NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

In 1892 the Newcastle upon Tyne Harmonic Society got off to a flourishing
start in the Town Hall with a performance of the cantata ‘St John’s Eve’ (Cowan)
and they ‘topped’ that the following year by getting Dr Joseph Parry to conduct
the cantata, ‘Saul of Tarsus’, with special soloists. Parry is usually credited with
heading the Renaissance in English music in his excellent literary choice and the
way in which he set the subject to music. The Society’s annual concerts
continued, somewhat erratically it seems, until the First World War, but from the
programmes I have seen they were fairly ‘run of the mill’ affairs, although they did
perform some works by contemporary English composers, which in some small
way was a contribution to the revival of English music. Thirteen years earlier, in
1879, Mr Albion Alderson (presumably of Alderson and Brentnall, musical
instruments, record shop and concert booking agent late of Northumberland
Street) formed what seems to have been a successful amateur choir. He
conducted his choir in a series of Invitation and Private concerts in the Town Hall.
From a note in one of his programmes he was also desirous of forming a small
orchestra. Whether he realised his orchestra or not I am not able to say but his
concerts presented works by Cowen, Schumann, Gade and Brahms. The
performances remained somewhat exclusive with evening dress only and a note
on the programme instructing the audience to arrange their carriages for 10.15
pm.
The General Post Office, my first employer, was a very musical organisation.
Long before my time, in 1896, the vocal element formed themselves into the
Postal and Telegraph Choral Society and according to contemporary press
reports their programmes were always of interest. In 1911 the society reorganised
its constitution and became known as the Newcastle Musical Union.
Looking back across my Post Office years, I am conscious of a strong bias
towards music amongst many of my colleagues. I worked alongside a violinist,
who encouraged me to go to my first concert. I was on nodding terms with a
trumpet playing postman, who played in various amateur orchestras and became
very friendly with a more than competent pianist, whom I used to spend my lunch
hour listening to whilst he practised his Chopin on a piano in the basement air
raid shelter. (His father, a Newcastle man, had been a flute player with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra in America.) I suspect also that my chief in the
Head Office at St Nicholas’ had been an original member of the Musical Union.
He would occasionally call me into his office, close the door and without warning,
much to my embarrassment, burst into song – usually a bass ballad such as
‘Rocked in the cradle of the deep’ or ‘In Cellar Cool’, ending on a low note that
made me instinctively look down at his boots. As the last note was absorbed into
the office carpet there would be a moments pause for appreciation, then he
would clear his throat, and ask, “How’s that Joe”
One of the most seriously committed of the many societies at this time was the
Chamber Music Society formed in 1880. Even today it is mouth-watering to look
through the societies programmes; chamber concerts for the connoisseur with
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