A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Davies, Fanny

DAVIES, Fanny, a distinguished pianist, comes of a musical stock, her mother's father, John Woodhill, of Birmingham, having been well known in his day as a cello player. She was born in Guernsey. Her early instruction on the piano was given her by Miss Welchman and Charles Flavell, both of Birmingham. Harmony and counterpoint she studied there with Dr. Gaul. In 1882 she went to Leipzig for a year, and took lessons on the piano with Reinecke and Oscar Paul, and in fugue and counterpoint with Jadassohn. In September 1883 she removed to the Hoch Conservatorium at Frankfort, where she studied for two years in close intercourse with Madame Schumann, and where she acquired the accurate technique, the full tone, fine style, and power of phrasing, which encourage the hope that she may eventually become Madame Schumann's successor as a pianoforte player. At Frankfort she added to her musical knowledge by a year's study in fugue and composition under Dr. B. Scholz. Her first appearance in England was at the Crystal Palace, Oct. 17, 1885, in Beethoven's G major Concerto; on Nov. 16 she played at the Monday Popular Concerts (Chromatic Fantasia and Schumann's Quartet in E♭), and on April 15, 1886, Bennett's C minor Concerto at the Philharmonic. These were the beginnings of a series of constant engagements at all the leading concerts in town and country. In Berlin she first played with Joachim, Nov. 15, 1887, and at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, Jan. 5, 1888.

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