EVELYN BARBIROLLILady Evelyn Barbirolli, who died on 25 January, 2008, the day after her 97th birthday, was best known as a masterful oboist under her professional and maiden name, Evelyn Rothwell, and as the wife of distinguished conductor Sir John Barbirolli.During the 1930s she performed with the leading orchestras in Britain before dedicating herself to her husband’s work. She was later made a professor at London’s Royal Academy of Music and wrote several books on oboe technique.Evelyn Rothwell was born on 24 January, 1911, in Wallingford-on-Thame s, Berkshire. "I didn’t take up the oboe, it took me up," was the way she described her beginnings in music, referring to how she only started playing the instrument at 17 after the school orchestra’s two oboists left.Demonstrating a promise if not an outright gift for the tricky woodwind, she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Her father, a successful tea dealer disapproved, but she overcame this opposition thanks to her mother who may have inherited her artistic sympathies from the Victorian novelist Charles Reade.Her fellow students included the composer Benjamin Britten who tested some of his early compositions with her playing. She also played the piano, cello and kettle drums, but her primary focus was on the oboe, studying under the great oboist Léon Goossens. Despite early difficulties she persevered, encouraged by the shortage of oboe-players at the time.In 1931 chance saw her stand in at first oboe for her former tutor with the Drury Lane Theatre Orchestra. This in turn led to the orchestra’s violinist Peter Barbirolli introducing her to two life-changing parties: the Covent Garden Touring Orchestra, with whom she played six weeks at the Royal Opera House followed by a national tour; and his brother, the orchestra’s conductor John Barbirolli, her future husband.She was uncertain about Barbirolli at first, describing him as nice but with an erratic temper. Barbirolli on the other hand was extremely impressed with Ms Rothwell, particularly her diligence and dedication to learning tough parts. Two years later, when appointed conductor of the Scottish Orchestra, he made Evelyn first Oboe and arranged pieces by the likes of Handel and Vaughan Williams around her.Ms Rothwell was seen as a pioneer for women playing classical music and went on to play with both the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra until 1939 when, following his divorce from his first wife, she married Barbirolli.This effectively ended her orchestral career as she went to live in America where John had been appointed to lead the New York Philharmonic. Fearing accusations of nepotism she played only occasionally in her husband’s new orchestra.The couple returned to England when Barbirolli was given control of the renowned Halle Orchestra of Manchester in 1942 and Evelyn, still performing as Evelyn Rothwell, began to play more frequently. She started specialising as a soloist and in 1948 performed a newly-discovered Mozart concerto in Salzburg with the Hallé.During the early time in Manchester she also worked hard as her husband’s assistant, taking on administrative duties as they struggled to keep the orchestra going amid contract difficulties and the pressures of war-time and post-war Britain. Later she would care for him during ill health, allowing him to continue conducting the Hallé until the end of his life.John Barbirolli was knighted in 1949, entitling Evelyn to use the name Lady Barbirolli, but she continued to be known professionally as Rothwell until his death in 1970. Soon after becoming a widow she began teaching at the Royal Academy of Music where she was known to students as ‘Lady B’, eventually retiring in 1987.She penned four instructional books on playing the oboe as well as a memoir of her husband called Living with Glorious John, a title taken from the nickname given to him by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The couple never had children because they feared their constant touring would provide an unsettled upbringing. She was given an OBE in 1984.Evelyn Barbirolli continued to be associated with classical music throughout her life, attending festivals and judging competitions. She was also a passionate gardener and her garden in Hampstead was featured in magazines and occasionally opened to the public.
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