Trained as a surgeon, renowned as a conductor, Boyd Neel led a life rich in innovation, achievement, and enthusiasm. He reminisces about that life in this volume, and the ebullience, wit, charm, and candour that characterized the man shine through its pages.
Initially, Neel combined careers in medicine and music, but in 1933 he established the Boyd Neel Orchestra, later to become famous for its part in the baroque revival, and for six years gave up medicine to devote himself exclusively to music. The orchestra quickly established a name for itself, over the year it toured Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, and made hundreds of records. In 1939 Neel returned for a time to medicine, but eventually music regained supremacy in his life and held it thereafter.
In England, Neel was also known as conductor of all the major English orchestras and the Sadler’s wells and D’Oyly Carte opera companies. He was conductor of the first performance at Glyndebourne in 1934. His tour of Australia with his orchestra in 1947 was the first flight in history over both the Atlantic and the Pacific by a complete orchestra with full equipment.
Neel is perhaps best remembered in Canada for establishing the Hart House Orchestra; for his appearances at the Stratford Festival; for representing Canada at the Brussels World’s Fair; for serving as Deal of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto for eighteen years; and for his role in the creation of the Edward Johnson Building, the home of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.
The breadth of Neel’s musical knowledge and experience enriches this book. He comments on the music of Mozart, Wagner, and other composers, and reminisces about such illustrious contemporaries as Benjamin Britten, Arthur Honegger, and Igor Stravinsky.
Boyd Neel worked on this memoir until his death in 1981; it was brought to publication thereafter by J. David Finch. Their work has produced a vivid portrait of a man who contributed much to twentieth century music performance.
Foreword by: Peter Pears
