Brigitte Schiffer

 

I used to steer clear of critics but in the earliest days I wrote a cheeky letter to Neville Cardus offering to pay for him to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen. He had written a fatuous piece saying he would admire Stockhausen if he could compose tunes like Lehar. I published the letter with my offer and of course there was no way Cardus  was going to take me up on that. He came out of the exchange with a brutta figura. It was just as well he didn't call my bluff because bluff it was.

I liked critics who had published books on music. John Warrack had written a wonderful book on Weber for example so he was OK. David Cairns had written a magisterial biography of Berlioz but I fell out with him, I can't remember why. Possibly something to do with Stockhausen again? Ronald Crichton was a very civilised critic. He would write 'can this have been a boring performance?' instead of 'This was a boring performance.' I appreciated that. Andrew Porter was someone I admired and usually agreed with Adrian Jack who was a good friend. Others whose reviews I liked were William Mann, Max Loppert and David Nice. Those who could be nasty included Tom Sutcliff (the one from 'Music and Musicians' not the broadcaster), Felix Aprahamian, Desmond Shaw Taylor (aka Desmond Sure Failure), Anne Widdicombe etc.

Now many critics know only a fraction of what these guys knew. At least they were worth reading, nasty or nice.

And then there was Brigitte Schiffer.

Brigitte was one of the last Jewish graduates from a Berlin University (1938) and probably the very last female to graduate. Her father had formed the opinion that after the first world war and now with a second loomomg, Europe was finished. He therefore took his family to Cairo.

It is not clear how or exactly when but Brigitte became at some point a director or maybe the director of the Cairo Museum.

Brigitte had a lifelong friend with whom she had been at Kindergarten. His name was Burchard. We never knew his first name, or indeed if Burchard was his first name and it was his surname that we didn't know.

That was not the only mystery that was attached to this charming, bookish, distinguished-looking man. It was rumoured that he was an Israeli spy and other rumours held it that objects from the Cairo museum found their way to Israel. That may be totally false because Brigitte was completely honorable as we shall see.

When Nasser threw her and the other members of the ancient Jewish community out, Brigitte moved to London and I believe Burchard to Switzerland. I supposed he was something mysterious in Finance.

Brigitte decided to become a Music Critic and that she did, specialising in contemporary music. Now for the honorable bit; Brigitte was the only critic to my knowledge to request the scores of the works to be performed at the contemporary music concerts she reviewed. Although speaking with a pronounced German accent she wrote well in English and was always worth reading.

She was an unmistakable figure at concerts. She was striking looking with a noble Roman nose and short white hair. She was an inveterate smoker and was the only person I ever even heard of to carry a collapsible ashtray and smoke two cigarettes at the same time. She has a lively face and bright eyes. She was very good company and although intellectually rigorous as all the best German intellectuals are she was sweet and kindly.

Burchard would stay with her on his visits to London. It is said that one day, Brigitte said 'Burchard, you know one day we should get married.' To which he replied 'Yes, but who would have us?' I believe no more was said on the subject.

I remember Brigitte fondly and in admiration for her integrity in preparing so seriously before reviewing works receiving their premieres or those unknown to her.

She was very human. When our second or maybe third child was born she said 'You know you should make tape recordings of them. Everyone takes photos but recordings of their voices are just as important,' She was of course right but we failed to do it.

A Brigitte Schiffer story

Aloys Kontarsky told me the following story.

As a young music student attending the Darmstadt Summer Courses, Kontarsky was intrigued to see on the programme of events that Brigitte Schiffer would be speaking on the subject of 'Contemporary Egyptian Music.'

Aloys couldn't imagine what contemporary Egyptian music might sound like, so when one day he was walking down a street and heard some extraordinary wailing sounds coming from a building he thought this must be the contemporary Egyptian music.

He looked in the doorway and saw two people sitting at a table. One was Brigitte Schiffer. Beside her was an elderly gentleman with white hair. The wailing sounds were coming from loudspeakers. Aloys thought the elderly man with the white hair must the technician.

Not long after, Kontarsky found out that the person sitting beside Brigitte was Edgard Varese and they were listening of course to an electronic work of his, most probably 'Poeme electronique.'