Limelight — May 2017

Cahill attached

himself – almost like

aparasite–tothe

upper classes

ThePocketPaderewski

Michael Moran

Australian Scholarly Publishing,

PB,384pp,$44

ISBN 9781925333886

Forgotten Australian pianist

hitboththehighsandthelows

Meaculpa.Iconfessthatuntil

openingthisbookI’dneverheard

of the Queensland-born pianist,

EdwardCahill.Heisn’tincluded

in the Australian Dictionary of

Biography(butthisaccountofthe

author’sgreat-unclemakesastrong

caseforhisinclusion);norishein

theADBseed-bed,Gibneyand

Smith’s Biographical Register: 1788-

1939,thoughGeorgeBrooke,the

Melbourne-born tenor, with whom

Cahillgaveinnumerablerecitalsfor

15 years after their meeting in about

1914,istherewithaone-sentence

entrythatends,“accompaniedby

the pianist Edward Cahill”.

Moranquotesanimpressive

arrayofglowingreviewsfrom

newspapers in many countries

andthoughtheirstiltedprose

makes the modern reader think

manywerewrittenbyRoyal

Courtorsocialreportersgiventhe

ultracrepidarian task of concert

reviewing, they’re often serious

enough to confirm his elevated

ability. Yet they prompt two

important questions: Why has

Edward Cahill been forgotten?

Andisthisneglect“unjust”?

Itmightbesuggestedthat,for

enduring fame, the times were

against Cahill because the recording

andbroadcastingindustrieswere

stillembryonic,howeverother

musicians(singersandpianists

alike) could achieve their measure

offame.Therehadtobeother

reasons and they probably relate

tothefactthathewassodriven

toescapefromafraughtfamily

life in relentlessly anti-intellectual

Queensland that he became too

determined to live a life of

luxury and privilege in

Europe and Britain.

He attached

himself enduringly –

almost like a parasite

–totherichand

fecklessly-glittering

upperclasses.Moran

provides a superabundance

of detail about the lives of those

whom he played for but, in doing

so–tocompensatefortheshortage

of authentic documentary materials

(relatively few letters, diaries and

other essential materials for the

biographer)?–heover-lardshis

text with the history and politics of

Cahill’s era and the scandals which

swirled about many of his patrons.

Cahill played in so many of

those“greathouses”(inLondon,

the British countryside, and such

fashionableresortsastheRiviera)

thatItookcaretokeepmyLondon

A-Zandafewatlasescloseto

hand to follow his complex

musical peregrinations.

Were royalt y and

those aristocrats

wrong to love

his playing so

much?Idoubt

it, even though

his repertoire –

principally Chopin,

Schumann, Debussy and

Rachmaninov,withalittle

Mozart for variety – sounds

rather limited (and, according

to Moran, he was “indulgently”

disinclined to extend that

repertoire, preferring “to embrace

hedonism”, despite having

worked with some really eminent

teachers, including Alfred Cortot

who was “impressed with his

gemlike tone, delicacy of touch

and beautifulbel canto”).

Cahill was clearly a complex

character:asocialsnob,no

doubt,yetwithanAustralian

egalitarianism. Once, kept waiting

by a society hostess, he gave

hisrecitaltothedomesticstaff

andthenbluntlyinformedthe

aristocrat that he had performed at

theappointedtime.Hegothisfee!

When he lived in South Africa his

concerts showed a deep concern

for the musical and social welfare

of black South Africans.

Moranisaworkman-like

writer and prone to repetition:

as he catalogues the musical and

geographic gallivanting of his

subject,heis–unlikeCahill–

no stylist. John Carmody

[ BOOKS ]

[ MUSIC ]

Edward Cahill at the piano, 1928

94 LIMELIGHT MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

OPANORAMA