Marion Thorpe
|
Marion Stein CBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Maria Donata Nanetta Paulina Gustava Erwina Wilhelmine Stein 18 October 1926 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 6 March 2014 (aged 87) |
| Other names | Marion Harewood Marion Thorpe |
| Occupation | Concert pianist |
| Spouse(s) |
George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (m. 1949; div. 1967) Jeremy Thorpe (m. 1973–2014; her death) |
| Children |
David Lascelles, 8th Earl of Harewood James Lascelles Jeremy Lascelles |
| Parent(s) |
Erwin Stein Sophie Bachmann |
Maria Stein, CBE (Maria Donata Nanetta Paulina Gustava Erwina Wilhelmine; 18 October 1926 – 6 March 2014), known as Marion Stein, and subsequently by marriage as Marion Lascelles, Countess of Harewood, and later Marion Thorpe, was an Austrian-born British concert pianist.
Born in Vienna, Stein was of Jewish heritage, the daughter of Sophie Bachmann and musician Erwin Stein. She came to the UK just before the Second World War. She attended the Royal College of Music and became good friends with composer Benjamin Britten. By 1949, as Countess of Harewood, and with the patronage of her mother-in-law, Princess Mary, Stein was chatelaine of the magnificent Palladian Harewood House, north of Leeds, and threw herself into organising events.
In March 1950, she created an opera-inspired fancy dress ball in aid of Britten's English Opera Group, featuring Frederick Ashton and Moira Shearer dancing the tango from the ballet Façade. In September 1950, she was reported as being pregnant and "planning to attend every night" of the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival which featured a performance by Britten. She was the joint founder in 1961 (along with Fanny Waterman) of the Leeds International Piano Competition. She also collaborated with Fanny Waterman on Piano Lessons, a successful piano tutor.
In 1973, she was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and she was an occasional panellist on the BBC music quiz Face the Music.
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