# Anne Macnaghten

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anne_Macnaghten
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Anne_Macnaghten.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Macnaghten
> Source revision: 1318968170
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

British violinist (1908–2000)

Anne Macnaghten Born (1908-08-09)9 August 1908 Whitwick, Leicestershire, UK Died 31 December 2000(2000-12-31) (aged 92) Genres classical Instrument violin

Musical artist

**Anne Macnaghten**, [CBE](/source/Order_of_the_British_Empire) (9 August 1908 – 31 December 2000) was a British [classical](/source/Classical_music) violinist and [pedagogue](/source/Pedagogue).[1][2]

## Education

Anne was the youngest daughter of high court judge [Sir Malcolm Macnaghten](/source/Malcolm_Macnaghten). She was born in [Whitwick](/source/Whitwick), Leicestershire,[3] and grew up in [Northern Ireland](/source/Northern_Ireland) and [Kensington](/source/Kensington), London. She began her violin studies at the age of six with [Hungarian](/source/Hungary) soloist [Jelly d'Arányi](/source/Jelly_d'Ar%C3%A1nyi). Macnaghten later stated in an interview with *[The Strad](/source/The_Strad)* that d'Arányi "wasn't really a very good teacher".[1] At the age of seventeen she travelled to [Germany](/source/Germany) to study at Leipzig Conservatory (now [University of Music and Theatre Leipzig](/source/University_of_Music_and_Theatre_Leipzig)) with German pedagogue [Walther Davisson](/source/Walther_Davisson), who later became the director of the conservatory. She later returned to London for further study with [Andre Mangeot](/source/Andr%C3%A9_Mangeot).[4]

## Macnaghten Concerts and String Quartet

In 1931 she co-founded the *Macnaghten Concerts* together with composer [Elisabeth Lutyens](/source/Elisabeth_Lutyens) and conductor [Iris Lemare](/source/Iris_Lemare), which aimed to promote [contemporary classical](/source/Contemporary_classical_music) composers. The concert series was based at the [Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate](/source/Mercury_Theatre%2C_Notting_Hill_Gate) and originally ran from 1931 to 1937.

In the same year Macnaghten founded the (then all-female) *Macnaghten String Quartet*, which played in many of the series' concerts. The quartet consisted of Macnaghtan, Joan Wordsell, Violet Brough and Joan Bonner. By 1932 the personnel had changed to Macnaghten, Elise Deprez, [Beryl Scawen Blunt](/source/Beryl_Scawen_Blunt) and Mary Goodchild.[5] The quartet premièred works of several well-known composers as part of the concert series, including *Sinfonietta, Op. 1* by [Benjamin Britten](/source/Benjamin_Britten) in 1933, [Tippet](/source/Michael_Tippett)'s *String Quartet No. 1* in 1935, the String Quartet No 3 by [Mary Lucas](/source/Mary_Lucas)[6] and works by [Gerald Finzi](/source/Gerald_Finzi), [Elizabeth Maconchy](/source/Elizabeth_Maconchy), and [Alan Rawsthorne](/source/Alan_Rawsthorne).[7]

After the war the Quartet re-formed, with Arnold Ashby as cellist. He became her second husband in 1947. The ensemble became involved in music education activities, holding a series of demonstration concerts in schools, initially in Barking (1945-7), then in Ealing (1948-53), Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.[3] The *Macnaghten String Quartet* are still an active quartet and regularly coach [chamber music](/source/Chamber_music) at [Benslow Music Trust](/source/Benslow_Music_Trust).[1]

## Later career

In 1952, with the help of composer [Ralph Vaughan Williams](/source/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams) (a strong supporter of the original concert series) and funding from the Arts Council of Great Britain (now [Arts Council England](/source/Arts_Council_England)), Macnaghten was able to revive the concert series, which was renamed the *New Macnaghten Concerts* and ran for over forty years, the last concert given in 1994. The *New Macnaghten Concerts* saw the première of works by British composers such as [Harrison Birtwhistle](/source/Harrison_Birtwhistle) and [Richard Rodney Bennett](/source/Richard_Rodney_Bennett).

The recital series saw performances by some of the most internationally renowned musicians of the era, including [John Williams](/source/John_Williams_(guitarist)), [Cecil Aronowitz](/source/Cecil_Aronowitz), [Peter Pears](/source/Peter_Pears), [Steve Reich](/source/Steve_Reich), [Michael Nyman](/source/Michael_Nyman), [Derek Simpson](/source/Derek_Simpson_(cellist)), [Thea King](/source/Thea_King) and many others.[8]

Macnaghten received a Gold Medal from the [Worshipful Company of Musicians](/source/Worshipful_Company_of_Musicians) in 1962, and in 1987 was appointed a [CBE](/source/Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire) in recognition of her work in education.

## Personal life

Her first husband was James Ernest Skilbeck, an outspoken communist who fought in the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War) against Franco.[4] She married her second husband, cellist Arnold Ashby in 1947: he died in 1994. There was a son from her first marriage (John, born 1942) and a daughter from her second (Catherine, born 1947).[1] Their address in the 1960s was Meadhall, Little Walden in [Saffron Walden](/source/Saffron_Walden). By the late 1960s they had moved to 23 Wymondley Road, [Hitchin](/source/Hitchin).[3] From the late 1970s onwards, Anne Macnaghten was teaching violin in Hertfordshire, stopping only as a result of a fall at the age of ninety. She died two years later.

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-g_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-g_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-g_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-g_1-3) Catherine Nelson (23 January 2001). ["Obituary:Anne Macnaghten"](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/jan/23/guardianobituaries). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Anne Macnaghten"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1322323/Anne-Macnaghten.html). *The Telegraph*. 13 February 2001. Retrieved 30 January 2012.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-who_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-who_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-who_3-2) *Who's Who in Music*, Fifth Edition (1969), p. 201

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-t_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-t_4-1) 'Anne MacNaghten', in *The Times*, 8 January 2001, p. 19

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Fuller, Sophie (2013). "'Putting the BBC and T. Beecham to Shame': The Macnaghten—Lemare Concerts, 1931-7". *Journal of the Royal Musical Association*. **138** (2): 388. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/02690403.2013.830488](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F02690403.2013.830488). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [192210401](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:192210401).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [*Radio Times*, Issue 644, 2 February 1936, p 35-6](https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/26990ee3aa6e414fbd1720544a465cfe?page=36)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Alan Rawsthorne and the Macnaghten Concerts"](http://www.musicweb-international.com/rawsth/macnaght.htm). Musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 15 July 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Macnaghten Concerts (1963–75)"](http://www.concertprogrammes.org.uk/html/search/verb/GetRecord/4931). [Arts and Humanities Research Council](/source/Arts_and_Humanities_Research_Council). Retrieved 30 January 2012.

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States Other SNAC

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Anne Macnaghten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Macnaghten) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Macnaghten?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.