Adolph Hallis

Adolph Hallis (1896-1987) is a composer.

Biography

Born 4 July 1896 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to Joseph Hallis (c.1866-1939, a general merchant from Austria) and Clara Hallis née Lilien (c.1868-1942 from Poland). Parents take him to Vienna aged seven where he studies for two years with Paula Szalit (c.1886-1920, a pupil of Leschetizky). Public debut playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K466 aged eight. Returns to South Africa taking further lessons from pianist and borough organist of Port Elizabeth Roger Ascham (1864-1934). Awarded overseas scholarship from the University Cape of Good Hope, studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London, under Oscar Beringer (1844-1922, a pupil of Moscheles and Tausig). Performs in Duke Hall RAM November 19137 and in Nottingham June 1914. Awarded Challen & Son gold medal (1914), Philip L. Agnew prize, Frederick Westlake prize and Alexander Roller prize (all for piano, 1915); also awarded Battison Haynes prize for composition. Returns to South Africa for the duration of WW1 teaching at South African College of Music under its principal Professor William Henry Bell (1873-1946).

Returns to London in 1919 studying with Tobias Matthay (1858-1945, a pupil of Sullivan, Sterndale Bennett and Prout). Gives solo and chamber recitals in London (Wigmore Hall debut 1919), Paris, and throughout Europe, accompanying the Belgian violinist Andre Polah in 1921.8 Meets the French painter Chantal Quenneville whilst in Paris, marrying her in 1921 (see her biography which immediately follows). Gives a recital of works by British composers in the Victoria Rooms, Bristol, during 1922. Broadcasts on BBC radio from 1925 playing with the Music Society String Quartet and Samuel Kutcher’s String Quartet, both of which included John Barbirolli as cellist10. Joins the staff of Matthay’s London piano school during the following year. Performs with the distinguished American concert violinist Viola Mitchell11 and the French cellist Jacques Serrès before touring Europe for a year (c.1929) partnering Josef Szigeti.

Hallis returned to South Africa from London following the outbreak of WW2, initially teaching at Hilton College in Natal. He then became a staff member of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (1942-44) and later joined the music faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, teaching part-time, and working as an examiner, up until the age of ninety. During the post war period he continued to fulfil concert engagements in South Africa, the UK and Czechoslovakia (Prague, Bratislava, Brno, Ostrava and Pardubice), the latter under the auspices of the British Council. He was the dedicatee of Erik Chisholm’s “Hindustani” piano concerto (no. 2), which he premiered at an ISCM concert conducted by Enrique Jorda at the University of Cape Town on 22 November 1949. He also gave the first British performance of Hindemith’s second piano concerto in 1956 with the Hallé Orchestra under his great and good friend Sir John Barbirolli.36 Tours with various chamber ensembles also continued, such as with the Johannesburg Piano Quartet, the Hallis Piano Trio and as a sonata Duo with Walter Mony.

Concerned about ongoing developments in South Africa, and with an uncertain future following in the wake of the Soweto uprising, Hallis and his second wife returned to the UK sometime around 1979 with a view to settling there permanently. However, London was no longer the place he remembered so nothing became of this and he continued to teach piano in Johannesburg, working with up to ten pupils daily.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Operas composed by Hallis include Jakaranda (1946), Port of Call (1943) and Love is Gold (1946).

Awards, honours

• Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (1950);
• An honour award from the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns - Erepenning vir Musiek in Stellenbosch on the occasion of his 70th birthday (1966);
• The degree of Doctor of Music Honoris Causa from the University of the Witwatersrand (1975).

Sources

Hilde Roos. 2012. 'Indigenisation and history: how opera in South Africa became South African opera'. Acta Academica Supplementum. 2012(1).

N. William Snedden. 'A Portrait of the Pianist Adolph Hallis (1896-1987)'. http://musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Aug/Hallis_article.pdf

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