Booming

Wednesday, January 20th., Hotel Russie, Rome.

On Monday we had lunch at the hotel . Tea at Frank Schuster's apartment in the Palazzo Cini. Schuster is a friend of Sassoon and particularly of Elgar. His country retreat in England is known as 'The Hut', and has acquired a certain notoriety. Afterwards he and we went to a concert in a drawing room in a palazzo in the Piazza Paganica. We got there at the stated hour, 5.30 precisely, and the concert had begun. This upset me considerably. Why give a time and then ignore it?

It was to boom Mark Raphael, a young East End Jew, with a nice voice and no distinction. The concert party consisted of Raphael, Roger Quilter, and Maude Valerie White. The last accompanied several of her own songs sung by Raphael. She is a very old woman, certainly over seventy five, particularly seen in proximity to the youthful Raphael, but plays with immense brio and decision. Her eyes flashed and she sometimes said or sang the words to herself, with her witch-like fallen-in mouth closed. Also she would look full at the singer sometimes, as if to admire or inspire him. She became extraordinarily young, fiery, and quite humorous while playing, and made a fine sight. Quilter seemed quite a sympathique person. The only good items in the programme were a Galuppi, a Salvator Rosa, and two songs by Schubert and two by Schumann.

Seeing White put me temporarily into a melancholy mood. I thought about my "Old Wives' Tale", and wondered how she felt now looking back at life. Apparently she was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Mendelssohn Scholarship and perhaps foresaw a life as a classical concert pianist. Then again she has evidently been a spirited and independent woman and I admire that. Regrettably we had no time to chat after the concert. My mood was quickly restored once we were out into the soft Roman night air, and we determined to walk back to the hotel. It was lovely.