Page 186 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2023. Glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo ▪︎ Music societies in the long 19th century: Between amateur and professional culture. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 6
P. 186
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
Bennett, throughout the time that he held the conductorship, fre
quently asked the Directors not to introduce compositions of his
own [...]. For one thing, the works of other British composers were
seldom placed upon the programmes, and he would not like, whilst
he was Conductor, to have a prominence given to his music if his
fellow countrymen did not share the honours.26
In fact, contrary to his protestations, during the time of Bennett’s con-
ductorship (1856–1866), there were seventeen performances of his works,
the Piano Concerto No. 1 (once), No. 2 (once), No. 3 (twice), No. 4 (three
times), the Caprice in E, The Naiads Overture (twice), The Wood Nymphs
Overture (once), Paradise and the Peri (four times), and the Symphony in G
minor (twice), a very rich harvest indeed. Apart from Piano Concerto No. 1,
all the other concertos were played by a talented young lady called Arabel-
la Goddard who was married to the controversial music critic J. W. Davi-
son, a very prominent supporter of new British works. The only other Eng-
lish works conducted by Bennett in his eleven years as the director of the
Philharmonic were two overtures by his teacher Cipriani Potter, Ajax and
Achilles and Cymbeline. The progress of British music had slowed down.
The situation was about to change dramatically. After withdrawing
from the conductorship of the Philharmonic Society, Bennett spent the
years from 1866 until his death in 1875 as principal of the Royal Acade-
my of Music, rescuing it from financial disaster and probable closure. That
he was successful was due to his patient and persistently positive actions.27
He was succeeded as the Philharmonic’s conductor from 1867 to 1883 by
the reportedly dull and uninspiring William Cusins for some 134 concerts.
Yet the numbers of British works performed increased significantly. Cusins
was wedded to the traditional classics of his predecessors, for example, con-
ducting all the Beethoven symphonies on numerous occasions, program-
ming many works by the English favourite Mendelssohn and welcoming
many distinguished soloists from the continent, for example, Clara Schu-
mann, Joseph Joachim and Charles Hallé. At the same time he increased
almost surreptitiously the numbers of British works. Not only did he pay
tribute to his predecessor, William Sterndale Bennett, with repeat perfor-
mances of his Piano Concertos, the Symphony in G minor (three times)
and various overtures, but he also featured a number of works by the tal-
ented George Macfarren, inexplicably ignored by the Philharmonic for
26 Ibid. [1907], 247.
27 Ibid., 369–75.
184
Bennett, throughout the time that he held the conductorship, fre
quently asked the Directors not to introduce compositions of his
own [...]. For one thing, the works of other British composers were
seldom placed upon the programmes, and he would not like, whilst
he was Conductor, to have a prominence given to his music if his
fellow countrymen did not share the honours.26
In fact, contrary to his protestations, during the time of Bennett’s con-
ductorship (1856–1866), there were seventeen performances of his works,
the Piano Concerto No. 1 (once), No. 2 (once), No. 3 (twice), No. 4 (three
times), the Caprice in E, The Naiads Overture (twice), The Wood Nymphs
Overture (once), Paradise and the Peri (four times), and the Symphony in G
minor (twice), a very rich harvest indeed. Apart from Piano Concerto No. 1,
all the other concertos were played by a talented young lady called Arabel-
la Goddard who was married to the controversial music critic J. W. Davi-
son, a very prominent supporter of new British works. The only other Eng-
lish works conducted by Bennett in his eleven years as the director of the
Philharmonic were two overtures by his teacher Cipriani Potter, Ajax and
Achilles and Cymbeline. The progress of British music had slowed down.
The situation was about to change dramatically. After withdrawing
from the conductorship of the Philharmonic Society, Bennett spent the
years from 1866 until his death in 1875 as principal of the Royal Acade-
my of Music, rescuing it from financial disaster and probable closure. That
he was successful was due to his patient and persistently positive actions.27
He was succeeded as the Philharmonic’s conductor from 1867 to 1883 by
the reportedly dull and uninspiring William Cusins for some 134 concerts.
Yet the numbers of British works performed increased significantly. Cusins
was wedded to the traditional classics of his predecessors, for example, con-
ducting all the Beethoven symphonies on numerous occasions, program-
ming many works by the English favourite Mendelssohn and welcoming
many distinguished soloists from the continent, for example, Clara Schu-
mann, Joseph Joachim and Charles Hallé. At the same time he increased
almost surreptitiously the numbers of British works. Not only did he pay
tribute to his predecessor, William Sterndale Bennett, with repeat perfor-
mances of his Piano Concertos, the Symphony in G minor (three times)
and various overtures, but he also featured a number of works by the tal-
ented George Macfarren, inexplicably ignored by the Philharmonic for
26 Ibid. [1907], 247.
27 Ibid., 369–75.
184
