NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

he said that in all other large centres of population in the great (British) empire,
the authorities were devoting very large sums of money to this special object;
and that they practically pledged themselves as citizens to do so. He went on to
point out that for those of them who were temperance reformers there was no
better influence that could be exerted to promote sobriety in the habits of the
people than the encouragement of music of this sort and he would like to see the
movement extended. The series did trundled on but was probably a casualty of
the Great War. I was denied access to the Council Minutes for part of the latter
period - the books are considered too fragile for handling by the public - but by
August 1918 the minutes show that consideration was being given to handing
over the south end of the Town Hall Concert Room to the Food Control
Department and the north end of the hall to the requirements of the Coal
Rationing Department. In other words it was agreed that the Town Council take
steps to make best possible arrangements for the fullest use of the Town Hall
Concert Room! By 1920, Council Minutes were beginning to reflect the
dilapidated state of the Concert Room, which it was said was unfit for public
gatherings. The magazine ‘Musical Times’ reported in one of their 1920 issues
on the lack of concert hall facilities in Newcastle upon Tyne.
We have some idea of the content of People’s Concerts, which reflects the
limited finances put initially at Mr Rea’s disposal. They quite obviously could not
stretch to an orchestra and so the early programmes mostly comprised songs,
organ solos by William Rea, glees and violin and ‘clarionette’ solos. In 1883 they
managed performances of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and Haydn’s ‘Creation’. In 1886
they presented Handel's ‘Judas Maccabeus’ and in 1895, Rossini’s ‘Stabat
Mater’. At other concerts there were scenes from operas. From the sparse
information available it would seem that by 1901/1902 the Corporation was
inviting good quality singers to perform at these concerts. The French/Canadian
soprano, Miss Zelie de Lussan sang and Joseph O’Mara, the Irish tenor, both
outstanding artists of their day. In 1902 the American soprano, Miss Ellen Beech
Yaw, came and was billed as the ‘Highest Soprano in the World’, which was no
idle boast as she could skyrocket an octave above high C. She was also known
as Lark Ellen, or the Californian Nightingale and said to have the highest vocal
range in history. How all this went down in the Bigg Market at these People’s
Concerts we are left to imagine. Perhaps press reports hold a clue as to the
behaviour of audiences at these concerts in Newcastle. In Leeds for instance,
behaviour was not of the best, where there was shouting from the gallery and
resounding calls of Hear! Hear! when some well known soprano sang the
sentimental Victorian ballad ’Home Sweet Home’ with its throat catching line
‘There’s no place like home’, guaranteed to reduce any audience to tears. In
1903 the Meister Glee Singers entertained and then there was the London
Concert Party featuring Leslie Harris' Society Entertainers and so the concerts
continued with the emphasis remaining firmly on song. Whether or not Rea
resigned his position because of differences with the Music Committee over the
concert arrangements we may never know but what we know of the level of
entertainment at these concerts it may well have been that they fell below his
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