Celebrating 24th September – the birthday of my father Leonard Salzedo – with some stories from his autobiography:
“At eleven o’clock on the morning of Saturday 24th September 1921 I was born at a small private nursing home at 46 Amhurst Park, Stamford Hill, in North London. It was a large Victorian House and has long since been demolished to make way for blocks of flats.
My father Samuel was already forty-nine when I was born and I always remember him as a mature man with white hair which was growing thin. He always dressed formally, even at home at weekends, and I don’t think he ever wore anything except a lounge suit with a waistcoat and an upright collar and tie. He never went out without wearing his trilby hat and a scarf round his neck, winter and summer!
From my Auntie Angie, the wife of my father’s brother Abraham, my mother Edna had learnt some Spanish Jewish (Sephardic) recipes and, as a result, we ate a selection of more traditional English food mixed up with more exotic recipes from Spain. My mother always liked to cook and invariably produced a considerable variety of different dishes.”
Leaving school
“In September 1935 I was 14 which was the school leaving age, so I never went back to school after the summer holidays. Instead I went to music lessons for five and a half days a week, studying the violin for most of the time but also the piano – on which I was improving rapidly – and playing chamber music every Sunday evening. My friend Solomon Fisher and I borrowed books from the library and studied many chamber works. I am not sure how much I took in but I certainly learned to understand musical form.”
“On my 19th birthday in September 1940, I played the first movement of Max Bruch’s 1st Violin Concerto for the entrance exam to the Royal College of Music (RCM), and started my studies there.
I had weekly violin lessons with Isolde Menges who I’d already studied with, and a weekly lesson with my new composition teacher, Dr Herbert Howells. I did not know him but we immediately got on well. He always used to call me by my initials ‘LS’. I also had chamber music classes with both Ivor James and Isolde Menges. Orchestra was twice a week.
Most of the professors were very punctual, especially Ivor James who was very strict about it, but Isolde Menges was always late. However I soon discovered that her lateness was predictable. My lesson was scheduled for ten on Thursday morning. I would get there early and do an hour’s practise before she arrived, almost always at 10.25. My lesson would then last until about 11.45 which would leave me plenty of time before the orchestra practise in the afternoon.”
And a couple of years later, still a student,
“In 1942 I was engaged to play for the London season of the International Ballet at His Majesty’s Theatre. It was my first introduction to the world of ballet. Towards the end of the season I had my twenty-first birthday. It was a Thursday and I did two performances at the theatre and, in between, had a rest in Green Park.
Soon afterwards, the Autumn Term started at the RCM, and I remember thinking the War seemed endless.”
After the War, newly-married and starting out on his career
“At the beginning of August 1946, the Sadlers Wells Theatre Ballet (as it was then called) started rehearsing my new ballet ‘Mardi Gras’ (choreography Andree Howard, set design Hugh Stevenson) and I played the piano at rehearsals. I finished the orchestral score on September 25th, the day after my 25th birthday.
On Thursday, November 26th, the opening night at Sadlers Wells was a great success and this time I did not forget to take a curtain call with Andree and Hugh, but it never occurred to me that I ought to have worn a dinner jacket. I never neglected to do that again!”
And the 1960s – not his birthday this time but an important event
“In November 1966 I had a letter from James Brown, Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), asking me to write an overture for their 21st Birthday Concert in 1967. I had only just left the RPO so I accepted the commission with great pleasure and completed the piece at the end of February 1967. I called it Toccata.
On 7th November 1967, Rudolf Kempe and the RPO gave a brilliant performance of my Toccata at the Royal Festival Hall. My wife Pat and I were in the audience, and I took a bow.”
And since his death…
Leonard Salzedo A Life Composed in Music
The 20 minute film Leonard Salzedo A Life Composed in Music for the centenary of my father’s birth in 2021 is on YouTube here
Celebration Concert 2022
On 24th September 2022 on what would have been my father’s 101st birthday, we had a wonderful concert of his music at Conway Hall London. Read about that here
The recording of that concert will be going onto YouTube later his year so watch this space!
More information about Leonard Salzedo
The main Leonard Salzedo website with a list of his works and a short biography is here
Go here to join the Leonard Salzedo Society or contact me Caroline Salzedo, Secretary via email calsalzedo@gmail.com
If you are interested in his scores, email me Caroline Salzedo, Secretary calsalzedo@gmail.com
Go to Mike Purton Recording Services for CDs of Salzedo’s music
Albany Consort 2024 concert performance of the Leonard Salzedo Harpsichord Concerto featuring cousin Jonathan Salzedo playing the harpsichord and including an introduction by me (running time 26 Minutes) is on YouTube here
LEONARD SALZEDO SOCIETY 
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