An Homage to Dame Myra Hess
Myra Hess photographed by Carl Van Vechten A continuation of our tales from Vienna... One of the works performed and recorded by Nina Kennedy at the Bösendorfer Salon was the arrangement for solo piano of the Chorale from Cantata number 147 called "Jesu bleibt meine Freude," (loosely translated "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") by Johann Sebastian Bach. That published arrangement was made by Dame Myra Hess, a world-renowned concert pianist and hero to the people of London because of the free afternoon concerts she organized and in which she performed at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square during the Second World War. Since there was an official black-out declared at the onset of the bombings by the Nazis, this meant that there were no evening concerts or gatherings because no lights could be turned on at night. Nearly 2,000 of these lunchtime concerts took place during the war, for six-and-a-half years . For this contribution to maintaining th...