TOSTA DI BENICI (AUGUSTA BENNICH)
(1867-1961)
Tosta de Benici was the stage name of the Swedish
pianist Augusta Bennich. When she was 15 years old, Tosta started studying
piano with professor Hilda Tegerström from the Academy of Music. Tosta de
Benici worked a lot in England. Henry Wood, who started the Proms concerts, met
her in 1899 and was surprised that she was not better known. Tosta de Benici
then participated in more than 20 Proms concerts between 1899 and 1917, with
music by Liszt (first piano concerto etc.), Theodor Leschetizky, Grieg and Saint-Saëns
(second piano concerto) – as well as Christian Sinding, by whom she played
several works at the Proms concerts. Tosta de Benici spent the summers in the
Arvika area, with his brother Gustaf Bennich, who was the manager of Jössefor’s
mill and an avid cellist. Tosta and Gustaf’s mother Emelie loved music and
their father, Axel Bennich, was a Riksdagman who was ennobled by Oscar II in
1860 and later was a member and even president of the King. Musical Academy in
Stockholm. In 1913 Tosta de Benici bought a plot of land in Pyrford, Surrey in
England. The following year, a Neo-Georgian style house by architect Reginald
Bloomfield.
TRACKLIST
2619 BACKER-GRONDAHL – Song of Summer, Op. 45, No. 3
2620 CHOPIN – Etude, Op. 25, No. 7, c#
2621 CHOPIN – Etude, Op. 10, No. 5 “Black Key”
2622 CHOPIN – Prelude, Op. 28, No. 18, f
2624 GRIEG – Erotik, Op. 43, No. 5 “Lyric Pieces”
2627 KJERULF – Berceuse (Cradle Song), Op. 4
2630 LISZT – Hungarian Rhapsody No. 11, a Lento à
capriccio
2631 PADEREWSKI – Cracovienne fantastique, Op. 14,
No. 6
2632 SAINT-SAENS – Romance sans paroles (Romance
without Words), b
2635 SIBELIUS – Romance, Op. 24, No. 9, Db
2637 SINDING – Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring)
Op. 32, No. 3, Db
2638 SINDING – Serenade, Op. 33, No. 4
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