NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

My pockets low and taxes high,
Ah! I could sit me down to cry;
But why despair The times may mend,
Our loyalty shall us befriend.
Propitious fortune yet may smile
On fair Britannia’s sea girt isle.
Then poverty shall take her flight,
And we will sing by day and night,
God save great George our king,
Long live our noble king, etc.
After the last concert, in 1816, a piece appeared in the local press. Among
other things it identified the venue of the performance as Saville Row, and the
house of Mr Thompson, the organist of St Nicholas’. It then went on to say; -
‘The exertions of this society have proved a most agreeable treat to a great
portion of the musical amateurs in the town. Many of the best works of Haydn,
Handel, Mozart, Viotti, Beethoven, Avison, Correlli &c. &c. have been executed
during the season and the unbounded approbation which has been bestowed
upon the several performances is the best proof of the satisfaction they have
afforded to the most crowded audiences. We know not whether it is the intention
of the gentlemen forming the society to resume their meetings against another
season but we can assure them they have the grateful thanks of their auditors for
the amusement they have already bestowed: and hope they themselves have
received gratification equal, at least, to that which they have so liberally imparted’
Fine words indeed but unless the author of the piece had attended all the
concerts in the seasons he would not have known which works by the composers
listed were played and it is unlikely anyway that he would have been so musically
well informed at the time as to be able to make such a statement. Having
perused the programmes for the season and with the benefit of hindsight I would
say that apart from Handel the claim is an exaggeration. The bulk of the items in
these programmes were of a lighter nature and would have provided the
audiences with – as the reviewer correctly states – some amusement. However,
we must not forget that were it not for the ‘exertions of the society’ none of the
music of any of the composers listed would have been heard at all in
performance by anyone and so we owe a small debt of gratitude to these early
music societies that were in their own way helping sustain some form of musical
culture within the town.
Following the success of the Harmonic Society in 1815 a number of societies
with amateur in their title came into being; the Amateur Harmonic Society (1824),
Amateur Music Society (1825), Newcastle and Gateshead Amateur Choral
Society (1828) and the Amateur Glee Club in 1837. But there were also others
that did not broadcast their amateur status such as the Phil-Harmonic Society of
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