Page 205 - 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. 205
music societies in ireland during the nineteenth century
came the centre of musical life and was rented by other societies as well.
However, the city kept growing, and the society refused to install an organ
(important for the performance of oratorios and other sacred pieces) as this
would have reduced the number of seats.
While the “Anacreontic Society” engaged with vocal and instrumental
music, a number of choral societies emerged in parallel, yet were promot-
ed from a different direction: “Choral societies came into being in Belfast be
cause of the desire of the churches to improve their congregational singing.”34
The “Belfast Choral Society” was established in 1839 and the “Classical Har-
monists” in 1851. The latter society proved adept at connecting with indus-
trialists (who soon occupied important positions on its committee) and se-
curing financial support which enabled it to open another concert venue,
the “Victoria Hall”, in 1854. It contained an organ so that oratorios could
now be performed much more easily – after all, Handel was just as popu-
lar in Belfast as he was in Dublin. Yet still the demand for space grew, so
that a new, larger hall was eventually built – the Ulster Hall which opened
in 1862 and is still in use today. Equipped with a capacity of 2,000 (1,500
in the stalls and 500 in the gallery, with space for 200–250 performers), it
was opened with Messiah and a concert performance of Der Freischütz.35
The growing influence of the financiers made itself felt in the simultane-
ous sacking of the artistic directors of both the “Anacreontic Society” and
the “Classical Harmonists” at this point; the British organist and compos-
er Edmund Thomas Chipp was installed as the new head of both societies
instead (if only for three years, until he moved back to England). The large
hall was suitable for famous visiting artists, yet local societies struggled to
fill it and started fading away – the “Anacreontic Society” ceased to exist in
1866.36 Its place was taken in 1872 by the “Belfast Music Society” which fo-
cused on orchestral music. In 1874 this society merged with the singers of
the “Classical Harmonists” to form the “Belfast Philharmonic Society” fol-
lowing a trend that Roy Johnston describes as follows.
The mode proved, as elsewhere in Europe, to be the consolidation
of concert life in its modern form: a town’s concert life having at its
34 Roy Johnston and Martin Dowling, “Belfast,” in The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ire
land, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College Dublin
Press, 2013), 76.
35 Johnston, “Concert Auditoria in Nineteenth-Century Belfast,” 247.
36 Peter Downey, “Belfast Philharmonic Society,” in The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ire
land, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College Dublin
Press, 2013), 82.
203
came the centre of musical life and was rented by other societies as well.
However, the city kept growing, and the society refused to install an organ
(important for the performance of oratorios and other sacred pieces) as this
would have reduced the number of seats.
While the “Anacreontic Society” engaged with vocal and instrumental
music, a number of choral societies emerged in parallel, yet were promot-
ed from a different direction: “Choral societies came into being in Belfast be
cause of the desire of the churches to improve their congregational singing.”34
The “Belfast Choral Society” was established in 1839 and the “Classical Har-
monists” in 1851. The latter society proved adept at connecting with indus-
trialists (who soon occupied important positions on its committee) and se-
curing financial support which enabled it to open another concert venue,
the “Victoria Hall”, in 1854. It contained an organ so that oratorios could
now be performed much more easily – after all, Handel was just as popu-
lar in Belfast as he was in Dublin. Yet still the demand for space grew, so
that a new, larger hall was eventually built – the Ulster Hall which opened
in 1862 and is still in use today. Equipped with a capacity of 2,000 (1,500
in the stalls and 500 in the gallery, with space for 200–250 performers), it
was opened with Messiah and a concert performance of Der Freischütz.35
The growing influence of the financiers made itself felt in the simultane-
ous sacking of the artistic directors of both the “Anacreontic Society” and
the “Classical Harmonists” at this point; the British organist and compos-
er Edmund Thomas Chipp was installed as the new head of both societies
instead (if only for three years, until he moved back to England). The large
hall was suitable for famous visiting artists, yet local societies struggled to
fill it and started fading away – the “Anacreontic Society” ceased to exist in
1866.36 Its place was taken in 1872 by the “Belfast Music Society” which fo-
cused on orchestral music. In 1874 this society merged with the singers of
the “Classical Harmonists” to form the “Belfast Philharmonic Society” fol-
lowing a trend that Roy Johnston describes as follows.
The mode proved, as elsewhere in Europe, to be the consolidation
of concert life in its modern form: a town’s concert life having at its
34 Roy Johnston and Martin Dowling, “Belfast,” in The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ire
land, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College Dublin
Press, 2013), 76.
35 Johnston, “Concert Auditoria in Nineteenth-Century Belfast,” 247.
36 Peter Downey, “Belfast Philharmonic Society,” in The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ire
land, vol. 1, eds. Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: University College Dublin
Press, 2013), 82.
203
