OVER THE BANISTERS ON SUNDAY NIGHTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 57, 26 July 1940, Page 15

OVER THE BANISTERS ON SUNDAY NIGHTS

Nanette Andersen Tyrer, Violinist, Remembers

SYCHOLOGISTS have claimed that the first five years of anybody’s life are the most important. This may be open to argument, but no one will deny that these early years play a tremendous part in moulding future careers. Musically, the fact holds true: the majority of great composers and performers became acquainted with their art at an early age, and it is on record that Mozart’s genius found expression before he was 6 years old, while at that age, he and his sister began a tour of the courts of Europe. Nanette Andersen Tyrer is a violinist in whose praise many critics, in England and abroad, have sung. She has been accompanying her husband, Andersen Tyrer, through New Zealand during the Centennial Music Festival, which he directed, and she is now giving a series of violin recitals over national stations, accompanied by Mr. Tyrer. Music in the Family Which brings us back to the first paragraph. The other day, in an interview with The Listener, Mrs. Tyrer told of a |

her first beginnings in music. She is Welsh, and comes from a fairly large family -six children- and from their childhood music had been a natural part of their lives. Her earliest musical memories are of making music at home, among the family, And she remembers, especially, the thrill of Sunday evenings, when the grown-up members and friends would gather for chamber music concerts. The children loved these evenings, and defying authority and paternal admonition, six heads would hang over the banisters, listening excitedly to the chatter and music from below. There was always a delicious sensation of rebelling against the rules to make such occasions memorable, but had the six miscreants been caught there would probably have been little said, for

music in Mrs. Tyrer’s home was regarded as at least as important a part in their education as the three R’s. The Critics Were Enthusiastic Her father being a fine violinist, Mrs Tyrer received her first lessons from him, and was under his guidance up till the time when she went to Hamburg in Germany, there to work under Goby Eberhardt. Later, returning to London, she was a pupil of Emil Sauret. Then came the time for public recitals, and critics were not slow to acclaim a young violinist of remarkable powers. London papers spoke of her "faultless technique," "brilliant tone, fluent execution, and a fine verve," "brilliance and fire." Mrs. Tyrer has, in fact, played in most of the big halls in England, and in many corners of the globe during her tours with her husband. Mrs. Tyrer lost one brother, who died shortly before the end of the Great War, and was buried at 11 a.m. on Armistice Day; the other members of the family still enjoy music to the full; and one of her brothers, with whom Mr. Tyrer and she play when they can get together, is an excellent pianist and "is almost more keen than we are," she thinks,

Recitals for the NBS For the past fourteen years, the Tyrers have been almost continually travelling through some part of the world. "I have so much interest in my husband’s work," says Mrs. Tyrer, "that sometimes my own playing suffers in consequence." But she has found time to give many concerts in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. During the recently-ended Music Festival, Mrs. Tyrer did not miss one rehearsal. "It was fascinating watching the growth of the orchestra," she said, "seeing the gradual progress made each uf Mrs. Tyrer has already been heard over 1YA, 3YA and 4YA; and on July 28 and 29, from 2YA she will broadcast recitals of works by GranomMoffat, Mendelssohn, Castrucci, Schubert and Pugnani.