Page 204 - 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. 204
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
industry: The Harland & Wolff shipyard was at one point the largest one in
the world; the ill-fated Titanic and her two sister ships were built there (the
running gag in Belfast still is “She was fine when she left us”). Consequent-
ly few other Irish cities grew as much as Belfast particularly during the sec-
ond half of the century; its population rose from 35,000 in 1820 to 70,000
in 1840, 110,000 in the mid-1850s and 385,000 in 191131 – in that year Belfast
had 11,000 more inhabitants than Dublin. This meant that a number of rich
industrialists emerged in the city, some of whom were willing to act as phi-
lanthropists and support cultural endeavours.
However, this was not yet the case at the beginning of the century. The
first “Belfast Musical Society” had been formed in the 1760s, yet no longer
existed by 1800. There were occasional concerts by travelling artists passing
through Belfast – for example, in 1813 Edward Bunting (famous for tran-
scribing and thus preserving the music he heard at the Belfast Harp Festival
of 1792) organised a series of three sacred and three secular concerts, main-
ly with visiting performers. In 1814 the “Belfast Anacreontic Society” was
founded, yet like similar societies in Dublin its focus was on private meet-
ings rather than public events (between 1820 and 1824, no public concert
organised by this society is recorded at all).32 There was also no adequate
performance space available, particularly once the city started to grow. Ini-
tially meetings of the society took place in the smallish “Exchange Rooms”,
in 1829 it moved to an upstairs room in the new building of the Belfast Sav-
ings Bank. From the 1820s onwards occasional public concerts took place
in a hall in the new “Commercial Buildings” which again soon proved to be
too small. (All these names already indicate the importance of commerce
and industry for the cultural developments in Belfast, very much unlike in
Dublin.) There was also a theatre available since the 1790s that could occa-
sionally be used for concerts. In 1824 Kalkbrenner played there, followed in
1831 by Paganini (who gave three concerts in Belfast), Ole Bull in 1837 (four
concerts) and Thalberg in 1837/38 (two concerts).33 Eventually the “Anacre-
ontic Society” decided that a purpose-built concert hall was required, and
so a “Music Hall” seating an audience of 700 was opened in 1840. Liszt
played there during the last stop of his Irish tour in January 1841. Just like
the Antient Music Rooms in Dublin at the same time, this hall quickly be-
31 Roy Johnston, “Concert Auditoria in Nineteenth-Century Belfast,” in Music in
Nineteenth-Century Ireland [Irish Musical Studies 9], eds. Michael Murphy and Jan
Smaczny (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 245.
32 Ibid., 240.
33 Ibid., 241.
202
industry: The Harland & Wolff shipyard was at one point the largest one in
the world; the ill-fated Titanic and her two sister ships were built there (the
running gag in Belfast still is “She was fine when she left us”). Consequent-
ly few other Irish cities grew as much as Belfast particularly during the sec-
ond half of the century; its population rose from 35,000 in 1820 to 70,000
in 1840, 110,000 in the mid-1850s and 385,000 in 191131 – in that year Belfast
had 11,000 more inhabitants than Dublin. This meant that a number of rich
industrialists emerged in the city, some of whom were willing to act as phi-
lanthropists and support cultural endeavours.
However, this was not yet the case at the beginning of the century. The
first “Belfast Musical Society” had been formed in the 1760s, yet no longer
existed by 1800. There were occasional concerts by travelling artists passing
through Belfast – for example, in 1813 Edward Bunting (famous for tran-
scribing and thus preserving the music he heard at the Belfast Harp Festival
of 1792) organised a series of three sacred and three secular concerts, main-
ly with visiting performers. In 1814 the “Belfast Anacreontic Society” was
founded, yet like similar societies in Dublin its focus was on private meet-
ings rather than public events (between 1820 and 1824, no public concert
organised by this society is recorded at all).32 There was also no adequate
performance space available, particularly once the city started to grow. Ini-
tially meetings of the society took place in the smallish “Exchange Rooms”,
in 1829 it moved to an upstairs room in the new building of the Belfast Sav-
ings Bank. From the 1820s onwards occasional public concerts took place
in a hall in the new “Commercial Buildings” which again soon proved to be
too small. (All these names already indicate the importance of commerce
and industry for the cultural developments in Belfast, very much unlike in
Dublin.) There was also a theatre available since the 1790s that could occa-
sionally be used for concerts. In 1824 Kalkbrenner played there, followed in
1831 by Paganini (who gave three concerts in Belfast), Ole Bull in 1837 (four
concerts) and Thalberg in 1837/38 (two concerts).33 Eventually the “Anacre-
ontic Society” decided that a purpose-built concert hall was required, and
so a “Music Hall” seating an audience of 700 was opened in 1840. Liszt
played there during the last stop of his Irish tour in January 1841. Just like
the Antient Music Rooms in Dublin at the same time, this hall quickly be-
31 Roy Johnston, “Concert Auditoria in Nineteenth-Century Belfast,” in Music in
Nineteenth-Century Ireland [Irish Musical Studies 9], eds. Michael Murphy and Jan
Smaczny (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 245.
32 Ibid., 240.
33 Ibid., 241.
202
