Memories of Guirne Creith
I first met Guirne through the "Personal" column of The Times, where, as "a young, Scottish, singing student", I sought accommodation in London, while I furthered my operatic ambitions. With the generosity, which epitomised her character, Guirne offered me full board at a peppercorn rent in the elegant, St John's Wood house she shared with her charming and most welcoming sons, Robin and Jeremy, happily of about my own age.
The many months I lived there were an artistic revelation for me, as Guirne became a musical mentor and an exceptional "extra pair of ears", as she described herself, for judging my vocal technique. More importantly, however, her innate understanding and experience of musical interpretation brought home to me that the singer's objective must be not only to produce beautiful tone, but also to reveal to an audience the intrinsic meaning contained in words and music.
Guirne herself admirably demonstrated these indispensable elements of musical performance in a memorable master class on German Lieder and other Art Song, which she presented in the Art Gallery of Aberdeen, my hometown, at the invitation of the local music club.
Eventually, I found a flat and was joined in London by my wife and daughter but Guirne remained a valued family friend and "sounding board", as I continued my academic journey through the Guildhall, Morley College Opera School and on to my professional debut as The First Armed Man in the Magic Flute at Glyndebourne.
Although our paths diverged in later years, it is a measure of the impact, both musical and personal, which Guirne made on me, that recalling the above memories is both immediate and immensely pleasurable. She was a truly remarkable person and artist.
Athole Still: February 2007
It was a lucky day indeed for me when I met Guirne whom I remember very well with fondness and great respect. Two things about her really surprise me – I had no idea that she was born as long ago as 1907. When I met her and became her pupil, about 1959, I believed she was about 39 (she was in fact 52 - Ed.) an age at which she seemed capable of remaining for a good few years if she wanted to! The other thing was her composing, which I don’t remember her ever mentioning. If the violin concerto is indeed revived I shall look forward to it with the greatest of interest.
You of course know all about her studies with Artur Schnabel, no less, in Paris before the war, with a view to becoming a concert pianist – an ambition thwarted, she told me, by an accident to her right hand which prevented her from stretching a full octave. Nevertheless I thought she was a marvellous pianist, with music bursting out of her every pore.
It was as the result of a chance meeting on a social occasion that I became her pupil. We were discussing music when I sang a couple of bars to illustrate a point. Her immediate reaction was that I had a voice worth working on, and so began 4 or 5 years of weekly lessons at the charming mews cottage at Swiss Cottage - for 15 shillings a week, if you can believe that! She was an excellent teacher, instilling the basics of proper breath control and thus support for the voice, clear diction, using the consonants to one’s advantage instead of glossing them over as a nuisance to be got out of the way as quickly as possible in the manner of some modern singers, and developing a seamless vocal line. Her demonstrations in her very individual high soprano were an inspiration. Eventually she handed me over to her own teacher at the Guildhall, Reinhold Gerhardt. I have to say that my lessons with Gerhardt were a disappointment after the ones with Guirne. He was impossibly vain and had a neurotic wife whom he had to telephone every half hour! Furthermore he was a rotten pianist, and totally uninterested in any music that wasn’t German! On the credit side he did give me an authentic insight into some of the German Lieder repertoire. Another plus was that when Guirne took me to sing to him I briefly met his famous sister Elena.
I have so many happy memories of Guirne, who was almost like a mother to me, too, in some ways. She was a great and richly-talented lady who was a formative influence in my life at an impressionable age. I am very fortunate to have known her.
Rodney Whitaker: February 2007
I am so glad that her sons have discovered this work by Guirne.
She was a truly inspirational pianist, who radiated musicality. She brought a unique originality to all the things that she touched and to the people that she met; among whom were my daughters to whom she taught the piano. This work will manifest that same creative genius and will, I am sure be a joy to listen to. Its performance after so many years will be truly memorable, since she was herself an excellent pianist.
Jeremy Cresswell 2007