What do you think?
Rate this book
Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth
Jean Collen began her singing studies with the famous British duettists Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, in Johannesburg, when she was 17. Two years later they asked her to act as Webster's studio accompanist when Anne - who accompanied their students - had other commitments. This was the beginning of a close friendship which lasted until their deaths.
The book gives a summary of Anne and Webster's rapid rise to fame, which is already well documented in their own autobiography entitled "Duet" (1951). The book's main focus is on their lives and careers from 1956 in South Africa and their "third" career when they returned home to the UK in 1978.
The book gives a summary of Anne and Webster's rapid rise to fame, which is already well documented in their own autobiography entitled "Duet" (1951). The book's main focus is on their lives and careers from 1956 in South Africa and their "third" career when they returned home to the UK in 1978.
160 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2006
About the author
Jean Collen
15 books13 followersJean Collen is a writer, musician and retired teacher of classical singing and piano. She lives in Johannesburg, South Africa with her husband, Errol, a freelance English/Afrikaans translator, writer, proof-reader and editor.
While still in her teens and studying for her singing diploma with famous British duettists, Anne Ziegler (1910-2003) and Webster Booth (1902-1984) she was studio accompanist to Webster Booth when Anne Ziegler had other commitments.
She holds the following qualifications: LTCL (Singing), LTCL (Piano), ATCL (Singing)
BA (SA) majoring in English, History, History of Music (with distinction)
BA (Honours) (SA) in History.
In 2006 she published two books about Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, one in collaboration with Pamela Davies from Great Comberton.
Since then she has published a novel and volume of short stories under the pen name of Fiona Compton. For the last ten years she has undertaken a number of proof-reading and editing assignments.
While still in her teens and studying for her singing diploma with famous British duettists, Anne Ziegler (1910-2003) and Webster Booth (1902-1984) she was studio accompanist to Webster Booth when Anne Ziegler had other commitments.
She holds the following qualifications: LTCL (Singing), LTCL (Piano), ATCL (Singing)
BA (SA) majoring in English, History, History of Music (with distinction)
BA (Honours) (SA) in History.
In 2006 she published two books about Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, one in collaboration with Pamela Davies from Great Comberton.
Since then she has published a novel and volume of short stories under the pen name of Fiona Compton. For the last ten years she has undertaken a number of proof-reading and editing assignments.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 3, 2013
These reviews of my book appear on my storefront on Lulu at my link text
MARGARET A. PLEVIN 3 September 2013
What an awesome testament this book is to such a great couple. How touched they would have been if they could still have been here to read it. The testimonies and memories of friends of the couple I also found interesting and moving. I was always a great fan of Anne & Webster and this book gave me such insight into their lives and all they had achieved over the years and how many lives they had touched. Ms. Collen is to be highly commended for this excellent, insightful book. It deserves the highest rating."
Yours sincerely
Margaret A. Plevin
A SPARKLING INSIGHT TO TWO GREAT SINGING STARS 4 May 2006
by arrival
A beautifully written account of the lives of these two great singing stars of yesteryear, by someone whose life was to become intermittently interwoven throughout a long and memorable forty year period. If like me, you adore these great Artistes, then you won't be able to put this book down! A true and sometimes 'sad' angle of British stardom and its pitfalls, yet a living sparkle emanates from every page. After reading... More > this memoir, one is left with the feeling of nostalgia and also a feeling one has known this talented married couple. Personally told by a lady whose warm and generous heart has 'opened up' her fondest memories, and been kind enough to share them with us. When finished reading, you will be left with a conviction that these two remarkable names: WEBSTER BOOTH and ANNE ZIEGLER should never be forgotten. The book is simply 'unputdownable'.
Review by JOHAN GELDENHUYS, January 4, 2008
This review is from: Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth (Paperback)
This delightful book falls into the rare category of a personal memoir not about the person writing it but about two other people of talent.
The upshot is two main characters brought to vivid life by the minutiae of everyday living recorded over an almost epic period of time (forty plus years) and a third character, the author, thrown into equally stark relief by her interactions with, and reflection on, them. A further factor of great importance highlighted in the book is the fact of migration, the two main characters as well as the author all being British-born and living in South Africa for a fair spell. The complex interplay of all of the above makes for a fascinating read not encountered often these days with its tales of ready-made solutions to spuriously complex problems or, in fact, fairly shallow neuroses.
Overlying the innate complexity of the personal relationship of the three rounded characters referred to above is the many-splendoured realm of art in its guise of serious song taken to an even higher level of complexity in the spiritual sphere by the concurring of the author with Webster's opinion their, or at least his, best work was done in the field of oratorio.
The shifting scenario, from the U K and the U S A to Johannesburg, Knysna, Somerset West, and finally back to the U K and, in particular Wales, makes for exciting reading in that the style reflects the differing emphases in great and loving detail. Following the aforegoing subtleties of shifting aspects of reality the set of memories of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, adduced at the back, add a final lustre to a loving and complex portrait of several lives in vital and vibrant interplay.
All the foregoing aspects are made possible by a simple and direct prose style, which is one of the book's greatest attributes, somewhat along the stylistic pleasures of Gaius Julius Caesar describing the Gallic and Roman civil wars and Blaise Pascal analysing mathematical and social structures. A salient example, chapter 16 on the 1973 East London production of The Mikado, will suffice, representing the truly complex undercurrents between professional and amateur ardours about the same production in an almost offhand mode encapsulated in a simple style of stark statement pregnant with knowing innuendo.
Therefore, in summation, a marvellous book about a fascinating subject really intelligently written. Read it and dare to contradict the above views.
Johan Geldenhuys.
Affirmation, January 27, 2009
By Ian Harris (Czech Republic)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth (Paperback)
I have read Johan Geldenhuys' superb review and find that I simply have no words to add to his. I certainly am not disagreeing with his verdict - to the contrary, I only wish I could have expressed my opinion of Jean Collen's memoir half as articulately!
Jean writes in a direct and, at the same time, very expressive style. I found that I was not able to put this book down until I had read the final page. This, surely, is the only true judgement of any writer's craft!
MARGARET A. PLEVIN 3 September 2013
What an awesome testament this book is to such a great couple. How touched they would have been if they could still have been here to read it. The testimonies and memories of friends of the couple I also found interesting and moving. I was always a great fan of Anne & Webster and this book gave me such insight into their lives and all they had achieved over the years and how many lives they had touched. Ms. Collen is to be highly commended for this excellent, insightful book. It deserves the highest rating."
Yours sincerely
Margaret A. Plevin
A SPARKLING INSIGHT TO TWO GREAT SINGING STARS 4 May 2006
by arrival
A beautifully written account of the lives of these two great singing stars of yesteryear, by someone whose life was to become intermittently interwoven throughout a long and memorable forty year period. If like me, you adore these great Artistes, then you won't be able to put this book down! A true and sometimes 'sad' angle of British stardom and its pitfalls, yet a living sparkle emanates from every page. After reading... More > this memoir, one is left with the feeling of nostalgia and also a feeling one has known this talented married couple. Personally told by a lady whose warm and generous heart has 'opened up' her fondest memories, and been kind enough to share them with us. When finished reading, you will be left with a conviction that these two remarkable names: WEBSTER BOOTH and ANNE ZIEGLER should never be forgotten. The book is simply 'unputdownable'.
Review by JOHAN GELDENHUYS, January 4, 2008
This review is from: Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth (Paperback)
This delightful book falls into the rare category of a personal memoir not about the person writing it but about two other people of talent.
The upshot is two main characters brought to vivid life by the minutiae of everyday living recorded over an almost epic period of time (forty plus years) and a third character, the author, thrown into equally stark relief by her interactions with, and reflection on, them. A further factor of great importance highlighted in the book is the fact of migration, the two main characters as well as the author all being British-born and living in South Africa for a fair spell. The complex interplay of all of the above makes for a fascinating read not encountered often these days with its tales of ready-made solutions to spuriously complex problems or, in fact, fairly shallow neuroses.
Overlying the innate complexity of the personal relationship of the three rounded characters referred to above is the many-splendoured realm of art in its guise of serious song taken to an even higher level of complexity in the spiritual sphere by the concurring of the author with Webster's opinion their, or at least his, best work was done in the field of oratorio.
The shifting scenario, from the U K and the U S A to Johannesburg, Knysna, Somerset West, and finally back to the U K and, in particular Wales, makes for exciting reading in that the style reflects the differing emphases in great and loving detail. Following the aforegoing subtleties of shifting aspects of reality the set of memories of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth, adduced at the back, add a final lustre to a loving and complex portrait of several lives in vital and vibrant interplay.
All the foregoing aspects are made possible by a simple and direct prose style, which is one of the book's greatest attributes, somewhat along the stylistic pleasures of Gaius Julius Caesar describing the Gallic and Roman civil wars and Blaise Pascal analysing mathematical and social structures. A salient example, chapter 16 on the 1973 East London production of The Mikado, will suffice, representing the truly complex undercurrents between professional and amateur ardours about the same production in an almost offhand mode encapsulated in a simple style of stark statement pregnant with knowing innuendo.
Therefore, in summation, a marvellous book about a fascinating subject really intelligently written. Read it and dare to contradict the above views.
Johan Geldenhuys.
Affirmation, January 27, 2009
By Ian Harris (Czech Republic)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sweethearts of Song: A Personal Memoir of Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth (Paperback)
I have read Johan Geldenhuys' superb review and find that I simply have no words to add to his. I certainly am not disagreeing with his verdict - to the contrary, I only wish I could have expressed my opinion of Jean Collen's memoir half as articulately!
Jean writes in a direct and, at the same time, very expressive style. I found that I was not able to put this book down until I had read the final page. This, surely, is the only true judgement of any writer's craft!
Displaying 1 of 1 review