NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...
NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...
NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...
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theatre orchestras in the district from whose ranks all the players had been<br />
drawn. In spite of this, the orchestra flourished and before the First World War<br />
an orchestral committee had been formed under Sir Henry Hadow, Principal of<br />
Armstrong College and the orchestra began a close association with the<br />
Conservatoire. In 1910, upon the resignation of Mr Rogers, the conductorship<br />
was taken over by Edgar Bainton (two years before he became Principal of the<br />
Conservatoire) and he held the post for twenty four years. In October 1911 the<br />
following notice appeared in The Musical Times:<br />
‘An important scheme is the enlargement of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the<br />
extension of its activities so as to include four concerts. The syllabus has not yet<br />
been issued, but I am able to state that at each concert a symphony will be<br />
played, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Glazounow, being represented this<br />
season, and that at each concert one or more works by living British composers<br />
will be included. As the additions to the Orchestra comprise some of the best<br />
instrumentalists in the district, and a thorough plan of rehearsals has been drawn<br />
up by the conductor, Mr. E.J.Bainton, it looks as if the tentative attempts of the<br />
last two years to found a local permanent orchestra are likely to produce a<br />
scheme pregnant with rich possibilities. One important disadvantage the<br />
Orchestra labours under is that so many of its members are unable to get free<br />
from theartres and other positions of employment in the evenings and that<br />
concerts at present must be given in the afternoons.’<br />
Upon the resignation of Bainton in 1934 Dr Russell took over the post as<br />
conductor. At his debut in the City Hall. he made a speech, which was deemed in<br />
the press to be tactless, particularly as it came from a newcomer to the musical<br />
scene. Subsequent correspondence in the papers agreed with Dr Russell’s view<br />
that public support for the orchestra was poor, but not with his view that some of<br />
Yehudi Menuhin’s programme in a recent Celebrity concert was ‘a mere display<br />
of technical skill’ (shades of Charles Avison, which makes one wonder if there is<br />
not something in the bracing Tyneside air that inspires men to challenge giants)<br />
Russell also said that some professional players had not been remunerated for<br />
the previous concert which pointed to financial difficulties.<br />
Following the 1914 War the orchestra continued giving four to six concerts a<br />
season in the Palace Theatre. Their programmes were made up of the more<br />
substantial classical repetoire with liberal helpings of contemporary English<br />
music. There was variety in the rest of the programmes made up of more familiar<br />
orchestral pieces. A press review headed ‘First Post-War Concert in Newcastle’<br />
said that the orchestra was good enough to suggest that in the absence of any<br />
further breaks in its continuity of practice, Newcastle would soon have a really<br />
first-class orchestral combination of professional musicians, but regretted the<br />
absence of a proper place in the city for public music concerts. There was some<br />
suggestion that public support could have been better, but most people had to<br />
work for their living or were out of work and on the dole and did not have money<br />
to spend on tickets for symphony concerts. In any case the admission prices<br />
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