NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

The last two Grand Music Festivals were held in 1824 and 1842, the first
being a resounding success, musically and financially but the second only
musically. The vocal contributions at all of these festivals was considered the
most important aspect, purely instrumental music never commanded the same
attention. It was ever thus in English music making up to the 20 th century. It still is
if one considers that the most popular night of our greatest music festival today,
The Promenade Concerts, is the last, when everyone is allowed to join in and
sing. At the 1824 Festival, Catalani and Braham appeared once again to great
acclaim although one dissenter complained that her rendition of ‘I Know that My
Redeemer Liveth’ from the ‘Messiah’ was not as good as the German lady,
Madame Mara. He was probably right, Catalani had returned to England in 1824,
when Lord Mount-Edgcumbe exclaimed that he found ‘her powers undiminished
but her taste unimproved’. Nevertheless, the total receipts amounted to £5,846,
which left £769 4s for the several charities the festival committee had agreed to
support. No doubt, looking back on this festival, the organisers of the 1842
Music Festival considered that they could do even better and assembled an
impressive list of patrons, who included The Duke and Duchess of
Northumberland, Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe, the Marquis of Bute, the
Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry and a whole list of Counts, Earls and
Lords. Came the day and it was admitted that the singers were not such great
singers as at the previous festival but they were only ‘triflingly their inferiors’.
Potential stars they may have been in their time but today they are long
forgotten. Handel’s music predominated as usual but there was a wider selection
of choral pieces by other composers including Beethoven, Haydn, Hummel,
Mendelssohn, and Rossini. The chorus was largely drawn from local choral
societies supplemented by those from Durham, Carlisle and Lincoln, and the
band of sixty-four performers was, it was reported, ‘The best there has been, or
has ever been heard in Newcastle’. The festival was deemed a success from the
musical point of view, but ‘notwithstanding the goodly array of noble patrons and
the influence and energy of the working committee, the pecuniary result was very
disheartening’. Many years later, strong religious feeling was blamed for the loss
as it had been regarded by many at the time of the festival as an act of sacrilege
to hold a musical ‘performance’ in a place of worship, and the festival had been
denounced even from the pulpit. There were other music festivals of sorts held in
the town, but the days of the Grand Music Festivals, which continued to survive
in other parts of the country, were dead to Newcastle.
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