Philip Newman was born in Manchester on the 12 May 1904 the son of
Harris Newman, cantor of Manchester's Great Synagogue. Cantor Newman, from
Lodz in Poland, was considered one of the finest cantors of his day, gifted
as both singer and musician.
Philip, his sister Pearl and brother Montague were exposed to good music as
far back as they could remember. Pearl was a student of singing at the
Brussels Conservatoire and later became a cabaret singer, but gave up her career
to nurse their sick mother. Montague was also an accomplished violinist who even
after a tragic automobile accident in America continued giving concerts from a
wheelchair. The Newman family was indeed a talented one?
Young Philip Newman was on the road to success when he entered the
Manchester College of Music to study with the Great Russian violin pedagogue
Adolf Brodsky. Brodsky had been a pupil of Joseph Hellmesberger Snr from 1860-1863
in Vienna and had rocketed to fame after he agreed to give the first performance in
Vienna on 4th December 1881 of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in place of
the dedicatee Leopold Auer.
In 1924 Brodsky advised Newman to attend the Brussels Conservatoire to study
with Albert Zimmel, Ysa˙e's first assistant. After just one year, he won the "Premier
Prix de Violon" with maximum marks and distinction, playing the very difficult
Violin Concerto in F sharp minor Op. 23 by H. W. Ernst. During his time in Brussels
he also studied with the violinists Henri van Hecke and Cesar Thomson.
At this time he became the friend of Antoine the son of Eugene Ysa˙e,
who asked Newman to perform Ysa˙e's 4th Solo Sonata for his father
but Newman refused saying that he did not think himself ready to play for the
man who from an early age he had considered to be the supreme violinist.
Six years later Antoine was to become Newman's manager.
When Newman won first prize with distinction at the Brussels Conservatoire
in 1925 there was not much publicity and no recording contract. Whereas in our
day when a violinist wins a first prize at an international competition his
career usually takes off. The prize usually includes a number of concert engagements
with leading orchestras and probably a recording contract. Today Newman might
have been launched on an international concert career without knowing what
was happening to him.
For reasons that may never be explained Newman did not opt for the life of
the international concert violinist, instead he chose to engage himself in further
study in Berlin. Did he perhaps think that he was not yet ready or did he
think he was not good enough? His idol was Ysa˙e and it is naïve, to say the
least, to think that if one is not as good as Ysa˙e then one is not up to
standard. If all young up and coming violinists took this attitude there would
inevitably be a scarcity of new violinists.
Newman spent the years 1928 to 1932 in Berlin studying with Willy Hess who was
by then Germany's foremost violinist, and had been a pupil of the great
Joseph Joachim. Here he learned a style different to that of the Belgian school
of which he was by now a fine exponent. In Berlin he was exposed to the height
of musical culture, and Newman planned that after studying with Hess he would
move on to study in other conservatoires with Henri Marteau and then finally to
Ottokar Sevcik, but these plans were not be fulfilled.
In 1931 Newman went to Ysa˙e's house. Ysa˙e was dying. Climbing the
stairs he took out his violin and performed the master's 4th Solo Violin Sonata
dedicated to Fritz Kreisler, the very work he was so reluctant to play previously.
The last notes that Ysa˙e heard were those played by Philip Newman. The last
words that Ysa˙e spoke, were to Philip Newman, "Splendid ... but the finale...
a little too fast..." At Ysa˙e's funeral Newman took the strings which he has
previously taken from his violin and tied them around a wreath which he placed
on Ysa˙e's grave.
Newman's first major recital took place in his hometown of Manchester in the mid
1920's. For this recital his father had hired the Free Trade Hall. However his
first big concert was in Ostend where he performed the Beethoven Violin
Concerto. For some unaccountable reason his official British debut with orchestra
did not take place until 1935, again in the Manchester Free Trade Hall.
In 1937 Philip Newman began his long service as a judge of the Concours Musical
International Reine Elizabeth which had replaced the Ysa˙e Violin
Competition. In this year, David Oistrakh won the first prize with 1620
points and Ricardo Odnoposoff came second with 1564 points. What a final
concert that must have been: each artist playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto.
For many years Newman was also a member of the panel of judges at the
Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in Moscow where he represented the British
Council. Fellow judges included Joseph Szigeti, Yehudi Menuhin, Zino
Francescatti, Henryk Szeryng, Leonid Kogan, Ricardo Odnoposoff, David
Oistrakh, Andre Gertier, lssac Stern, Aaron Rosand, Maurice Raskin, Michael
Rabin and Lola Bobesco and non-violinists Albert Schweitzer, Alfred Cortot
and Pierre Fournier.
Also in 1937 Philip Newman commenced his long association with Queen
Elizabeth of the Belgians. He became her personal professor of the violin,
The Queen had for many years devoted much of her time to the violin and had
performed privately with many distinguished musicians, she herself was a
great patron of the arts and an accomplished violinist. In 1964, the Queen was
involved with such outstanding musicians as Casals, Stravinsky, Schweitzer
and Newman in the founding of the Symphonicum Europaea.
The Queen who attended most of Newman's concerts, presented him with a
very beautiful gold mounted bow by Francois Tourte, one of the world's finest
bow makers. The long association with the Queen ended with her death on
23 November 1965 at the age of ninety. Newman felt deeply the loss of
this close musical friend and patron of nearly thirty years during which
they had shared many musical events.
In 1942 during the second world war, he took refuge in Portugal and finally
arrived in Lisbon where he became Professor of the violin at the National
Academy of Music. During his long stay in that city he organised and promoted
concerts for charity including many for the International Red Cross.
In that same year he acquired a fine Guarnerius del Gesu dated 1741
which had been purchased for his use by his cousin Isaac Wolfson. Many years
before that Ysa˙e had contemplated buying the same violin. The violin was the
favourite instrument of the virtuoso Henri Vieuxtemps. Indeed at Vieuxtemps'
funeral it was carried behind his coffin on a velvet cushion and is now known as
the ex-Vieuxtemps. It is considered one of the finest violins in existence by both
experts and players alike.
During the remainder of the war years, Newman devoted even more time to giving
concerts for refugees, that was later extended to concerts for under-privileged
people in Africa.
In 1950 he left Portugal to tour England, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Germany.
During this tour Newman received the highest praise possible from both
critics and fellow musicians who considered him to be the equal of the great
masters who had gone before him. On 22 and 23 November he appeared again
in his native town's Free Trade Hall playing the Beethoven Concerto Violin
Concerto with the Halle Orchestra conducted by John Barbirolli.
1954 Newman agreed to undertake 28 concerts in the Belgian Congo and Angola.
Just before finalising the details, he received news that his father had died.
He was devastated, but despite this he continued the tour as planned. He met
Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene, and towards the end of the tour visited
Johannesburg where it is known that he recorded works by Paganini and the
Beethoven Violin Concerto for the South African Broadcasting Company.
Research has since revealed that these recordings are probably lost! On his
return to Europe, he joined his old friend Casals to play at the opening of the
Prades Festival.
The Festival of Pollensa, which Newman founded in 1962, became the major
activity of his remaining years. A galaxy of artists appeared with him
during the September Festival events. One year's programme had Ruggerio Ricci,
Pierre Fournier and Friedrich Guida. Newman's last concert took place on
4th September 1966 at the Festival and the last piece of music he ever
played was at the request of a journalist the same evening. It was the
Recitative and Scherzo Caprice by Kreisler.
A tour of the Soviet Union was planned but Newman died of a heart attack
in his hotel room in Majorca on 23 November 1966, one year to the day after
his beloved friend Queen Elizabeth. Ironically, he was that very evening to
have taken part in a television broadcast to mark the anniversary of her death.
Throughout in career Newman received many honours and awards. In Belgium, he
was an Officer of the Order of the Crown. Portugal awarded him its highest
honour, Knight Commander of St. James of the Sword, and for his work during the
war years the Order of St. John together with the Order of Christ. He was also
awarded the Ysa˙e and the Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians medals and later
decorated with the Order of Merit and the Order of Leopold. Yet another
distinction was a commissioned oil painting which now hangs in the National
Gallery, Lisbon.
Newman was a great violinist, with an extraordinary gift for his instrument.
Throughout his life he was admired by violinists who had decided to follow
more public careers. When he died many of his friends and colleagues, who
included some of the greatest in the musical world, attended his funeral,to
pay tribute to his artistic ability.
He had appeared on concert platforms with the greatest violinists and conductors
of his generation. To establish his position we must look at his training and
background. For an English violinist he is very much of the Belgian school with
its foundations in Henri Vieuxtemps and Eugene Ysa˙e, indeed Newman was
said to be the incarnation of Ysa˙e by musicians who remembered him (Ysa˙e)
in his heyday. On listening to recordings of Ysa˙e it is possible to detect his
influence in Newman's style and manner of performance. Newman's style and
manner of playing single him out as possibly the last of the great romantic players
in the image of Ysa˙e. Thus, his few recording are important both historically and
musically,
Many players have reached the top of the tree and then decided to
adopt a different lifestyle and devote their 1ives to teaching and
allied activities. Some violinists consider that it is their vocation to pass on
their skills to future generations, others move into different areas of music,
conducting is a frequent choice we tend to think that if a violinist is
not in the forefront of the violin world the reason may be that he or she may
not have maintained the required standard. Such is not always the case,
Oscar Shumsky was one artist who was absent from the international
scene for many years and another was Henryk Szeryng, both of whom
taught and were involved in other aspects of music. Both violinists returned
the concert platform later in life without any detriment, to continue their
dazzling careers.
Newman decided to accept teaching posts and follow a concert career at the
same time. This was of course in may ways constricting as the commitment to
pupils plays a big part in deciding whether to accept concert tours, in
direct contrast to the travelling virtuoso who gives master classes when
he is in the right place at the right time. Ten years of his life were taken up
studying, many years were spent teaching in Lisbon and further time was spent
with Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, to whom he also taught the violin, her original
teacher having been Great Eugene Ysa˙e himself. Newman also spent considerable
time at the palace organising musical festivals and competitions in collaboration
with the Queen. At the same time he was also very active as a member of the
panel of judges of three of the world's most important international violin
competitions. Towards the end of his life he founded the festival at Poliensa,
which again took up so much of his time.
Of the concerts tours he undertook, most were in Europe and the critics invariably
raved over his performances. As far as is known he made two appearances
in England, in 1950 in Manchester and on another occasion a concert was
scheduled in the Albert Hall, this concert alas was cancelled.
So it is then that Philip Newman was not widely known outside his adopted Belgium,
his home for so much of his life. Continental audiences were raving about
an English violinist of exceptional talent, but his fame failed to travel to
his native country.
The overall impression of Newman's playing is witnessed by contemporary
reports of his concerts, which are always ecstatic about both the player and
his playing. Newman was known to transgress from the music at times and
give way to pure artistic enthusiasm, which in turn becomes sometimes his
own individual interpretation. While this is acceptable to the performer, this is
not always acceptable to the listener or the critic.
A bust of Newman by his friend Dr. Alfonso Jaume, made in 1966 shortly after
his death, now stands at the entrance to the Festival cloisters in Majorca.
There is also a plaster cast of his hand together with a death mask on
exhibition at the Festival entrance and a street near by has been named
after him. The sign reads PHILIP NEWMAN ADOPTED SON.
Some years ago, his sister Pearl, established a prize to be named the
"Philip Newman Award" at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
where eventually a permanent exhibition of memorabilia of her brother Philip
will be housed.
CHENISTON K ROLAND(Violin Historian)(C)1997
EPILOGUE
Having read the forgoing article about the life of the violinist Philip Newman
you may not have noticed the following strange coincidences.
23 November 1950 - Newman returns to England after many years absence to play in
Manchester's Free Trade Hall
25 November 1965 - Newman's long association with Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians
ends with her death at the age of Ninety
23 November 1966 - Newman to appear in tribute to Queen Elizabeth
23 November 1966 - Newman dies in his hotel room
PHILIP NEWMAN ARCHIVES IN THE ROLAND COLLECTION
Photographs, Letters, Programmes etc - are in the Roland Collection, all of which will
eventually be passed to the Royal Northern College of Music. The College holds a
considerable amount of memorabilia of this wonderful violinist. Most of this material
was given to the College by his sister Pearl Newman, shortly after Philip Newman's death.
Cheniston K Roland O.L. (Violin Historian) (C) 1997
Contents Page 
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This page last updated 12 October 2000