Winifred Copperwheat Explained

Winifred Copperwheat
Birth Date:	10 October 1905
Birth Name:	Winifred May Copperwheat
Birth Place:	Fulham, London, England
Death Date:	^[1]
Death Place:	Hounslow, London, England
Genre:	Classical
Occupation:	Performer and teacher
Instrument:	Viola
Past Member Of:	Zorian Quartet
Height:	4inchesft10inchesin (ftin)-->

Winifred May Copperwheat (10 October 190523 February 1976) was an English classical viola player and teacher.^[2]

She studied under English violist Lionel Tertis at the Royal Academy of Music. Tertis later said after one of her recitals, that she had "played like an angel".^[3]

As soloist, she gave the premiere performances of several works, including:

• Theodore Holland, Ellingham Marshes for viola and orchestra; with the London Symphony Orchestra under Henry Wood at The Proms in 1940^[4]
• Theodore Holland, a composition for viola and piano; with Iris Greep, 1941^{[5] [6]}
• Priaulx Rainier, Viola Sonata; with Antony Hopkins (piano) at the National Gallery, London in 1946^[7]
• Frank Stiles, Four Pieces for Solo Viola (1959), composed for her^[8]
• Frank Stiles, Viola Concerto No. 1, composed for and dedicated to her (1955, first performance 1962) ^[3]

She played in several chamber music combinations; including the Zorian String Quartet, of which she was a founding member.^[9] She participated in several premiere performances and recordings by the Zorian Quartet.

For many years, she taught viola at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1971, she pointed out to musicologist and violist Martin Jarvis, one of her students, some problems with the published editions of the Bach cello suites. That observation eventually led to his hypothesis that they had been composed by Anna Magdalena Bach and not, as commonly supposed, by her husband Johann Sebastian Bach.^[10]

She wrote a book designed for beginning viola students, The First-Year Viola Method.^[11]

Her name is inscribed in the Book of Remembrance in the Musicians' Chapel at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, London.^[12]

Notes and References

1. News: Miss Winifred Copperwheat . . 16 . 26 February 1976.
2. Web site: Copperwheat, Winifred, 19051976 . Reid Concerts . 19 March 2016 .
3. Web site: Frank Stiles: 90th Birthday Celebration! . composersalliance.com . David . Fisher . 19 March 2016 .
4. Web site: Prom 05 . . 15 August 1940 . 18 March 2016 .
5. This may have been Holland's Suite in D for viola and piano (1938).
6. Book: Wilson, Elizabeth . Jacqueline Du Pre: Her Life, Her Music, Her Legend . 14 . . 7 March 1999 . 978-1559704908 . 19 March 2016 .
7. Web site: Sonata for viola and piano . . 19 March 2016 .
8. Web site: Frank Stiles . Dr David C. F. . Wright . 19 March 2016 .
9. Web site: BBC Home Service . BBC . 27 July 1942 . 19 March 2016 .
10. Who wrote Bach's music? . Allegro . Associated Musicians of Greater New York . Prof. Martin . Jarvis . 113 . 3 . March 2013 . 19 March 2016 .
11. Book: Copperwheat, Winifred . The First-Year Viola Method . 1960 . W. Paxton & Co . B00KWXQ4SC . 19 March 2016 .
12. Web site: Winifred Copperwheat: 1976, Violist . 18 March 2016 .