Hilda Gaunt (1906 – 10 October 1975) was rehearsal pianist with The Royal Ballet for over 40 years.'Manon-11 November 1975 Evening 7.30pm', Royal Ballet Collection
Gaunt first attracted attention as a pianist and accompanist in the late 1920s and early 1930s.'Smith's Matinee Concerts', The Liverpool Daily Post, 2 November 1928, p. 10 In 1931 she became the accompanist at the Vic Wells (later Sadler's Wells) Ballet Company, also working with musical director Constant Lambert on the musical supervision of classic ballet scores.Constant Lambert biography, Chandos Records'The Vic Wells Ballet Goes on Tour', in The Bystander 27 September 1939, p. 27 (picture)
During wartime, when orchestras were a luxury, she toured the UK extensively with the ballet, accompanying them in performances alongside Lambert (and sometimes Harold Rutland) on two pianos, to general acclaim.Leslie Edwards, Graham Bowles. In Good Company: Sixty Years with the Royal Ballet (2003), p. 81, 175Stephen Lloyd. Beyond the Rio Grande (2014), p. 282 In final rehearsals for the 1943 production of The Quest, while composer William Walton was still struggling to complete the score, Frederick Ashton had to ask Gaunt to improvise at the appropriate length and tempo, adjusting his choreography to fit once the music finally arrived.David Vaughan. Frederick Ashton and His Ballet (1977) pp. 196-7
Ashton remembered Gaunt as endearing herself to Constant Lambert by being "a tremendous drinker. She'd always be on tap".Andrew Motion. The Lamberts: George, Constant & Kit (1986), p. 217 Ballerina Annabel Farjeon also remembered her at Sadler's Wells:'Choreographers: Dancing for de Valois and Ashton', in The Routledge Dance Studies Reader (2nd. ed., 2010)
Gaunt often played a key role in reconstructing original productions for subsequent revival: for instance, she worked with John Field on the May 1963 revival of Sylvia, which had been out of the repertoire for four years.Sylvia, 6 May 1963, Royal Opera HouseKeith Money. The Art of the Royal Ballet (1967), pp. 39-57 At the end of her life she collaborated with Leighton Lucas, compiling the score for Kenneth MacMillan's 1974 ballet L'histoire de Manon from the music of Jules Massenet.Natalie Wheen. 'Ballet's Bad Girl Has a New Sound', The Arts Desk, 19 March 2011'Knowing the score', in The Daily Telegraph, 1 March 1974, p. 12
She is credited as the accompanist in The Red Shoes (1948), though doesn't appear on screen.The Red Shoes credits, British Film Institute
References
External links Constant Lambert, Margot Fonteyn and Hilda Gaunt in 1939. K Walker. The Royal Ballet: A Picture History (1986), p. 39