A Musical Send-Off. Dr Martin Ennis' Retirement Concert
After a nearly 40-year career at the Faculty of Music, Martin Ennis has retired from teaching at the Faculty. This brings to an end a towering career whose influence on generations of music students, on the Tripos and particularly on its culture of musical performance, will be remembered by many reading this.
As a student, Martin joined the Faculty before the fall of the Berlin Wall, receiving his PhD shortly after the fall of Margaret Thatcher. (Historians here may recall protests against the use of arbitrary political dates: why should the ‘long’ nineteenth century be bounded by the French Revolution and World War I?) He was soon appointed University Assistant Lecturer, later becoming Associate Professor. Over the years, he’s held nearly every academic role we have. He served an unprecedented three stints as Chair of the Faculty Board (8 years), including one during which he somehow simultaneously served as Director of Music and Director of Studies at Girton College (‘it nearly killed me’).
Many will have experienced the combination of exacting standards and generous encouragement that typify Martin’s teaching. I note particularly his courses on Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Instrumental Music of the Nineteenth Century, Music of the Weimar Republic, and numerous analysis papers. But few will know that, as a student at Cambridge, Martin was known to dart across the border to East Berlin and dabble in the black market (‘the scores were considerably cheaper’), and had to be smuggled out on one occasion in 1985, as he explains in a blog post about his research from 2018 at the rich archives of Berlin and Vienna. These days, the closest thing might be the Pendlebury Library’s ‘Grab and Run’ clearances.
To celebrate Martin’s tenure, and particularly his transformation of performance within the Tripos, we held a concert. On a summer’s evening, we invited former Girtonian, Mateusz Borowiak(m. 2006) to give a recital of Brahms, Szymanowski and Chopin in the Old Library at Girton College. Very few alumni could attend, so we filmed the occasion and are delighted to make the full concert available to you below.
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The programme ---
--- is no cryptogram, but does encapsulate several of Martin’s research and musical interests. Martin gives talks all over the world on Brahms’ music, and has published some of the most detailed reviews on the recent Brahms literature of any scholar. Brahms’ music in particular has been a pillar of his work at the Faculty, whether in unveiling hidden cycles of fifths in the Requiem or scrutinizing its quilting of quotations from ten different biblical texts. A notable monument to Martin’s love of Brahms’ music, and his ability to inspire students into discovering it anew was the city-wide Brahms festival that Edward Reeve put on with Martin’s support in the years before the C19 Pandemic. In one iteration, no fewer than 11 concerts took place in five colleges (Sidney Sussex, Caius, Jesus, Christ’s, Pembroke), several churches and the West Road Concert Hall.
Musical performance has always been central to Martin’s work and outlook. For decades, he has maintained a parallel career as the principal keyboard player for the London Mozart Players, the oldest chamber orchestra in the UK, and has worked with numerous ensembles, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. This dual identity has not gone unnoticed by generations of students, and so to lend a student voice to this article, I could briefly mention that at the dinner to commemorate Martin’s retirement, his performing activities are highlighted in something called ‘The Martin Ennis Song’ which exists on YouTube (portions may even have been played). Few academics are recipients of such accolades.
My colleagues speak of Martin’s warm generosity, his good humour, someone who is always ready with friendly but astute advice, and of course willing to share his passion for music. In this spirit he conducted the Girton Chapel Choir for Pope John Paul II, performed as part of the Monteverdi Choir’s 25th-anniversary concert, performed one of his own compositions in a Prom, performed his reconstructions of Mozart fragments at a harpsichord recital in the Gdansk Festival, and once directed the Messiah from the keyboard in Beijing’s Forbidden City.
As this suggests, retirement is a relative term in Martin’s case. He continues to write and to perform, and he continues as Director of Studies at Girton. But this marks the end of an extraordinary chapter. One defined by intellectual curiosity, collegiality, and a deep, abiding love of music.
I’m sure I speak for many when I say to Martin – from your students, your colleagues, your fellow musicians, and your many friends: thank you. Thank you for your inspiration, your dedication and your kindness. We will miss you greatly.
David Trippett
Chair of the Faculty Board
If you would like to support Martin’s legacy in foregrounding performance within the Faculty, do look at our plans for a Faculty-led Concert Series in West Road.