NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

theatre orchestras in the district from whose ranks all the players had been
drawn. In spite of this, the orchestra flourished and before the First World War
an orchestral committee had been formed under Sir Henry Hadow, Principal of
Armstrong College and the orchestra began a close association with the
Conservatoire. In 1910, upon the resignation of Mr Rogers, the conductorship
was taken over by Edgar Bainton (two years before he became Principal of the
Conservatoire) and he held the post for twenty four years. In October 1911 the
following notice appeared in The Musical Times:
‘An important scheme is the enlargement of the Philharmonic Orchestra and the
extension of its activities so as to include four concerts. The syllabus has not yet
been issued, but I am able to state that at each concert a symphony will be
played, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Glazounow, being represented this
season, and that at each concert one or more works by living British composers
will be included. As the additions to the Orchestra comprise some of the best
instrumentalists in the district, and a thorough plan of rehearsals has been drawn
up by the conductor, Mr. E.J.Bainton, it looks as if the tentative attempts of the
last two years to found a local permanent orchestra are likely to produce a
scheme pregnant with rich possibilities. One important disadvantage the
Orchestra labours under is that so many of its members are unable to get free
from theartres and other positions of employment in the evenings and that
concerts at present must be given in the afternoons.’
Upon the resignation of Bainton in 1934 Dr Russell took over the post as
conductor. At his debut in the City Hall. he made a speech, which was deemed in
the press to be tactless, particularly as it came from a newcomer to the musical
scene. Subsequent correspondence in the papers agreed with Dr Russell’s view
that public support for the orchestra was poor, but not with his view that some of
Yehudi Menuhin’s programme in a recent Celebrity concert was ‘a mere display
of technical skill’ (shades of Charles Avison, which makes one wonder if there is
not something in the bracing Tyneside air that inspires men to challenge giants)
Russell also said that some professional players had not been remunerated for
the previous concert which pointed to financial difficulties.
Following the 1914 War the orchestra continued giving four to six concerts a
season in the Palace Theatre. Their programmes were made up of the more
substantial classical repetoire with liberal helpings of contemporary English
music. There was variety in the rest of the programmes made up of more familiar
orchestral pieces. A press review headed ‘First Post-War Concert in Newcastle’
said that the orchestra was good enough to suggest that in the absence of any
further breaks in its continuity of practice, Newcastle would soon have a really
first-class orchestral combination of professional musicians, but regretted the
absence of a proper place in the city for public music concerts. There was some
suggestion that public support could have been better, but most people had to
work for their living or were out of work and on the dole and did not have money
to spend on tickets for symphony concerts. In any case the admission prices
86