Frederic Lamond

Frederic Lamond was born in Glasgow in 1868 and studied piano at the Glasgow Athenaeum (now the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama). He then moved to Germany where he studied with Max Schwarz and Hans von Bülow. It is fairly possible that Lamond had seen Bülow in Glasgow when the conductor was at the helm of the Glasgow Choral Union (now the Royal Scottish National Orchestra).

He was one of the last students of Franz Liszt (going on to record many of Liszt’s works in HMV’s pioneering recordings of the 1920s and 30s), studying with him in Rome, Weimar and London. He was coached by Johannes Brahms in Brahms’ own piano compositions, and Lamond became one of the early champions of the music. Tchaikovsky also admired Lamond’s playing and specifically asked for him to play the composer’s first Piano Concerto in 1893, in Moscow. The premiere had been given some 20 years previous by Sergei Taneyev, after Tchaikovsky had disagreements with von Bülow and Arthur Rubenstein, the preferred choices – both friends of Lamond.

Notoriously outspoken, Lamond was in Prague when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938. Whilst attempting to return to Britain as quickly as possible, he was stopped at the German border by a Gestapo officer. A friend recalled that the officer wished to see Lamond’s passport.

“You can see it,” he said, “but I will not allow you to take it into your hands.” The officer then asked him, “Are you an Ayran?” to which Lamond replied, “No, I am a monkey.”

Lamond then returned to Scotland, where he taught at his first place of study – by then called the Scottish National Academy. He died, at the age of 80, in Stirling in 1948.