From Stage to Page

Unfortunately, very little information can be found about the English pianist/teacher, Annette Hullah. Apart from an English newspaper having announced her return from Vienna, in 1893, following the completion of her studies with Theodor Leschetizky and the publication of an American newspaper having referred to her as “young” in 1902, one estimates that she was born in the 1870s.

Annette Hullah was the daughter of the famed English organist, teacher and composer, Sir John Pyke Hullah (1812-84). Interestingly, Hullah’s father knew Charles Dickens, the latter having wrote a failed comic opera entitled, The Village Coquettes for which the former was to have composed the music. Years later (ca. 1930) Hullah sold the letters that were written to her father by Dickens. Hullah's mother was Frances Rosser Hullah.

In addition to being a student of Leschetizky (one of the most famous and legendary piano teachers of all time) Hullah was one of his teaching assistants and, judging by her book, Theodor Leschetizky it appears as though she had a firm grasp of the teaching principles of her master. Published in 1906 as part of the “Living Masters of Music Series” by John Lane Company, Hullah’s short book serves more as biography than memoir. A few personal stories do pepper the text and make for an enjoyable read, particularly when read alongside Leschetizky As I Knew Him written by Hullah’s classmate, Ethel Newcomb. (The first seventeen episodes of this podcast are devoted to the book.)

Following her return to England in 1893, Hullah apparently taught piano and performed, although no major tours or orchestral debuts appear to have been documented and it is not known whether or not she made any recordings. Following some health issues, particularly with regards to weak lungs, Hullah resided for some time in California at the turn of the century. Her health having been improved by the weather, she later returned to England where she secured a wealthy patron.

It is interesting to note that during Hullah’s time in California, she performed both solo and chamber music in and around San Francisco and was frequently the guest at the teas, suppers and musicales of noted individuals, including Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Magee. Magee had been a millionaire property owner and was a retired real estate broker when he died in 1902 at the age of seventy.

While there exists very little biographical information about Hullah, one thing that evidently did not go unnoticed was her looks, numerous reporters having described her physical attributes in accounts such as: “Her head reminds you of Du Maurier’s Women…” Not unlike the Polish pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (another pupil of Leschetizky) Hullah’s hair was described as having reminded one of the pre-Raphaelite faces painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Another reporter wrote that Hullah “looks like an angel when she plays, for she has a halo of bright gold hair which is really much like an aureole, and her face is decidedly spirituelle.” Hullah was also frequently described as that “fascinating little English girl,” or the “pretty little English pianist with the aureole of bright hair” and that “dainty and charming little lady.”

As for her character, Hullah has been described as being of the “scholarly, academic, logical school – an intellectual rather than emotional conception” and it has been said that her distinguishing characteristics were “an admirable conscientiousness, considerable technical attainment and unusual poise.” As a pianist, she was said to have played “exceedingly well.”

Hullah also wrote A Little History of Music.

Unfortunately, very little information can be found about the English pianist/teacher, Annette Hullah. Apart from an English newspaper having announced her return from Vienna, in 1893, following the completion of her studies with Theodor Leschetizky and the publication of an American newspaper having referred to her as “young” in 1902, one estimates that she was born in the 1870s.

Annette Hullah was the daughter of the famed English organist, teacher and composer, Sir John Pyke Hullah (1812-84). Interestingly, Hullah’s father knew Charles Dickens, the latter having wrote a failed comic opera entitled, The Village Coquettes for which the former was to have composed the music. Years later (ca. 1930) Hullah sold the letters that were written to her father by Dickens. Hullah's mother was Frances Rosser Hullah.

In addition to being a student of Leschetizky (one of the most famous and legendary piano teachers of all time) Hullah was one of his teaching assistants and, judging by her book, Theodor Leschetizky it appears as though she had a firm grasp of the teaching principles of her master. Published in 1906 as part of the “Living Masters of Music Series” by John Lane Company, Hullah’s short book serves more as biography than memoir. A few personal stories do pepper the text and make for an enjoyable read, particularly when read alongside Leschetizky As I Knew Him written by Hullah’s classmate, Ethel Newcomb. (The first seventeen episodes of this podcast are devoted to the book.)

Following her return to England in 1893, Hullah apparently taught piano and performed, although no major tours or orchestral debuts appear to have been documented and it is not known whether or not she made any recordings. Following some health issues, particularly with regards to weak lungs, Hullah resided for some time in California at the turn of the century. Her health having been improved by the weather, she later returned to England where she secured a wealthy patron.

It is interesting to note that during Hullah’s time in California, she performed both solo and chamber music in and around San Francisco and was frequently the guest at the teas, suppers and musicales of noted individuals, including Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Magee. Magee had been a millionaire property owner and was a retired real estate broker when he died in 1902 at the age of seventy.

While there exists very little biographical information about Hullah, one thing that evidently did not go unnoticed was her looks, numerous reporters having described her physical attributes in accounts such as: “Her head reminds you of Du Maurier’s Women…” Not unlike the Polish pianist, Ignacy Jan Paderewski (another pupil of Leschetizky) Hullah’s hair was described as having reminded one of the pre-Raphaelite faces painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Another reporter wrote that Hullah “looks like an angel when she plays, for she has a halo of bright gold hair which is really much like an aureole, and her face is decidedly spirituelle.” Hullah was also frequently described as that “fascinating little English girl,” or the “pretty little English pianist with the aureole of bright hair” and that “dainty and charming little lady.”

As for her character, Hullah has been described as being of the “scholarly, academic, logical school – an intellectual rather than emotional conception” and it has been said that her distinguishing characteristics were “an admirable conscientiousness, considerable technical attainment and unusual poise.” As a pianist, she was said to have played “exceedingly well.”

Hullah also wrote A Little History of Music.

Born of Jewish descent in Warsaw, Poland in 1879, Wanda Landowska would go on to achieve an impressive career as a keyboardist, specializing in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. What is perhaps most remarkable about her career is that not only was she a performer of the highest rank – and one for whom her on-stage manner was known to have great individuality, charm and intimacy – but also she was extremely well-read, particularly in the area of musicology. Landowska’s vast writings, collected in the present volume – published five years after her death by her student and domestic partner, Denise Restout – represent discussions about many aspects pertaining to musical performance and interpretation.

Regarded for her revival of the harpsichord, Landowska was a student of Jan Kleczynski and Alexander Michalowski, both of which were authorities on the music of Frédéric Chopin. Additional studies in counterpoint and composition were taken with Heinrich Urban in Berlin. Landowska also studied with Moritz Moszkowski.

Following an elopement to Paris in 1900, with Henry Lew (who later died in a car accident following the First World War) Landowska began to give harpsichord performances, her famous Pleyel harpsichord having not been completed until 1912. This period saw concert tours throughout Europe. Also at this time, her essays began to be published. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Landowska taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and, a few years later, from 1912-19, at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Following her American debut in 1923, she taught for several years in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute.

By 1925, Landowska had established the École de Musique Ancienne in Paris and, by 1927, her famous home in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, which would become a center for the performance and study of old music. She held residence there thru 1940, during which time she often attended – both as guest and performer – the famous salons of Natalie Clifford Barney. Becoming a naturalized French citizen in 1938, Landowska was the first person to record, at the harpsichord, the Goldberg Variations of J. S. Bach.

The years of the Second World War were hard on Landowska, her home in Saint-Leu having been looted. Priceless instruments and manuscripts were stolen. Having fled Europe for the USA with Denise Restout, the two arrived in New York on December 7, 1941, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbour. The two eventually settled in Lakeville, Connecticut, in a peaceful home where Landowska continued performing and teaching. Landowska gave her final public performance in 1954. That same year saw the issuing of her recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier by J. S. Bach.

Though not limited to the harpsichord (Landowska performed frequently at the piano), the instrument was, however, her primary vehicle of expression and she achieved success in conveying to contemporary composers, the reasons they ought to write for the instrument. Both Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc composed for her, works for harpsichord.

While the selections presented here represent a small sampling of the artist’s work, it is worth noting that the lives with whom Landowska came into contact during her life, included the likes of Louis Diémer, Gabriel Fauré, Serge Koussevitzky, Pierre Monteux, Arthur Nikisch, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Camille Saint-Saëns, Albert Schweitzer, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Leo Tolstoy and many others. Landowska passed away in 1959 in Lakeville, Connecticut, at the age of eighty.

Born of Jewish descent in Warsaw, Poland in 1879, Wanda Landowska would go on to achieve an impressive career as a keyboardist, specializing in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. What is perhaps most remarkable about her career is that not only was she a performer of the highest rank – and one for whom her on-stage manner was known to have great individuality, charm and intimacy – but also she was extremely well-read, particularly in the area of musicology. Landowska’s vast writings, collected in the present volume – published five years after her death by her student and domestic partner, Denise Restout – represent discussions about many aspects pertaining to musical performance and interpretation.

Regarded for her revival of the harpsichord, Landowska was a student of Jan Kleczynski and Alexander Michalowski, both of which were authorities on the music of Frédéric Chopin. Additional studies in counterpoint and composition were taken with Heinrich Urban in Berlin. Landowska also studied with Moritz Moszkowski.

Following an elopement to Paris in 1900, with Henry Lew (who later died in a car accident following the First World War) Landowska began to give harpsichord performances, her famous Pleyel harpsichord having not been completed until 1912. This period saw concert tours throughout Europe. Also at this time, her essays began to be published. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Landowska taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and, a few years later, from 1912-19, at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Following her American debut in 1923, she taught for several years in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute.

By 1925, Landowska had established the École de Musique Ancienne in Paris and, by 1927, her famous home in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, which would become a center for the performance and study of old music. She held residence there thru 1940, during which time she often attended – both as guest and performer – the famous salons of Natalie Clifford Barney. Becoming a naturalized French citizen in 1938, Landowska was the first person to record, at the harpsichord, the Goldberg Variations of J. S. Bach.

The years of the Second World War were hard on Landowska, her home in Saint-Leu having been looted. Priceless instruments and manuscripts were stolen. Having fled Europe for the USA with Denise Restout, the two arrived in New York on December 7, 1941, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbour. The two eventually settled in Lakeville, Connecticut, in a peaceful home where Landowska continued performing and teaching. Landowska gave her final public performance in 1954. That same year saw the issuing of her recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier by J. S. Bach.

Though not limited to the harpsichord (Landowska performed frequently at the piano), the instrument was, however, her primary vehicle of expression and she achieved success in conveying to contemporary composers, the reasons they ought to write for the instrument. Both Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc composed for her, works for harpsichord.

While the selections presented here represent a small sampling of the artist’s work, it is worth noting that the lives with whom Landowska came into contact during her life, included the likes of Louis Diémer, Gabriel Fauré, Serge Koussevitzky, Pierre Monteux, Arthur Nikisch, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Camille Saint-Saëns, Albert Schweitzer, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Leo Tolstoy and many others. Landowska passed away in 1959 in Lakeville, Connecticut, at the age of eighty.

Born of Jewish descent in Warsaw, Poland in 1879, Wanda Landowska would go on to achieve an impressive career as a keyboardist, specializing in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and other composers from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. What is perhaps most remarkable about her career is that not only was she a performer of the highest rank – and one for whom her on-stage manner was known to have great individuality, charm and intimacy – but also she was extremely well-read, particularly in the area of musicology. Landowska’s vast writings, collected in the present volume – published five years after her death by her student and domestic partner, Denise Restout – represent discussions about many aspects pertaining to musical performance and interpretation.

Regarded for her revival of the harpsichord, Landowska was a student of Jan Kleczynski and Alexander Michalowski, both of which were authorities on the music of Frédéric Chopin. Additional studies in counterpoint and composition were taken with Heinrich Urban in Berlin. Landowska also studied with Moritz Moszkowski.

Following an elopement to Paris in 1900, with Henry Lew (who later died in a car accident following the First World War) Landowska began to give harpsichord performances, her famous Pleyel harpsichord having not been completed until 1912. This period saw concert tours throughout Europe. Also at this time, her essays began to be published. During the first decade of the twentieth century, Landowska taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and, a few years later, from 1912-19, at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Following her American debut in 1923, she taught for several years in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute.

By 1925, Landowska had established the École de Musique Ancienne in Paris and, by 1927, her famous home in Saint-Leu-la-Forêt, which would become a center for the performance and study of old music. She held residence there thru 1940, during which time she often attended – both as guest and performer – the famous salons of Natalie Clifford Barney. Becoming a naturalized French citizen in 1938, Landowska was the first person to record, at the harpsichord, the Goldberg Variations of J. S. Bach.

The years of the Second World War were hard on Landowska, her home in Saint-Leu having been looted. Priceless instruments and manuscripts were stolen. Having fled Europe for the USA with Denise Restout, the two arrived in New York on December 7, 1941, the date of the attack on Pearl Harbour. The two eventually settled in Lakeville, Connecticut, in a peaceful home where Landowska continued performing and teaching. Landowska gave her final public performance in 1954. That same year saw the issuing of her recording of The Well-Tempered Clavier by J. S. Bach.

Though not limited to the harpsichord (Landowska performed frequently at the piano), the instrument was, however, her primary vehicle of expression and she achieved success in conveying to contemporary composers, the reasons they ought to write for the instrument. Both Manuel de Falla and Francis Poulenc composed for her, works for harpsichord.

While the selections presented here represent a small sampling of the artist’s work, it is worth noting that the lives with whom Landowska came into contact during her life, included the likes of Louis Diémer, Gabriel Fauré, Serge Koussevitzky, Pierre Monteux, Arthur Nikisch, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Camille Saint-Saëns, Albert Schweitzer, Leopold Stokowski, Igor Stravinsky, Leo Tolstoy and many others. Landowska passed away in 1959 in Lakeville, Connecticut, at the age of eighty.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1873, Maud Allan (born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant) would go on to have an important career as a dancer, having initially begun her artistic career as a pianist. In the late 1870s, the Durrant family moved to San Francisco when, by the mid-1890s, at the recommendation of her music teacher, Prof. Eugene Bonelli at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Allan went to Germany to study music in Berlin. She also travelled to Weimar, where she was a student of pianist, Ferruccio Busoni.

While in Germany – a period which saw the hanging of her beloved brother, Theo, for the murder of two young women – Allan began to shift her interest from the piano to dance, focusing primarily on the dances of Ancient Greece. The creative and original Allan took great delight in researching and designing her costumes, many of which she herself sewed. Allan, a lifelong solo dancer, did not consider her unique manner of movement to have much to do with dance, rather, her routines were known as “musically impressionistic mood settings.” The tall, athletic Allan had no formal dance training and had disliked having been compared to Isadora Duncan, another barefoot dancer.

Following her first dance performances in Vienna in 1903, Allan travelled throughout Europe, dancing before countless people of distinction. The list of individuals with whom Allan had some level of acquaintance and for which she mentions in her book, includes Sarah Bernhardt, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, François Delsarte, the Earl and Countess of Dudley, Yvette Guilbert, Joseph Joachim, King Edward VII, Princess Eugènie Murat, Marcel Remy, Franz Stuck, Eugène Ysaÿe and many others.

Having danced to the music of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rubinstein, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, Allan is best remembered for her dances of Salomé, the origins of which are described in her book and for whom Marcel Remy composed the music. The controversial dance was sought after by audiences worldwide, bringing rise to “Salomania.” Allan also played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which was still banned from public performance in England. A resulting lawsuit initiated by an ultra-right-wing Conservative MP, brought scandal to Allan’s career.

Nevertheless, Allan continued dancing and also began acting. During the Second World War, she settled in Los Angeles, working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft. Having once enjoyed considerable fortune, she died forgotten and a pauper, in 1956, at the age of eighty-three.

Most refreshing in her book, My Life and Dancing, published in 1908, is the author’s imagination, particularly in the form of fairies and “Fairyland” and she held particular affection for nature, books, museums, galleries, artistic freedom and even her beloved dollies. In her memoir, Allan also speaks of her fond memories of winters in Canada and of her views on the importance of the education of women.

According to the Maud Allan archives at the Dance Collection in Toronto: “While she did operate her own dance school briefly in London in the 1940s, she did not mentor any dancers who could continue to perform her very personal choreographic aesthetic and thus her dance works are lost.” Numerous artifacts of Maud Allan ephemerae can be found at the Dance Collection.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1873, Maud Allan (born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant) would go on to have an important career as a dancer, having initially begun her artistic career as a pianist. In the late 1870s, the Durrant family moved to San Francisco when, by the mid-1890s, at the recommendation of her music teacher, Prof. Eugene Bonelli at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Allan went to Germany to study music in Berlin. She also travelled to Weimar, where she was a student of pianist, Ferruccio Busoni.

While in Germany – a period which saw the hanging of her beloved brother, Theo, for the murder of two young women – Allan began to shift her interest from the piano to dance, focusing primarily on the dances of Ancient Greece. The creative and original Allan took great delight in researching and designing her costumes, many of which she herself sewed. Allan, a lifelong solo dancer, did not consider her unique manner of movement to have much to do with dance, rather, her routines were known as “musically impressionistic mood settings.” The tall, athletic Allan had no formal dance training and had disliked having been compared to Isadora Duncan, another barefoot dancer.

Following her first dance performances in Vienna in 1903, Allan travelled throughout Europe, dancing before countless people of distinction. The list of individuals with whom Allan had some level of acquaintance and for which she mentions in her book, includes Sarah Bernhardt, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, François Delsarte, the Earl and Countess of Dudley, Yvette Guilbert, Joseph Joachim, King Edward VII, Princess Eugènie Murat, Marcel Remy, Franz Stuck, Eugène Ysaÿe and many others.

Having danced to the music of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rubinstein, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, Allan is best remembered for her dances of Salomé, the origins of which are described in her book and for whom Marcel Remy composed the music. The controversial dance was sought after by audiences worldwide, bringing rise to “Salomania.” Allan also played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which was still banned from public performance in England. A resulting lawsuit initiated by an ultra-right-wing Conservative MP, brought scandal to Allan’s career.

Nevertheless, Allan continued dancing and also began acting. During the Second World War, she settled in Los Angeles, working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft. Having once enjoyed considerable fortune, she died forgotten and a pauper, in 1956, at the age of eighty-three.

Most refreshing in her book, My Life and Dancing, published in 1908, is the author’s imagination, particularly in the form of fairies and “Fairyland” and she held particular affection for nature, books, museums, galleries, artistic freedom and even her beloved dollies. In her memoir, Allan also speaks of her fond memories of winters in Canada and of her views on the importance of the education of women.

According to the Maud Allan archives at the Dance Collection in Toronto: “While she did operate her own dance school briefly in London in the 1940s, she did not mentor any dancers who could continue to perform her very personal choreographic aesthetic and thus her dance works are lost.” Numerous artifacts of Maud Allan ephemerae can be found at the Dance Collection.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1873, Maud Allan (born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant) would go on to have an important career as a dancer, having initially begun her artistic career as a pianist. In the late 1870s, the Durrant family moved to San Francisco when, by the mid-1890s, at the recommendation of her music teacher, Prof. Eugene Bonelli at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Allan went to Germany to study music in Berlin. She also travelled to Weimar, where she was a student of pianist, Ferruccio Busoni.

While in Germany – a period which saw the hanging of her beloved brother, Theo, for the murder of two young women – Allan began to shift her interest from the piano to dance, focusing primarily on the dances of Ancient Greece. The creative and original Allan took great delight in researching and designing her costumes, many of which she herself sewed. Allan, a lifelong solo dancer, did not consider her unique manner of movement to have much to do with dance, rather, her routines were known as “musically impressionistic mood settings.” The tall, athletic Allan had no formal dance training and had disliked having been compared to Isadora Duncan, another barefoot dancer.

Following her first dance performances in Vienna in 1903, Allan travelled throughout Europe, dancing before countless people of distinction. The list of individuals with whom Allan had some level of acquaintance and for which she mentions in her book, includes Sarah Bernhardt, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, François Delsarte, the Earl and Countess of Dudley, Yvette Guilbert, Joseph Joachim, King Edward VII, Princess Eugènie Murat, Marcel Remy, Franz Stuck, Eugène Ysaÿe and many others.

Having danced to the music of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rubinstein, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, Allan is best remembered for her dances of Salomé, the origins of which are described in her book and for whom Marcel Remy composed the music. The controversial dance was sought after by audiences worldwide, bringing rise to “Salomania.” Allan also played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which was still banned from public performance in England. A resulting lawsuit initiated by an ultra-right-wing Conservative MP, brought scandal to Allan’s career.

Nevertheless, Allan continued dancing and also began acting. During the Second World War, she settled in Los Angeles, working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft. Having once enjoyed considerable fortune, she died forgotten and a pauper, in 1956, at the age of eighty-three.

Most refreshing in her book, My Life and Dancing, published in 1908, is the author’s imagination, particularly in the form of fairies and “Fairyland” and she held particular affection for nature, books, museums, galleries, artistic freedom and even her beloved dollies. In her memoir, Allan also speaks of her fond memories of winters in Canada and of her views on the importance of the education of women.

According to the Maud Allan archives at the Dance Collection in Toronto: “While she did operate her own dance school briefly in London in the 1940s, she did not mentor any dancers who could continue to perform her very personal choreographic aesthetic and thus her dance works are lost.” Numerous artifacts of Maud Allan ephemerae can be found at the Dance Collection.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1873, Maud Allan (born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant) would go on to have an important career as a dancer, having initially begun her artistic career as a pianist. In the late 1870s, the Durrant family moved to San Francisco when, by the mid-1890s, at the recommendation of her music teacher, Prof. Eugene Bonelli at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Allan went to Germany to study music in Berlin. She also travelled to Weimar, where she was a student of pianist, Ferruccio Busoni.

While in Germany – a period which saw the hanging of her beloved brother, Theo, for the murder of two young women – Allan began to shift her interest from the piano to dance, focusing primarily on the dances of Ancient Greece. The creative and original Allan took great delight in researching and designing her costumes, many of which she herself sewed. Allan, a lifelong solo dancer, did not consider her unique manner of movement to have much to do with dance, rather, her routines were known as “musically impressionistic mood settings.” The tall, athletic Allan had no formal dance training and had disliked having been compared to Isadora Duncan, another barefoot dancer.

Following her first dance performances in Vienna in 1903, Allan travelled throughout Europe, dancing before countless people of distinction. The list of individuals with whom Allan had some level of acquaintance and for which she mentions in her book, includes Sarah Bernhardt, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, François Delsarte, the Earl and Countess of Dudley, Yvette Guilbert, Joseph Joachim, King Edward VII, Princess Eugènie Murat, Marcel Remy, Franz Stuck, Eugène Ysaÿe and many others.

Having danced to the music of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rubinstein, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, Allan is best remembered for her dances of Salomé, the origins of which are described in her book and for whom Marcel Remy composed the music. The controversial dance was sought after by audiences worldwide, bringing rise to “Salomania.” Allan also played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which was still banned from public performance in England. A resulting lawsuit initiated by an ultra-right-wing Conservative MP, brought scandal to Allan’s career.

Nevertheless, Allan continued dancing and also began acting. During the Second World War, she settled in Los Angeles, working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft. Having once enjoyed considerable fortune, she died forgotten and a pauper, in 1956, at the age of eighty-three.

Most refreshing in her book, My Life and Dancing, published in 1908, is the author’s imagination, particularly in the form of fairies and “Fairyland” and she held particular affection for nature, books, museums, galleries, artistic freedom and even her beloved dollies. In her memoir, Allan also speaks of her fond memories of winters in Canada and of her views on the importance of the education of women.

According to the Maud Allan archives at the Dance Collection in Toronto: “While she did operate her own dance school briefly in London in the 1940s, she did not mentor any dancers who could continue to perform her very personal choreographic aesthetic and thus her dance works are lost.” Numerous artifacts of Maud Allan ephemerae can be found at the Dance Collection.

Born in Toronto, Canada in 1873, Maud Allan (born Ulah Maud Allan Durrant) would go on to have an important career as a dancer, having initially begun her artistic career as a pianist. In the late 1870s, the Durrant family moved to San Francisco when, by the mid-1890s, at the recommendation of her music teacher, Prof. Eugene Bonelli at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Allan went to Germany to study music in Berlin. She also travelled to Weimar, where she was a student of pianist, Ferruccio Busoni.

While in Germany – a period which saw the hanging of her beloved brother, Theo, for the murder of two young women – Allan began to shift her interest from the piano to dance, focusing primarily on the dances of Ancient Greece. The creative and original Allan took great delight in researching and designing her costumes, many of which she herself sewed. Allan, a lifelong solo dancer, did not consider her unique manner of movement to have much to do with dance, rather, her routines were known as “musically impressionistic mood settings.” The tall, athletic Allan had no formal dance training and had disliked having been compared to Isadora Duncan, another barefoot dancer.

Following her first dance performances in Vienna in 1903, Allan travelled throughout Europe, dancing before countless people of distinction. The list of individuals with whom Allan had some level of acquaintance and for which she mentions in her book, includes Sarah Bernhardt, Johannes Brahms, Ferruccio Busoni, François Delsarte, the Earl and Countess of Dudley, Yvette Guilbert, Joseph Joachim, King Edward VII, Princess Eugènie Murat, Marcel Remy, Franz Stuck, Eugène Ysaÿe and many others.

Having danced to the music of composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Rubinstein, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others, Allan is best remembered for her dances of Salomé, the origins of which are described in her book and for whom Marcel Remy composed the music. The controversial dance was sought after by audiences worldwide, bringing rise to “Salomania.” Allan also played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome, which was still banned from public performance in England. A resulting lawsuit initiated by an ultra-right-wing Conservative MP, brought scandal to Allan’s career.

Nevertheless, Allan continued dancing and also began acting. During the Second World War, she settled in Los Angeles, working as a draughtswoman at Macdonald Aircraft. Having once enjoyed considerable fortune, she died forgotten and a pauper, in 1956, at the age of eighty-three.

Most refreshing in her book, My Life and Dancing, published in 1908, is the author’s imagination, particularly in the form of fairies and “Fairyland” and she held particular affection for nature, books, museums, galleries, artistic freedom and even her beloved dollies. In her memoir, Allan also speaks of her fond memories of winters in Canada and of her views on the importance of the education of women.

According to the Maud Allan archives at the Dance Collection in Toronto: “While she did operate her own dance school briefly in London in the 1940s, she did not mentor any dancers who could continue to perform her very personal choreographic aesthetic and thus her dance works are lost.” Numerous artifacts of Maud Allan ephemerae can be found at the Dance Collection.