Born: 6 June 1896, United Kingdom
Died: 17 April 1978
Country most active: International
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Ethel Bartlett was born on June 6, 1896, in Epping, England. She began studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1915 and became a pupil of the English pianist Tobias Matthay. She graduated from the Academy in 1919 and later studied in Berlin under Arthur Schnabel. She often performed as a piano accompanist for solo artists, notably cellist John Barbirolli during the 1920s, and continued to perform with him after she and Robertson married in 1921 and formed their duo in 1924. She continued performing and teaching after Robertson’s death in 1956. Bartlett died on April 17, 1978, in Los Angeles, California.
Ethel Bartlett and Rae Robertson married in 1921 and began performing as a piano duet in 1924. They toured together during the next few decades and recorded several albums of piano duet music. They commissioned works for piano duet from prominent composers of the period, including Benjamin Britten, Arnold Bax, and Bohuslav Martinů. Their repertoire included arrangements of other compositions, often completed by Bartlett and Robertson themselves. The duo was also known for revivals of older music, performing two-piano arrangements of music by William Byrd, John Bull, Giles Farnaby, and other early English composers. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, they toured across Europe and the Americas and recorded albums under His Master’s Voice and Columbia Masterworks. Bartlett and Robertson owned a summer home in California where they hosted other musical artists of the time, including Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. In the early 1950s, they officially settled in California and continued performing as a duo until Robertson’s death in 1956.