Page 188 - 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. 188
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
Parry and Stanford and others
The finances had lurched from crisis to crisis, often in tandem with prob-
lems caused by the ad hoc administration. In the 1880s the Society was res-
cued artistically and financially by the Director Francesco Berger,31 who
adopted a totally professional and up-to-date approach to the society’s ad-
ministration. Once the Society had recovered from these near disasters the
scene was set for two composers to build on this now firm foundation. On
30 June 1880, Hubert Parry’s charming and innocent song, It was a Lover
and his Lass, was sung at a Philharmonic concert by Antoinette Sterling ac-
companied (presumably) by Cusins, and more strikingly on 23 March 1882,
Charles Villiers Stanford’s the Overture to the opera The Veiled Prophet of
Khorassan was played. The appearance of these two composers at the Phil-
harmonic’s concerts was unobtrusive, but it was the beginning of a rich and
fertile association with the Society. There were numerous changes in the
next twenty years, but the appearance of new works by British composers
was now frequent and welcomed.
With the retirement of William Cusins, the conductorship was tak-
en over in 1884 by a varied but very capable group which included George
Mount, Stanford, Antonín Dvořák and for the final two concerts the com-
poser and excellent conductor Frederic Cowen. Arthur Sullivan conducted
most of the concerts in the years 1885–1887, with Cowen returning for 1888–
1892. The Scottish composer, conductor and academic Alexander Macken-
zie was appointed director from 1893 to 1899, and then Cowen returned un-
til 1908 from when the famous Henry J. Wood (the founder of the London
Proms in the Queen’s Hall) took over much of the work. It appears that Sul-
livan and Cowen did the most to promote British music.
By 1880 the renaissance of British music was well under way, although
as we can see, there had been considerable progress in the previous fifty
years. In the years 1880–1890, the performance at concerts of the Philhar-
monic Society of significant new British orchestral works, especially sym-
phonies, became common. The Sinfonietta and Fourth and Fifth Sympho-
nies of Frederic Cowen, the Symphony in C minor by Frederic Cliffe, and
numerous orchestral works by Sullivan, Macfarren and Mackenzie were
performed at the Society’s concerts. But probably the most important de-
velopment was the emergence of Parry and Stanford as the leaders of the
31 Cyril Ehrlich, First Philharmonic: A History of the Royal Philharmonic Society (Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 132–57, the chapter entitled “Francesco Berger
and Recovery.”
186
Parry and Stanford and others
The finances had lurched from crisis to crisis, often in tandem with prob-
lems caused by the ad hoc administration. In the 1880s the Society was res-
cued artistically and financially by the Director Francesco Berger,31 who
adopted a totally professional and up-to-date approach to the society’s ad-
ministration. Once the Society had recovered from these near disasters the
scene was set for two composers to build on this now firm foundation. On
30 June 1880, Hubert Parry’s charming and innocent song, It was a Lover
and his Lass, was sung at a Philharmonic concert by Antoinette Sterling ac-
companied (presumably) by Cusins, and more strikingly on 23 March 1882,
Charles Villiers Stanford’s the Overture to the opera The Veiled Prophet of
Khorassan was played. The appearance of these two composers at the Phil-
harmonic’s concerts was unobtrusive, but it was the beginning of a rich and
fertile association with the Society. There were numerous changes in the
next twenty years, but the appearance of new works by British composers
was now frequent and welcomed.
With the retirement of William Cusins, the conductorship was tak-
en over in 1884 by a varied but very capable group which included George
Mount, Stanford, Antonín Dvořák and for the final two concerts the com-
poser and excellent conductor Frederic Cowen. Arthur Sullivan conducted
most of the concerts in the years 1885–1887, with Cowen returning for 1888–
1892. The Scottish composer, conductor and academic Alexander Macken-
zie was appointed director from 1893 to 1899, and then Cowen returned un-
til 1908 from when the famous Henry J. Wood (the founder of the London
Proms in the Queen’s Hall) took over much of the work. It appears that Sul-
livan and Cowen did the most to promote British music.
By 1880 the renaissance of British music was well under way, although
as we can see, there had been considerable progress in the previous fifty
years. In the years 1880–1890, the performance at concerts of the Philhar-
monic Society of significant new British orchestral works, especially sym-
phonies, became common. The Sinfonietta and Fourth and Fifth Sympho-
nies of Frederic Cowen, the Symphony in C minor by Frederic Cliffe, and
numerous orchestral works by Sullivan, Macfarren and Mackenzie were
performed at the Society’s concerts. But probably the most important de-
velopment was the emergence of Parry and Stanford as the leaders of the
31 Cyril Ehrlich, First Philharmonic: A History of the Royal Philharmonic Society (Ox-
ford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 132–57, the chapter entitled “Francesco Berger
and Recovery.”
186
