Page 203 - 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. 203
music societies in ireland during the nineteenth century
sohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.27 Virtuosos visiting Ire-
land usually didn’t just play in Dublin; their itinerary would broadly lead
them along the island’s Eastern and Southern coast, stopping in Belfast,
Dublin, Cork and possibly smaller towns along the way or in the vicinity.
When Liszt toured Ireland in the winter of 1840/41 he performed in Dublin
(six concerts), Cork, Clonmel, Limerick, Kilkenny, Donaghadee and Bel-
fast – always with local music societies (in Dublin separately with both the
Anacreontic and the Philharmonic Societies).28
One reason why concerts by individual societies did not offer complete
symphonies or large-scale vocal works such as oratorios was probably that
they had neither enough high-quality performers nor enough “perform-
ing members” altogether to mount such an event successfully. In addition,
many musicians were members of several societies:
The involvement of the same amateur gentlemen and profession
al musicians in numerous different societies is […] strikingly evi
dent, and implies that each society fulfilled a particular purpose,
despite the superficial similarities between them, particularly in
repertoire.29
If a large-scale performance was staged it usually required many di-
fferent societies to join forces. Ita Beausang mentions a full performance of
Israel in Egypt in 1847 “ for the relief of the poor of the city” (this was at the
height of the famine) for which 400 performers from eleven music societi-
es came together.30
Music Societies in Belfast
Belfast was at the centre of the Northern region of Ireland that was most af-
fected by the industrial revolution. A small market town at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, by its end it had become the hub of the world’s
linen industry, producing both linen itself and also the machinery required
to produce it. Since the 1860s it also had a quickly expanding shipbuilding
27 Catherine Ferris, “Dublin Grand Musical Festival, 1831,” The Encyclopaedia of Mu
sic in Ireland, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College
Dublin Press, 2013), 324–5.
28 Arthur Beesley, “An Irishman’s Diary,” The Irish Times, May 31, 1999, https://www.
irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.190784. This tour was commercially
unsuccessful and lost over £1,000.
29 Rodmell, “The Society of Antient Music,” 214.
30 Beausang, “Music Societies (Dublin),” 711.
201
sohn’s overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.27 Virtuosos visiting Ire-
land usually didn’t just play in Dublin; their itinerary would broadly lead
them along the island’s Eastern and Southern coast, stopping in Belfast,
Dublin, Cork and possibly smaller towns along the way or in the vicinity.
When Liszt toured Ireland in the winter of 1840/41 he performed in Dublin
(six concerts), Cork, Clonmel, Limerick, Kilkenny, Donaghadee and Bel-
fast – always with local music societies (in Dublin separately with both the
Anacreontic and the Philharmonic Societies).28
One reason why concerts by individual societies did not offer complete
symphonies or large-scale vocal works such as oratorios was probably that
they had neither enough high-quality performers nor enough “perform-
ing members” altogether to mount such an event successfully. In addition,
many musicians were members of several societies:
The involvement of the same amateur gentlemen and profession
al musicians in numerous different societies is […] strikingly evi
dent, and implies that each society fulfilled a particular purpose,
despite the superficial similarities between them, particularly in
repertoire.29
If a large-scale performance was staged it usually required many di-
fferent societies to join forces. Ita Beausang mentions a full performance of
Israel in Egypt in 1847 “ for the relief of the poor of the city” (this was at the
height of the famine) for which 400 performers from eleven music societi-
es came together.30
Music Societies in Belfast
Belfast was at the centre of the Northern region of Ireland that was most af-
fected by the industrial revolution. A small market town at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, by its end it had become the hub of the world’s
linen industry, producing both linen itself and also the machinery required
to produce it. Since the 1860s it also had a quickly expanding shipbuilding
27 Catherine Ferris, “Dublin Grand Musical Festival, 1831,” The Encyclopaedia of Mu
sic in Ireland, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College
Dublin Press, 2013), 324–5.
28 Arthur Beesley, “An Irishman’s Diary,” The Irish Times, May 31, 1999, https://www.
irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-1.190784. This tour was commercially
unsuccessful and lost over £1,000.
29 Rodmell, “The Society of Antient Music,” 214.
30 Beausang, “Music Societies (Dublin),” 711.
201
