NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

introduced Wagner for the first time in Newcastle. And so these concerts
continued until 1873 with Mr Rea taking a leading role and continually introducing
new works into his interesting and varied programmes.
Some idea of the occasion when Dr Rea introduced his Promenade Concerts
in Newcastle can be gleaned from the press report of 4 th February 1867,
following the first concert.
(Dr Rea held the) ‘First of a series of orchestral promenade concerts in the
Town Hall inaugurating a project which he has long had at heart and taking a
step deserving of every encouragement and success and to say the least of it,
most courageous. A strong well-balanced company of artists have been
engaged. His intentions are to give concerts nightly for one month and it remains
to be seen whether there is in the district that taste for high-class music, skilfully
and harmoniously rendered to repay the necessary trouble and anxiety –
Whether in fact there will be such audiences as to make financially successful
what, in itself may be predicted a thorough success and whether the immediate
effect will be the establishment of an orchestral society consisting of a picked
number of our local musicians. Nothing of its kind could have been better and
certainly nothing of its kind would have given greater relish and satisfaction than
did the concert of last night.’
The review went on to say that there was an audience numerous and fashionable
and anything if not appreciative and they did not scruple in the bestowal of their
applause. The hall was tastefully decorated with flags, banners and trophies
bearing the names of the great masters and a refreshment stall had been
opened.
Following a later concert in the autumn of that same year the press reported
that from the moment the doors were opened there was a constant stream of
people. Mostly season ticket holders but the demand had exceeded the supply
and there had been a limit put on them so that some parts of the hall could be
available to the general public. These areas were the gallery and the rear of the
area, presumably downstairs. It was reported that the limited number of tickets
available caused disappointment ‘but the mortification they at present experience
will not be without its advantages if it teaches the danger of procrastination and
lead them on a future occasion to take time by the forelocks and secure their
tickets at an early period’.
I am sure that many reader’s will have already latched onto the fact that Rea’s
Promenade Concerts were thirty years ahead of Henry Wood’s and further
comparisons would disclose many similar features between the two. I would
hesitate to suggest, however, that Promenade concerts were Mr Rea’s idea, they
were not, and the concept had been around for some time. One outside force
that influenced change in this direction was Johann Strauss, senior, when he
visited England with his orchestra in 1838 and toured the country widely,
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