An Engagement With Time

Winton Dean (1916-2013), the renowned musical scholar andcritic, gives a sparkling account of his early life – and of his disparate setof forbears. He writes of his controversial father, Basil Dean, the theatricaland film producer and founder of ENSA, his great uncle Rufus Isaacs (supplyingnew information about his first marriage) and Daisy, Countess of Warwick,mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales.  Adeeply divided personality, Winton hoped to pursue a career as a creativeartist rather than as a scholar and critic. To this extent he considered hislife at least in part a failure.  But hewas a brilliant and witty writer, as these memoirs repeatedly demonstrate.

          He recordshis grim years at Elstree and Harrow Schools, where however he wasoutstandingly successful academically, and the titanic family rows thatfollowed. King’s, Cambridge, where he read Classics, then English, brought animmense release of emotions and inhibitions. There are sharp pen portraits ofthe dons, including Edward Dent.  AlanTuring was his tennis partner. A trip to Greece in 1936 is described inluminous detail.  Though not a performer,he became increasingly interested in music, encouraged by a young don, PhilipRadcliffe, who became a life-long friend. On two visits to the Salzburg Festival he was bowled over by theconducting of Arturo Toscanini, especially in opera. He gives highlyentertaining accounts of the chaotic rehearsals of The Frogs ofAristophanes (in Greek) and the stage production of Handel’s Saul (inboth of which he played minor roles). The overwhelming dramatic power of Handel’smusic impelled him, after the war, to devote ten years of his life to the studyof Handel’s oratorios. Among his many interests, which encompassed trams, steamtrains, stamp collecting, old churches and naval history, Winton had a passionfor cricket (though he was an indifferent performer with the bat) and later forshooting pheasants and grouse.

          His firstbook, Bizet, was published in 1948; his second, the classic Handel’sDramatic Oratorios and Masques (1959), established him as a musicologist ofworld renown. Winton worked independently and held no university appointments,apart from a visiting professorship at the University of California, Berkeley,in 1965-6, which gave rise to his third book, Handel and the Opera Seria.  The last of the gentleman scholars, he playeda leading role in astonishing revival of Handel’s operas and dramatic oratoriosin recent years.

          Winton beganhis memoirs at the age of 72 but never finished them, breaking off at thebeginning of 1946, when his career as scholar and critic had barely begun.  His early life and young manhood were whatmattered to him. The later chapters, provided by his son Stephen, follow hiscareer as scholar and sportsman up to 1966.