Lot 1886
ARTHUR TREVOR HADDON (1864-1941)
PORTRAIT OF HERMAN FINCK
Pastels
48 x 35.5cm.
Exhibited: London, Royal Institute Galleries, The Pastel Society (label verso, no date)
*Herman Finck (1872-1939) was a British composer and conductor. He was born in London to parents of Dutch ancestry and studied at the Guildhall School of Music before becoming musical director at the Palace Theatre in London. In addition, he worked with great acclaim at the Queen's Theatre and in Southport, Lancashire. Finck established a fine reputation as a conductor but he also composed theatre shows and incidental music and produced revues, mostly in a light-operatic vein. He wrote `mood music` for silent cinema and, in 1909, conducted the music for Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite which became the first ever record album. One of Finck's tunes,`Tonight` (1911), was renamed `In the Shadows` and became a hugely popular instrumental piece, even (it is said) featuring amongst the last tunes played by the dance band on the Titanic.These lots capture something of the great fondness in which he was held by fellow artists and designers and have come to auction by direct descent in Finck's family.
