NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
END OF A GOLDEN AGE
An article in the Musical Times, published around the time of the First World
War regretted that the war had brought about a deterioration in musical tastes. It
said that there was plenty of music but what audiences sought was show and
flourish, and theatrical glitter, and were pleased to applaud when they got it. It
claimed that general taste had gone back thirty years, when the only interest in a
programme lay in the number of popular performers, not in the choice of works,
and the article concluded, ‘audiences’ had unwittingly changed’. I think the author
was probably commenting, with some regret, on the passing of the old musical
order, but it is a fact that cultural standards, if unchecked, do drop in times of
war. But then in uncertain times the general public seek escapism not soul
searching symphonic works: When separated by war what is Beethoven’s Ninth
compared to a simple tune linked to a specific time and place and memory of a
loved one. Regardless of the war, however, the many worthy music societies,
that had been the mainstay of musical life up until then were dying. Musical
interests were becoming less provincial with touring London theatre companies,
visiting professional orchestras under conductors who were stamping their own
personalities on the performances. It was becoming less a question of whose
symphony it was but more a matter of whose interpretation it was. Choral singing
was still very popular in the north but raised standards and the fact that people
were finding other ways of spending their leisure time was having its effect. The
brass band movement was surviving well although its peek had been in the
1890s, when country-wide there had been around 40,000 bands. The movement,
however, had organised itself nationally and established a centre for brass band
competition at Belle Vue in Manchester. That other mainstay of working class
enjoyment, the Music Hall, had long been on the wane, giving way to the more
stylish and comfortable variety theatres. During the war and even after it was at
the theatres that people found the escapism they were seeking, but the early
cinema, the rising popularity of the gramophone, together with the rise of popular
music and above all jazz were also claiming attention. However, there was one
Newcastle musician who successfully raised musical standards in the city at this
period and that was Dr W.G.Whittaker, Mus. Bac., F.R.C.O. In 1915 he founded
the Bach Choir, which was to claim recognition beyond the banks of the Tyne
and attract the attention of many of the country’s leading composers. By 1922 it
was taking part in a three-day festival in London and by 1927 was appearing in
Germany. The choir also performed at St Margaret’s Westminster and at Oxford.
Dr Whittaker became one of England’ leading choral conductors and an authority
on Bach. In 1914 he was already doing his bit for the war effort by mounting a
Grand War Relief Music Festival at St. James’ Park Football Ground, where a
choir and orchestra of one thousand two hundred and fifty performed favourite
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