been revealed through the return of the Hon Mary Isabel Portman to the home of her father Viscount Portman. Miss Portman was about to be incarcerated because she was unable to pay the contractors who built a magnificent villa for her near Munich, and she only escaped because first Mr Gaffney and then Mr Gerard deposited $50,000 in cash with the Bavarian authorities, The money came from their own pockets, of course….Miss Portman had been a resident of Munich for seven years (sic). She is a very talented violinist, and her love for music was responsible for her residence in Germany’s musical centre…The Builders got out a warrant for Miss Portman’s arrest for the non-payment of their bills. She appealed to Mr Gaffney, who accompanied her to the police station where both of them remained for five hours until Mr Gaffney was able to get $50,000 in cash to deposit as bail for her…”

These events were recounted in Gaffney’s memoirs, “Breaking the Silence” (1930):

“Gerard also commissioned me to see the Honourable Miss Portman, daughter of lord Portman, for whom I had given a personal bond of some $40,000 as security for her remaining in Munich. I finally was able to obtain permission for her to go to Berlin, provided that Gerard would assume the bond. This he did, and after a short delay he obtained the consent of the German government for her return to England.” “Before her departure she had signed a paper promising to remit to Gerard certain stocks covering this amount so that he could pay off her indebtedness in Bavaria…Although several weeks had elapsed, Gerard had heard nothing from Miss Portman and he desired me to see her [in London] and obtain from her the promised shares of stock.”

Gaffney travelled to London in early 1915 and visited Mary Portman:

“She told me that the British government would not permit her father to send any money out of the country or any securities. I replied that in that event Mr Gerard would have to make good this amount, and it was a very large sum. She replied that he would get it after the war.” “But it may not be convenient for him to make such a large advance at the present time”, was my answer. “Well”, she said, “my father and I are helpless and we would be liable to be imprisoned if we sent the money or stocks out of the country.”

On his return to Berlin Gaffney was asked by Ambassador Gerard to report on his interview with Miss Portman and it seems Gerard was none too happy about what he was told:

“The Ambassador then inquired if I had brought back the securities from the Honourable Miss Portman for the $40,000 which he had guaranteed further indebtedness in Munich. When I announced to him the failure of my mission in this respect he grew still more indignant, paying his respects to the British Government, Lord Portman and Miss Portman in language both picturesque and profane. I never learned how His Excellency was finally able to secure the return of his money from his titled friends.”

Gaffney was later forced to resign as American Consul-General as a result of attacks on him in Britain and America for his openly pro-German and Irish nationalist sympathies. It seems that Mary Portman was among those who wrote to the authorities confirming the help he had given to her among other British citizens in Munich caught up by the outbreak of the war.

Back in wartime England Mary Portman and Amy Hare lived partly in London and partly in the idyllic village of Willersey near Broadway in the Cotswolds. The British Foreign Office archive includes a letter in June 1916 in which Mary tried to obtain the repatriation of a wounded British prisoner of war in Germany. During the war she is mentioned in the columns of The Times (e.g. 22 February 1916) in connection with wartime charitable causes and concerts. A concert in aid of The British Women’s Hospital “Star and Garter” Building Fund was advertised to be given in June 1916 by the Hon Mary Portman (violinist) at the Royal Automobile Club “the whole expenses being borne by Hon. Mary Portman”. She was also active in trying to ensure that musicians who performed at charity concerts during the war were remunerated for their efforts as it seems to have been assumed by many of the organisers that they would perform gratis. In 1916 Amy Hare published a patriotic song in aid of the British Red Cross titled “A Call to Arms” and shortly afterwards a number of other songs in more sentimental vein, as well as in 1921 a group of “Children’s Songs”. Among other concerts given during the war was a performance of Amy Hare’s songs at which Amy Hare was pianist, “assisted” by Mary Portman and others and at which the great virtuoso viola player Lionel Tertis also participated. After the War, during the 1920s, there are more notices of concerts at which Mary Portman performed. Amy Hare wrote a group of pieces for violin and piano dedicated to Mary Portman which were published in 1923. In 1927 Miss Hare appeared as the soloist in a performance of Tschaikowsky’s 1st piano concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Berlin so her skills as a pianist were still clearly in demand.

Some of the post war concerts also featured violinist Elsie Playfair. Ms Playfair was born in Australia in 1884, coming to Europe as a teenager. She was a precocious talent, winning the gold medal of the Paris Conservatoire for violin in [1900 ]. Before the war she gave many recitals in England, France, Switzerland and Germany, including some of the early London Promenade Concerts with Sir Henry Wood and others. She later lived at a house owned by Mary Portman in Kensington which was bequeathed to her, together with a second London house, in Mary Portman’s will.

Elsie Playfair

As a violinist, Mary Portman was privileged to play and own three of the world’s most celebrated violins. The first, a 1722 Stradivarius, was probably a gift of her mother Lady Portman and later given to her teacher Wilhelmj. In 1924 she purchased a violin made in 1735 by Guarneri del Gesu. This violin, formerly owned by virtuoso Fritz Kreisler, is now still known by the name “Mary Portman” and is one of the world’s most precious. At her death in 1931 Mary Portman also owned another 1738 Guarneri named “Ole Bull” after the Norwegian virtuoso (not to be confused with the Stradivarius “Ole Bull”). In the 1920s Mary Portman lived mostly at 8 Queen’s Gate, a large house in Kensington close to Hyde Park, and later at Oakwood Court and 12 Melbury Road, near Holland Park. She died in Montreux aged 53 on 29 January 1931. Her will published in The Times (10 April 1931) showed her to be still a very wealthy woman Her estate was valued at £97,144 (a huge sum which might be worth some £17 million today). Her “Ole Bull” Guarneri violin she left, with two “large” Bechstein pianos, her motor car and much of her estate to Amy Hare and with large bequests, including her “Mary Portman” Guarneri violin, to Elsie Playfair and her sons. Amy Hare died aged 78 in 1939 and Elsie Playfair died aged 82 in 1966.

Adele Anthony with “Mary Portman” Guarneri del Gesu violin The subsequent history of the “Mary Portman” violin is not without interest. The violin is now owned by Clement and Karen Arrison of Buffalo, USA and loaned to promising young artists for performance for limited periods. In 1949, after being inherited from Mary Portman by Elsie Playfair, the violin was bought by London collector Gerald Segelman for £1,200 (Miss Playfair also owned another Guarneri now known as “ex Playfair” which she sold at Sothebys in 1963). By the 1960s, Segelman had built up a formidable collection of highly prized violins including Stradivaris, Guarneris and Amatis which he kept in his small flat in London. In 1991 he was eventually persuaded to sell the “Mary Portman” through London dealer Peter Biddulph for £600,000. It was then sold through Chicago dealers Bein & Fuschi to a client for $2million.

Since these sales the market for these rare examples of the violin maker’s art has continued to soar. Who knows what the “Mary Portman” would be worth today?

Price of Mary Portman Guarneri

-------------------- The Diaries of Julietta the wife of James Forrester who was Agent to the Dorset Estate of Lord Portman have a number of entries concerning Mary including – August 1898 - Mary plays her “1000 guinea violin”. She had recently had her 21st birthday and one can imagine that this was the 1722 Stradivarius violin given as a present by her mother and which Mary later gave to Wilhelmj, her violin teacher. October 1900 - “Miss Mary’s engagement was all off with Capt Pelham because she thought she would not like to be always moving about wherever her husband was ordered”. May 1916 - A concert at St Peter’s Hall in Bournemouth got up by Mary Portman who “played her violin in fine style. She was looking much the same as of yore, grown more womanly and in face more like Seymour Portman. Her shy floundering off the platform was quite the typical old manner. A Miss Amy Hare performed on the piano”.

------------------- Ezra Pound contributed reviews of concerts to various publications under assumed names including one by “William Atheling” to The New Age in 1919 which includes “We have before now been constrained to compare Miss Amy Hare’s playing to the donkey-engine inside the merry-go-round ........ Miss Hare surpassed herself with the bobble-boble-bob-bolb and the superlative finale to the second movement. She has a touch like an Army boot”.

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It is understood that Mary never saw the “English Castle” (as it was known by the local people) in its completed state. It was acquired by the Dortmund Evangelical Church to provide a holiday and convalescence home for young people from the industrialised Ruhr area. Following a fire in 1933 which destroyed a large part of the building it was renovated in time to provide accommodation for athletes taking part in the 1936 Munich Olympics. At the end of World War II it was a hotel for recuperating American officers before being returned to the Church in 1947. It was sold in 2003, extensive new buildings were added and the Mary-Portman-House became part of a Spa Hotel which opened as Das Kranzbach in 2007.

--------------- The Western Gazette of 6th February 1931 records –

DEATH OF THE HON. MARY PORTMAN The death has taken place at Montreux, Switzerland, of the Hon. Mary Portman, youngest daughter of the second Viscount Portman, late of Bryanston. The deceased lady, who had resided in London for many years, had gone abroad for reasons of health. Although she had not lived in this part of the country for so long, many of the older people will have pleasing recollections of her. After the death of her mother she carried on many of that gracious lady’s social and charitable activities in the locality. She was an accomplished violinist and in this connection it will be recollected that for some years she took over the responsibility of the musical portion of the services at Bryanston Church, where a trained choir was kept. The choir boys were also educated locally. Amongst other of her undertakings, she also continued the maintenance of the services at the mission hall in Bryanston-street for some years. There are several of her sisters and brothers living in various parts of the country. They are the Countess of Levin & Melville, the Hon. Mrs Alan W Heber-Percy, the Hon. Gerald Portman and the Hon. Seymour Portman. The present Viscount is a nephew of the deceased lady. ------------- A week later (13th February) the Western Gazette recorded the interment of the casket containing Mary Portman’s ashes in the churchyard at Durweston next to the graves of her father and mother. The service was attended by a number of her relatives and a few local people. Significantly it does not seem to have been attended by her long time companion Amy Hare or any other of her musical connections.

A note on St Martin’s Church, Bryanston Mary Portman’s obituary in the Western Gazette (of 6th February 1931 see above) refers to her taking over the “responsibility of the musical portion of the services at Bryanston Church where a trained choir was kept”. Following the completion of the new Bryanston House (1894) the old Bryanston House was demolished. Lord Portman then had a new St Martin’s Church built on the site of the old house (using its stones in the construction) close by the small Georgian church which had previously been the parish church (known today as the Portman Chapel). The last Portman to be interred in the vault of the old Georgian church was Mary’s grandfather, the 1st Viscount, in 1888. Once the new church was completed in 1898 Lord Portman engaged a professional organist and choirmaster. The first person to occupy the post was Alfred Mallinson who became a noted and hugely prolific composer of songs. His wife was a professional singer (soprano) who was a particular favourite of the Princess of Wales (later Queen Alexandra) and sang at Buckingham Palace. A house in Blandford (St Martin’s at the northern end of Whitecliff Mill Street) was provided for the Mallinsons. Lord Portman immediately advertised nationally for 6 choirboys who were accommodated at St Martin’s in the care of the Mallinsons. Various notices on doors and cupboards inside the house remain today as a reminder of its former use. The boys were educated at Lord Portman’s expense at Milton Abbas Grammar School which had moved to Blandford when the old town of Milton Abbas was flooded to make the lake below the Abbey in the 18th century. After closure in the 1920s it became the site of the Palace Cinema. It is now occupied by M & Co. The school’s gymnasium still survives in the car park behind the store. Mary Portman seems to have been musically close to the Mallinsons until they left initially for Germany in 1906. They may well have had great influence on Mary’s musical ambitions.

MARY-PORTMAN-HAUS AT KRANZBACH

FROM THE WEBSITE OF DAS KRANZBACH

Das Kranzbach is certainly no fairytale invention – it is an entirely real hotel nevertheless the story of its history could start with ........ Once upon a time there was a lady from London, the Honourable Mary Isabel Portman, builder of “The Kranzbach Castle”. In 1913, at the age of 36, this wealthy English aristocrat, known as a beautiful, self-confident and independent woman, signed the purchase contract for the “Kranzbach meadow near Garmisch”. At this time Mary Portman was studying music in Leipzig, Germany, practising with her own Stradivari violin. She called numerous famous musicians her friends. Detmar Blow and Ferdinand Billery, two well known English architects who felt inspired by the English “Arts and Crafts” movement, provided the drawings for the Kranzbach manor. It is the only building of this kind in Germany. Soon called the “English Castle” by the local people, the property’s typical gables - looking like stairways - remind one of Scottish or Irish country houses built of natural stone. A private concert hall and a grass surface tennis court were Mary Portman’s special request. But all of her personal plans to construct a congenial place for herself and her culturally sophisticated friends were destroyed by the outbreak of World War I. The house was completed but Mary Portman never had an opportunity to return. It is assumed that she never even saw the finished mansion. During the following years various guests brought life to the remote estate in the Elmau valley. Young painters stayed for weeks to preserve on canvas the location’s stunning beauty. In 1929 a team from the film studios “Deutsche Universal Film” arrived. Director Wilhelm Dieterle used the Kranzbach scenery for his movie “Das Schweigen im Wakie” based on the famous novel by Ludwig Ganghofer. In 1931 the Dortmund Evangelical Church discovered the fascinating building when they were searching for a holiday and convalescent home for young people from the heavily industrialised Ruhr area. The Church leased the estate from the Portman heirs. On Christmas 1933 a fire destroyed large areas of the building. After its renovation the house once again served as a vacation home for young people. In 1936 during the Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen it was used as a dormitory. And during the first years of World War II the Kranzbach became the home of many children from the “Kinderlandverschickung” (a programme to protect mothers and children from the effects of war). Once World War II was over the Kranzbach was turned into a hotel hosting recuperating U.S. Army officers. It took until 1947 before the Dortmund Evangelical Church could restart its vacation resort activities in the Kranzbach. In late 2003 the Church sold the property to its current owners who already operated the highly renowned wellness resort in Austria, “Der Steirerhof” in Bad Waltersdorf. Das Kranzbach’s new architectural concepts and its renovation during 2006/2007 was realized by a team of architects from Innsbruck: David Edinger, Thomas Fischbach, Martin Aufschnailer and Heinz Pedrini. Ilse Crawford from London was in charge of the main building (the Mary Portman House)’s interior design. In 2007 “Das Kranzbach” re-opened its doors as a “specialised Wellness Hotel”.