{{Short description|British violist (1890–1969)}} {{Infobox musical artist |birth_name = William Raymond Thomas Jeremy |birth_date = {{birth date|1890|11|22|df=y}} |birth_place = Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales |background = non_vocal_instrumentalist |genre = Classical |instrument = Viola |occupation = Musician, professor |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1969|3|12|1890|11|22}} |death_place = Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales }}
'''Raymond Jeremy''', FRAM, (1890-1969) was a British violist, known for his quartet playing, particularly the first performances of Edward Elgar's String Quartet and Piano Quintet.<ref>{{cite news |title=An Elgar Triumph – First performance of new Quartet and Quintet |work=Daily News (London) |date=22 May 1919}}</ref> He was professor of violin and viola at the Royal Academy of Music in London and taught the violist Watson Forbes.
==Biography== Raymond Jeremy was born in Laugharne, Wales in 1890. His early instruction on the violin was in Wales with Oliver Williams.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=C. |first1=J. |title=Reviewed Work: The Williams Brothers by Anne Macnaghten |journal=Music & Letters |date=October 1963 |volume=44 |issue=4 |page=400}}</ref> After three years of study with Williams, Jeremy was awarded the Ada Lewis scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Academy Letter, Scholarships and Prize Competitions: Ada Lewis Scholarships - William Raymond Jeremy (Violin) |journal=R. A. M. Club Magazine |date=October 1905 |volume=16}}</ref> where his violin professor was Hans Wessely. During his final year at the academy, he met Lionel Tertis and turned to the viola.<ref name=White1997>{{cite book |last1=White |first1=John |title=An Anthology of British Viola Players |date=1997 |publisher=Comus Edition |location=Colne, Lancashire |isbn=095310690X |page=143}}</ref> Whilst at the Royal Academy of Music, Jeremy twice won the Charles Rube Prize for ensemble playing.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Academy Letter |journal=R. A. M. Club Magazine |date=Nov 1909 |volume=28 |page=18}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Musical Association |journal=The Musical Times |date=July 1, 1907 |volume=48 |issue=773 |page=472}}</ref>
Jeremy played in Thomas Beecham's Symphony Orchestra in 1910 when Richard Strauss's new operas ''Elektra'' and ''Salome'', received their first performances in Britain. He also played in Sir Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra.<ref name=White1997/>
Jeremy played with numerous ensembles over his playing career including the Kutcher String Quartet,<ref>{{cite news |title=Kutcher String Quartet's Concert |work=Dundee Evening Telegraph |date=23 January 1937}}</ref> the International Quartet,<ref name=Cobbett1963>{{cite book |last1=Cobbett |first1=Walter Willson |title=Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music |date=1963 |publisher=OUP |location=London}}</ref> the Allied Quartet,<ref name=White1997/> the Philharmonic Quartet, the London Piano Quartet,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chamber Music |journal=Radio Times |date=2 September 1927 |issue=205 |page=387}}</ref> the Virtuoso Quartet,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Annual Report for 1931 |journal=R. A. M. Club Magazine |date=March 1932 |volume=92 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Musical Treat at Forfar |work=Dundee Courier |date=28 October 1926}}</ref> the Meredyll Quartet,<ref name=Cobbett1963/> the Harp Ensemble,<ref name=Cobbett1963/> the Spencer Dyke Quartet,<ref>{{cite news |title=BBC Programmes |work=Londonderry Sentinel |date=1 June 1935}}</ref> the British String Quartet,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Back Matter |journal=The Musical Times |date=January 1, 1915 |volume=56 |issue=863 |page=52}}</ref> the Sybil Eaton Quartet,<ref>{{cite news |title=Radio Programmes |work=Leicester Evening Mail |date=6 March 1931}}</ref> and the Henkel Piano Quartet.<ref>{{cite news |title=English Quartet for Spain |work=Sheffield Daily Telegraph |date=29 January 1915}}</ref><ref name=Cobbett1963/> He also accompanied other String Quartets such as the London String Quartet and the Stratton Quartet.<ref>{{cite news |title=Stratton String Quartet |work=Sunday Post |date=14 April 1935}}</ref>
With the Philharmonic quartet, Jeremy played in the premieres of two works by Arnold Bax, the ''In Memoriam'' sextet (1917) and the G major quartet (1918).<ref name=White1997/> During the first world war, Jeremy recalls playing quartets with cellist Arthur Williams (brother of Jeremy's first teacher), Jelly d'Aranyi and Adila Fachiri, and stated that he learned the most about musical performance by playing string quartets with this ensemble. It was his connection with the d'Aranyi sisters which gave him a way in to the high-society world of music.<ref name=White1997/> Jeremy was a good friend of Sir Edward Elgar<ref name=White1997/> and gave the first public performances of Elgar's String Quartet and Piano Quintet at the Wigmore Hall on 20 May 1919, with Albert Sammons and W. H. Reed (violins), Felix Salmond (cello) and William Murdoch (piano).<ref>{{cite news |last1=K. |first1=A. |title=AN ELGAR TRIUMPH. First Performance of New Quartet and Quintet |work=Daily News (London) |date=22 May 1919}}</ref> He also performed at Lady Elgar's funeral in April 1920, playing the ''Andante Piacevole'' from Elgar's string quartet.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Late Lady Elgar |journal=The Musical Times |date=May 1, 1920 |volume=61 |issue=927 |page=331}}</ref> In that year Jeremy also played at the first private performance of Arthur Bliss's ''Conversations''.
In December 1924 he performed at the Wigmore Hall in London with the celebrated Russian harpist Maria Korchinska in a performance of Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp.<ref>{{cite journal |title=London Concerts |journal=The Musical Times |date=January 1, 1925 |volume=66 |issue=983 |page=64}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Wigmore Hall |work=Westminster Gazette |date=29 November 1924}}</ref> In 1927 Jeremy gave the premiere of Bax's Phantasy Sonata, with Korchinska, the work's dedicatee. Jeremy continued to play with Korchinska in recitals around Great Britain throughout the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news |last1=W.R. |first1=A. |title=Bournemouth Musical Society |work=Bournemouth Graphic |date=20 April 1935}}</ref> Jeremy also performed with the Welsh harpist Gwendolen Mason.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A recital |journal=Radio Times |date=15 August 1937 |issue=724 |page=22}}</ref>
In 1929 he performed Ralph Vaughan Williams's ''Flos Campi'' at the Geneva Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music.<ref name=Obit1969>{{cite journal |title=Obituary |journal=The Musical Times |date=May 1969 |volume=110 |issue=1515 |page=524}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Edwin |title=Geneva Festival |journal=The Musical Times |date=May 1, 1929 |volume=70 |issue=1035 |pages=432–440 |doi=10.2307/915256 |jstor=915256 }}</ref>
He made numerous recordings with a variety of ensembles including a recording in 1930 for the National Gramophonic Society of Paul Juon's Chamber Symphony Op. 27.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Gramophone Notes |journal=The Musical Times |date=June 1, 1930 |volume=71 |issue=1048 |page=524}}</ref>
Jeremy taught in the 1920s at the Editha Knocker School of Violin Playing<ref>{{cite journal |title=Editha Knocker School of Violin Playing |journal=The Musical Times |date=November 1, 1927 |volume=68 |issue=1017 |page=991}}</ref> and was, throughout the 1930s, a professor at the Royal Academy of Music and an examiner for their Licentiate examinations.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Front Matter |journal=The Musical Times |date=March 1933 |volume=74 |issue=1081 |page=196}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Front Matter |journal=The Musical Times |date=June 1937 |volume=78 |issue=1132 |page=483}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mr Raymond Jeremy, FRAM |work=Western Mail |date=15 September 1943}}</ref> He received the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) in 1935.<ref>RAM Honours Database, RAM Library Archive</ref>
During the second world war, Jeremy performed in a number of concerts for the wartime Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), the precursor to the Arts Council.<ref>{{cite news |title=CEMA Grand Concert |work=Rhos Herald |date=18 September 1943}}</ref>
In his later years, he was professor of Violin and Viola at Aberystwyth College from where he retired in 1958.<ref name=Obit1969/>
The conductor and composer Eugene Goossens dedicated the second movement of his String Quartet (Op.14) to Jeremy. The other movements are dedicated to Arthur Beckwith and Cedric Sharpe, all members of the Philharmonic String Quartet who played alongside Goossens when he was the second violinist.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Edwin |title=Modern British Composers. IV. Eugène Goossens (Continued) |journal=The Musical Times |date=July 1, 1919 |volume=60 |issue=917 |page=331}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Chamber Music |journal=Radio Times |date=9 Sep 1927 |volume=206 |page=418}}</ref>
Jeremy married Märta Vivika Norstrom in 1926 (she died in 1947) and they had one daughter, Nancy.<ref>Sweden, Indexed Marriage Records, 1860-1943</ref>
Raymond Jeremy died in Aberystwyth in 1969, aged 78.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Obituary - Raymond Jeremy |journal=The Musical Times |date=May 1969 |volume=110 |issue=1515 |page=524}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeremy, Raymond}} Category:1890 births Category:1969 deaths Category:British classical violists Category:English classical violists Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music Category:20th-century British violists Category:People from Laugharne