Misplaced Pages

#364635

153-515: The London Symphony Orchestra ( LSO ) is a British symphony orchestra based in London . Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras . The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood 's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From

306-472: A Bronze Age bridge were found on the south River Thames foreshore, upstream from Vauxhall Bridge . Two of the timbers were radiocarbon dated to 1750–1285 BC. In 2010, foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4800–4500 BC, were found on the Thames' south foreshore downstream from Vauxhall Bridge. Both structures are on the south bank of the Thames, where the now-underground River Effra flows into

459-531: A clash of dates. The LSO's board, which reflected the majority opinion of the players, refused to accommodate the principals, most of whom resigned en masse , to form the Sinfonia of London , a session ensemble that flourished from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, and then faded away. For fifteen years after the split the LSO did little film work, recording only six soundtracks between 1956 and 1971, compared with more than 70 films between 1940 and 1955. To replace

612-492: A condition of sponsoring the LSO that the profit-sharing principle should be abandoned and the players made salaried employees. This renunciation of the principles for which the LSO had been founded was rejected by the players, and the offered subsidy was declined. At the end of the war the LSO had to face new competition. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra had survived

765-542: A larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are excluded and some just outside included. The Greater London boundary has been aligned to the M25 motorway in places. Further urban expansion is now prevented by the Metropolitan Green Belt , although the built-up area extends beyond the boundary in places, producing a separately defined Greater London Urban Area . Beyond this

918-459: A management committee was elected, comprising the four original movers and Alfred Hobday (viola) and E F (Fred) James (bassoon). Busby was appointed chief executive, a post variously titled "Secretary", "managing director", "general secretary" and "general manager" over the years. Borsdorf was a player of international reputation, and through his influence, the orchestra secured Hans Richter to conduct its first concert. Newman held no grudge against

1071-470: A new managing director of the Barbican Centre, Baroness O'Cathain , an economist with no cultural background. O'Cathain, described by Morrison as "a Thatcherite free marketeer", dismissed the LSO and RSC as "arty-farty types", and opposed public subsidy. Such was the press and public reaction that she was obliged to seek a vote of confidence from the LSO and RSC; failing to gain it, she resigned, and

1224-403: A population density of 802 per acre (325 per hectare). In addition to the growing number of stores selling goods, such as Harding, Howell & Co. —one of the first department stores —located on Pall Mall , the streets had scores of street sellers . London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics, claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866. Rising traffic congestion led to

1377-573: A population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 11,760 inhabitants per square mile (4,542/km ). The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 3,236 square miles (8,382 km ) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 3,900 inhabitants per square mile (1,510/km ). Modern London stands on

1530-474: A season. As there were competing demands for the services of the finest players it was an accepted practice that, even though under contract to play for a concert, a player was at liberty to accept a better-paid engagement if it were offered. He would then engage another player to deputise for him at the original concert and the rehearsals for it. The treasurer of the Philharmonic Society described

1683-399: A series of defamatory articles about the orchestra. The articles were almost wholly untrue and the magazine was forced to pay substantial libel damages, but in the short term serious damage was done to the orchestra's reputation and morale. In August 1984, the orchestra's managing director, Peter Hemmings , resigned. For the first time since 1949, the orchestra appointed one of its players to

SECTION 10

#1732772295365

1836-405: A single principal conductor. Among the guests were Elgar, Beecham, Otto Klemperer , Bruno Walter , Wilhelm Furtwängler and Serge Koussevitzky ; soloists in the 1920s included Sergei Rachmaninoff , Artur Schnabel and the young Yehudi Menuhin . Revenues were substantial, and the orchestra seemed to many to be entering into a golden age. In fact, for lack of any serious competition in the 1920s,

1989-551: A temperate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb ). Rainfall records have been kept in the city since at least 1697, when records began at Kew . At Kew, the most rainfall in one month is 7.4 inches (189 mm) in November 1755 and the least is 0 inches (0 mm) in both December 1788 and July 1800. Mile End also had 0 inches (0 mm) in April 1893. The wettest year on record is 1903, with a total fall of 38.1 inches (969 mm) and

2142-537: A trumpeter, John Solomon. Busby organised a meeting at St. Andrew's Hall, not far from the Queen's Hall. Invitations were sent to present and former members of the Queen's Hall Orchestra. About a hundred players attended. Busby explained the scheme: a new ensemble , the London Symphony Orchestra, to be run on co-operative lines, "something akin to a Musical Republic", with a constitution that gave

2295-409: A year he took the role, though not the title, of chief conductor of the LSO. In 1916 his millionaire father died and Beecham's financial affairs became too complicated for any further musical philanthropy on his part. In 1917 the LSO's directors agreed unanimously that they would promote no more concerts until the end of the war. The orchestra played for other managements, and managed to survive, although

2448-575: A younger generation, Georg Solti , began working with the LSO; Fleischmann persuaded the management of the Vienna Festival to engage the LSO with Solti, Stokowski and Monteux for the 1961 Festwochen. While in Vienna, Fleischmann persuaded Monteux to accept the chief conductorship of the orchestra. Though 86 years old, Monteux asked for, and received, a 25-year contract with a 25-year option of renewal. He lived for another three years, working with

2601-699: Is 1,049.8 millibars (31.00 inHg) on 20 January 2020. Summers are generally warm, sometimes hot. London's average July high is 23.5 °C (74.3 °F). On average each year, London experiences 31 days above 25 °C (77.0 °F) and 4.2 days above 30.0 °C (86.0 °F). During the 2003 European heat wave , prolonged heat led to hundreds of heat-related deaths. A previous spell of 15 consecutive days above 32.2 °C (90.0 °F) in England in 1976 also caused many heat related deaths. A previous temperature of 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) in August 1911 at

2754-562: Is agreed that the name came into these languages from Common Brythonic ; recent work tends to reconstruct the lost Celtic form of the name as * Londonjon or something similar. This was then adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English. Until 1889, the name "London" applied officially only to the City of London , but since then it has also referred to the County of London and to Greater London . In 1993, remains of

2907-545: Is formed of two tiers: a citywide, strategic tier and a local tier. Citywide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities. The GLA consists of two elected components: the mayor of London , who has executive powers , and the London Assembly , which scrutinises the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject

3060-760: Is headquartered in Thames House on the north bank of the River Thames and the foreign intelligence service ( MI6 ) is headquartered in the SIS Building on the south bank. Crime rates vary widely across different areas of London. Crime figures are made available nationally at Local Authority and Ward level. In 2015, there were 118 homicides, a 25.5% increase over 2014. Recorded crime has been rising in London, notably violent crime and murder by stabbing and other means have risen. There were 50 murders from

3213-592: Is held by an independent . The ministerial post of minister for London was created in 1994, however as of 2024, the post has been vacant. Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the City of London , is provided by the Metropolitan Police ("The Met"), overseen by the mayor through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The Met is also referred to as Scotland Yard after

SECTION 20

#1732772295365

3366-564: Is known as London . It is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England by convention rather than statute. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court , and thus the political capital of the nation. Greater London encompasses a total area of 611 square miles (1,583 km ) an area which had

3519-588: Is most associated are, in its early days, Hans Richter , Sir Edward Elgar , and Sir Thomas Beecham , and in more recent decades Pierre Monteux , André Previn , Claudio Abbado , Sir Colin Davis , and Valery Gergiev . Since 1982, the LSO has been based in the Barbican Centre in the City of London . Among its programmes there have been large-scale festivals celebrating composers as diverse as Berlioz , Mahler and Leonard Bernstein . The LSO claims to be

3672-670: Is the largest in Western Europe , with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a 50-mile (80 km) estuary down to the North Sea , and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre , the City of London , was founded by the Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster , to

3825-523: Is the vast London commuter belt . Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London , and by the River Thames into North and South , with an informal central London area. The coordinates of the nominal centre of London, traditionally the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall , are about 51°30′26″N 00°07′39″W  /  51.50722°N 0.12750°W  / 51.50722; -0.12750 . Within London, both

3978-517: The 2012 Summer Olympics . London is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD, usually in the Latinised form Londinium . Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources: Latin (usually Londinium ), Old English (usually Lunden ), and Welsh (usually Llundein ), with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It

4131-540: The Black Death in the mid-14th century, London lost nearly a third of its population. London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. London was a centre of England's Jewish population before their expulsion by Edward I in 1290. Violence against Jews occurred in 1190, when it was rumoured that the new king had ordered their massacre after they had presented themselves at his coronation. In 1264 during

4284-533: The Canary Wharf development. This was born out of London's increasing role as an international financial centre in the 1980s. Located about 2 miles (3 km) east of central London, the Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea . The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, leaving London with no central administration until 2000 and

4437-672: The Corn Laws in 1846 was specifically aimed at weakening Dutch economic power. London then overtook Amsterdam as the leading international financial centre. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, an unprecedented growth in urbanisation took place, and the number of High Streets (the primary street for retail in Britain) rapidly grew. London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925 , with

4590-539: The Courtauld family. Originally Sargent and Beecham had in mind a reorganised version of the LSO, but the orchestra baulked at weeding out and replacing underperforming players. In 1932 Beecham lost patience and agreed with Sargent to set up a new orchestra from scratch. The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), as it was named, consisted of 106 players including a few young musicians straight from music college, many established players from provincial orchestras, and 17 of

4743-568: The Georgian era , new districts such as Mayfair were formed in the west; new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London . In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. London's development as an international financial centre matured for much of the 18th century. In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House , which was enlarged over the next 75 years. During

London Symphony Orchestra - Misplaced Pages Continue

4896-634: The King's Road , Chelsea and Carnaby Street . The role of trendsetter revived in the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded in response to the growth of the urban area and a new Greater London Council was created. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was hit from 1973 by bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army . These attacks lasted for two decades, starting with

5049-627: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust , the largest free-at-the-point-of-use emergency ambulance service in the world. The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution operate on the River Thames , which is under the jurisdiction of the Port of London Authority from Teddington Lock to

5202-534: The London Stock Exchange , London remains a European economic powerhouse, and one of the world's major financial centres . It hosts Europe's largest concentration of higher education institutions , some of which are the highest-ranked academic institutions in the world: Imperial College London in natural and applied sciences , the London School of Economics in social sciences , and

5355-782: The Mediterranean was normally through Antwerp and over the Alps ; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan . The reopening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 spurred a burst of commercial activity. The Royal Exchange was founded. Mercantilism grew and monopoly traders such as the East India Company were founded as trade expanded to

5508-613: The New Model Army entered London in 1647, and they were levelled by Parliament the same year. London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century, culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population. The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings. Rebuilding took over ten years and

5661-564: The New World . London became the main North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from about 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605. In the 16th century, William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London during English Renaissance theatre . Shakespeare's Globe Theatre was constructed in 1599 in Southwark . Stage performances came to a halt in London when Puritan authorities shut down

5814-612: The Old Bailey bombing . Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot . Greater London's population declined in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury , with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration, including

5967-736: The Salzburg Festival , conducted by Previn, Seiji Ozawa and Karl Böhm , in 1973, and playing at the Hollywood Bowl the following year. The lack of good rehearsal facilities to which Bernstein had objected was addressed in the 1970s when, jointly with the LPO, the LSO acquired and restored a disused church in Southwark , converting it into the Henry Wood Hall , a convenient and acoustically excellent rehearsal space and recording studio, opened in 1975. In 1978, two aspects of

6120-662: The Second Barons' War , Simon de Montfort 's rebels killed 500 Jews while attempting to seize records of debts. During the Tudor period , the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism . Much of London property passed from church to private ownership, which accelerated trade and business in the city. In 1475, the Hanseatic League set up a main trading base ( kontor ) of England in London, called

6273-585: The Stalhof or Steelyard . It remained until 1853, when the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck , Bremen and Hamburg sold the property to South Eastern Railway . Woollen cloth was shipped undyed and undressed from 14th/15th century London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries . Yet English maritime enterprise hardly reached beyond the seas of north-west Europe . The commercial route to Italy and

London Symphony Orchestra - Misplaced Pages Continue

6426-547: The Thames , its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a flood plain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill , Addington Hills , and Primrose Hill . Historically London grew up at the lowest bridging point on the Thames. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands ; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width. Since

6579-660: The Tower of London ; the site featuring the Palace of Westminster , Church of St. Margaret , and Westminster Abbey ; and the historic settlement in Greenwich where the Royal Observatory defines the prime meridian (0° longitude ) and Greenwich Mean Time . Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace , the London Eye , Piccadilly Circus , St Paul's Cathedral , Tower Bridge , and Trafalgar Square . The city has

6732-533: The Victorian era the Thames has been extensively embanked , and many of its London tributaries now flow underground . The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding. The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level caused by climate change and by the slow 'tilting' of the British Isles as a result of post-glacial rebound . London has

6885-412: The "Berlioz Odyssey", in which all Berlioz's major works were given. The festival continued into 2000. Many of the performances, including Les Troyens , were recorded for the orchestra's new CD label, LSO Live, launched in 2000. Les Troyens won two Grammy awards. In 2003, with backing from the banking firm UBS, the orchestra opened LSO St Luke's , its music education centre, in a former church near

7038-569: The 11th century, London was clearly the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey , rebuilt in Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor , was one of the grandest churches in Europe. Winchester had been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England , but from this time London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton : "It had

7191-502: The 18th century, London was said to be dogged by crime, and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force. Epidemics during the 1720s and 30s saw most children born in the city die before reaching their fifth birthday. Coffee-houses became a popular place to debate ideas, as growing literacy and development of the printing press made news widely available, with Fleet Street becoming

7344-450: The 1911 Musical Times article indicates otherwise. Richter retired from conducting in 1911, and Elgar was elected conductor-in-chief for the 1911–12 season. Elgar conducted six concerts, Arthur Nikisch three, and Willem Mengelberg , Fritz Steinbach and Gustave Doret one each. As a conductor Elgar did not prove to be a big enough box-office draw, and after one season he was replaced by the charismatic Hungarian maestro Nikisch. Nikisch

7497-465: The 1930s and the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic after the Second World War. The profit-sharing principle was abandoned in the post-war era as a condition of receiving public subsidy for the first time. In the 1950s the orchestra debated whether to concentrate on film work at the expense of symphony concerts; many senior players left when the majority of players rejected the idea. By the 1960s

7650-539: The Arts Council's conditions for subsidy, and changed the LSO's constitution to replace profit-sharing with salaries. With a view to raising its playing standards it engaged Josef Krips as conductor. His commitments in Vienna preventing him from becoming the LSO's chief conductor until 1950, but from his first concert with the orchestra in December 1948 he influenced the playing for the better. His chosen repertoire

7803-460: The BBC and Beecham, they went their separate ways. In 1929 the BBC began recruiting for the new BBC Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult . The prospect of joining a permanent, salaried orchestra was attractive enough to induce some LSO players to defect. The new orchestra immediately received enthusiastic reviews that contrasted starkly with the severe press criticisms of the LSO's playing. According to

SECTION 50

#1732772295365

7956-529: The BBC and Beecham. Critics including Neville Cardus recognised the continued improvement in the LSO's playing: "On this evening's hearing the London Symphony Orchestra is likely, after all, to give its two rivals a gallant run. Under Sir Hamilton it will certainly take on a style of sincere expression, distinguished from the virtuoso brilliance cultivated by the B.B.C. Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Beecham." Among

8109-469: The Barbican. The following year the orchestra celebrated its centenary, with a gala concert attended by the LSO's Patron, the Queen . After serving as managing director for 21 years, Clive Gillinson left to become chief executive of Carnegie Hall , New York. His successor was Kathryn McDowell. In 2006, Daniel Harding joined Michael Tilson Thomas as principal guest conductor. At the end of 2006, Davis stood down as principal conductor and became president of

8262-420: The City of London and the City of Westminster have city status . The City of London and the remainder of Greater London are both counties for the purposes of lieutenancies . The area of Greater London includes areas that are part of the historic counties of Middlesex , Kent , Surrey , Essex and Hertfordshire . More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context

8415-694: The French horn at the Conservatoire in Dresden and played in a military band. In 1879 he moved to England where he stayed for the rest of his life, becoming the most important horn player in England. The conductor Hans Richter offered him a job in the orchestra at Covent Garden . In 1904 he joined the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra . The four horn players in that orchestra were excellent players and were often called “God’s Own Quartet”. Borsdorf and his colleague Franz Paersch had learned to play on wide-bore horns that were made in Germany. However, both changed to playing narrow-bore instruments made in France by Raoux. Though not quite as powerful as

8568-417: The German models, they produced a particularly clear sound. Borsdorf became a professor at the Royal College of Music when it was founded in 1882. He also taught at the Royal Academy of Music . He soon became the best horn player in London . He was playing principal horn in the orchestra which Henry Wood conducted at the very first Promenade Concert in the Queen’s Hall in 1895 (the fourth horn

8721-399: The Greenwich station was later disregarded as non-standard. Droughts can also, occasionally, be a problem, especially in summer, most recently in summer 2018, and with much drier than average conditions prevailing from May to December. However, the most consecutive days without rain was 73 days in the spring of 1893. Adolf Borsdorf Borsdorf was born in Saxony in 1854. He studied

8874-418: The LSO again featured in a British television series, playing in Concerto! with Tilson Thomas and Dudley Moore . Among those appearing were Alicia de Larrocha , James Galway , Steven Isserlis , Barry Douglas , Richard Stoltzman and Kyoko Takezawa . The series received an Emmy Award . In 1994 the orchestra and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), resident at the Barbican Theatre, came under threat from

9027-415: The LSO allowed its standards of playing to slip. In 1927 the Berlin Philharmonic, under Furtwängler, gave two concerts at the Queen's Hall. These, and later concerts by the same orchestra in 1928 and 1929, made obvious the poor standards then prevailing in London. Both the BBC and Beecham had ambitions to bring London's orchestral standards up to those of Berlin. After an early attempt at co-operation between

9180-407: The LSO announced an extension of Rattle's contract as music director until the end of the 2023 season, at which time he is scheduled to stand down from the LSO and subsequently to take the title of conductor emeritus for life. London London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom , with a population of 8,866,180 in 2022. The wider metropolitan area

9333-478: The LSO had recovered its leading position, which it has retained subsequently. In 1966, to perform alongside it in choral works, the orchestra established the LSO Chorus , originally a mix of professional and amateur singers, later a wholly amateur ensemble. As a self-governing body, the orchestra selects the conductors with whom it works. At some stages in its history it has dispensed with a principal conductor and worked only with guests. Among conductors with whom it

SECTION 60

#1732772295365

9486-427: The LSO in 1954, and the following year tensions between the orchestral principals and the rank-and-file players erupted into an irreconcilable dispute. The principals argued that the future of the LSO lay in profitable session work for film companies, rather than in the overcrowded field of London concerts. They also wished to be free to accept such engagements individually, absenting themselves from concerts if there were

9639-417: The LSO in January 2007, its first since the death of Bernstein in 1990. Valery Gergiev became principal conductor of the LSO on 1 January 2007. In Gergiev's first season in charge a complete cycle of Mahler Symphonies was given, with the Barbican Hall sold out for every concert. In 2009 Davis and the LSO celebrated 50 years of working together. In the same year the LSO took over from the Berlin Philharmonic as

9792-429: The LSO lost work it had long been used to, including the Covent Garden seasons, the Royal Philharmonic Society concerts and the Courtauld-Sargent concerts. The orchestra persuaded Sir Hamilton Harty , the popular conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, to move from Manchester to become the LSO's principal conductor. Harty brought with him eight of the Hallé's leading players to replenish the LSO's ranks, depleted by defections to

9945-430: The LSO play in Music Night in one week than in sixty-five years of LSO concerts." Several series of the programme were screened between 1971 and 1977. Previn's popularity with the public enabled him and the LSO to programme works that under other conductors could have been box-office disasters, such as Messiaen 's Turangalila Symphony. In the early 1970s the LSO recorded two firsts for a British orchestra, appearing at

10098-622: The LSO simultaneously announced the departure of Gergiev as principal conductor at the end of 2015, and the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle as its music director from September 2017, with an initial contract of five years. In February 2016, the orchestra announced that beginning with the 2016–17 season Gianandrea Noseda would be titled "Principal Guest Conductor" (joining the orchestra's other Principal Guest Conductor, Daniel Harding , who held that post 2006-2017), and that Michael Tilson Thomas would be titled "Conductor Laureate" and Andre Previn would be titled "Conductor Emeritus." In January 2021,

10251-420: The LSO to within weeks of his death. Members of the LSO believed that in those few years he had transformed the orchestra; Neville Marriner said that Monteux "made them feel like an international orchestra ... He gave them extended horizons and some of his achievements with the orchestra, both at home and abroad, gave them quite a different constitution." Announcing Monteux's appointment, Fleischmann added that

10404-419: The LSO would also work frequently with Antal Doráti and the young Colin Davis . Together with Tuckwell, chairman of the orchestra, Fleischmann worked to create the LSO Trust, a fund to finance tours and provide sick and holiday pay for LSO players, thus ending, as Morrison says, "nearly sixty years of 'no play, no pay' ... this was a revolution." They also pioneered formal sponsorship by commercial firms:

10557-413: The LSO's leading members. To try to raise its own standards the LSO had engaged Mengelberg, a famous orchestral trainer, known as a perfectionist. He made it a precondition that the deputy system must be abandoned, which occurred in 1929. He conducted the orchestra for the 1930 season, and music critics commented on the improvement in the playing. Nonetheless, as patently the third-best orchestra in London,

10710-496: The LSO's non-symphonic work were recognised. The orchestra shared in three Grammy awards for the score to Star Wars ; and the LSO "Classic Rock" recordings, in the words of the orchestra's website, became hugely popular and provided handsome royalties. The recordings led to "Classic Rock" tours by the orchestra, characterised by Morrison as "enormously lucrative but artistically demeaning." Claudio Abbado , principal guest conductor since 1971, succeeded Previn as chief conductor in

10863-425: The LSO's principals commented, "Although we were sweating our guts playing those vast Mahler symphonies for ... Abbado, he would go and record them with other orchestras, which made us feel like second, maybe even third choice". In 1982, the LSO took up residence at the Barbican. In the first years of the residency, the orchestra came close to financial disaster, primarily because of over-ambitious programming and

11016-585: The LSO, refused to continue when he discovered that five leading principals had absented themselves. EMI took Boult's side, and the orchestra apologised. In 1971, John Culshaw of BBC television commissioned "André Previn's Music Night", bringing classical music to a large new audience. Previn would talk informally direct to camera and then turn and conduct the LSO, whose members were dressed in casual sweaters or shirts rather than formal evening clothes. The programme attracted unprecedented viewing figures for classical music; Morrison writes, "More British people heard

11169-495: The LSO, writes of "stodgy programmes of insipid Cowen, worthy Stanford, dull Parry and mediocre Mackenzie"; they put the Parisian public off to a considerable degree, and the players ended up out of pocket. In its early years Richter was the LSO's most frequently-engaged conductor, with four or five concerts every season; the orchestra's website and Morrison's 2004 book both count him as the orchestra's first chief conductor, though

11322-603: The London area. This called for the Corporation of the city to extend its jurisdiction and administration over expanding areas around the city. Fearing an attempt by the Crown to diminish the Liberties of London , coupled with a lack of interest in administering these additional areas or concern by city guilds of having to share power, caused the Corporation's "The Great Refusal", a decision which largely continues to account for

11475-679: The Proms , the LSO took over for Wood. The Carnegie Trust, with the support of the British government, contracted the LSO to tour Britain, taking live music to towns where symphony concerts were hitherto unknown. The orchestra's loss of manpower was far worse in the Second World War than in the First. Between 1914 and 1918 there were 33 members of the LSO away on active service; between 1939 and 1945 there were more than 60, of whom seven were killed. The orchestra found replacements wherever it could, including

11628-419: The Queen's Hall Orchestra earlier, and the other 21 had no connection with Wood and Newman. In a profile of the orchestra in 1911, The Musical Times commented: Thus encouraged, the committee ventured to arrange for a series of symphony concerts at Queen's Hall. They had no regular conductor, and to this day they have pursued this policy of freedom. Dr. (now Sir) Frederic Cowen conducted the first concert of

11781-601: The Royal Philharmonic Society established its Orchestra Award for "excellence in playing and playing standards"; the LSO was the first winner. The LSO visited Japan in 1990 with Bernstein and Tilson Thomas. The conductors and players took part in the inaugural Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo , teaching and giving masterclasses for 123 young musicians from 18 countries. Colin Matthews was appointed as

11934-560: The Second World War broke out the orchestra's plans had to be almost completely changed. During the First World War the public's appetite for concert-going diminished drastically, but from the start of the Second it was clear that there was a huge demand for live music. The LSO arranged a series of concerts conducted by Wood, with whom the orchestra was completely reconciled. When the BBC evacuated its orchestra from London and abandoned

12087-460: The Thames. Despite the evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans around 47 AD, about four years after their invasion of 43 AD. This only lasted until about 61 AD, when the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it and burnt it to the ground. The next planned incarnation of Londinium prospered, superseding Colchester as

12240-486: The United Kingdom's population and over 16% of England's population. The Greater London Built-up Area is the fourth-most populous in Europe, with about 9.8 million inhabitants as of 2011. The London metropolitan area is the third-most populous in Europe, with about 14 million inhabitants as of 2016, making London a megacity . Four World Heritage Sites are located in London: Kew Gardens ;

12393-620: The Viking incursions formally agreed by the Danish warlord , Guthrum and the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in 886. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Alfred "refounded" London in 886. Archaeological research shows this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls . London then grew slowly until a dramatic increase in about 950. By

12546-418: The administrative area of Greater London , governed by 33 local authorities and the Greater London Authority . As one of the world's major global cities , London exerts a strong influence on world art , entertainment, fashion , commerce, finance, education , healthcare , media , science, technology, tourism , transport , and communications. Despite a post- Brexit exodus of stock listings from

12699-659: The bands of army regiments based in London, whose brass and woodwind players were unofficially recruited. During the war it had become clear that private patronage was no longer a practical means of sustaining Britain's musical life; a state body, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts – the forerunner of the Arts Council – was established, and given a modest budget for public subsidy. The council made it

12852-559: The centre of the British press. The invasion of Amsterdam by Napoleonic armies led many financiers to relocate to London and the first London international issue was arranged in 1817. Around the same time, the Royal Navy became the world's leading war fleet, acting as a major deterrent to potential economic adversaries. Following a fire in 1838, the Royal Exchange was redesigned by William Tite and rebuilt in 1844. The repeal of

13005-484: The city's metropolis. The City of London at its core once comprised the whole settlement, but as its urban area grew, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to amalgamate the city with its suburbs , causing "London" to be defined several ways. Forty per cent of Greater London is covered by the London post town , in which 'London' forms part of postal addresses. The London telephone area code (020) covers

13158-412: The city, to intimidate the inhabitants. In 1097, William II began building Westminster Hall , near the abbey. It became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster . In the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto followed the royal English court around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed, for most purposes at Westminster , although

13311-600: The combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA). The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London, run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority . It is the third largest fire service in the world. National Health Service ambulance services are provided by

13464-405: The comprehensive University College London . It is the most visited city in Europe and has the world's busiest city airport system . The London Underground is the world's oldest rapid transit system. London's diverse cultures encompass over 300 languages. The 2023 population of Greater London of just under 10 million made it Europe's third-most populous city , accounting for 13.4% of

13617-626: The creation of the Greater London Authority . To mark the 21st century, the Millennium Dome , London Eye and Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics , as the first city to stage the Olympic Games three times. On 7 July 2005, three London Underground trains and a double-decker bus were bombed in a series of terrorist attacks . In 2008, Time named London alongside New York City and Hong Kong as Nylonkong , hailing them as

13770-559: The creation of the London Underground , the world's first urban rail network . The Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some surrounding counties; it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of county areas surrounding the capital. From the early years of the 20th century onwards, teashops were found on High Streets across London and

13923-433: The critic W J Turner the LSO's problem was not that its playing had deteriorated, but that it had failed to keep up with the considerable improvements in playing achieved over the past two decades by the best European and American orchestras. In 1931, Beecham was approached by the rising young conductor Malcolm Sargent with a proposal to set up a permanent, salaried orchestra with a subsidy guaranteed by Sargent's patrons,

14076-410: The departing principals the LSO recruited rising young players including Hugh Maguire , Neville Marriner and Simon Streatfeild in the string sections, Gervase de Peyer and William Waterhouse in the woodwinds, and Barry Tuckwell and Denis Wick in the brass. With the new intake the orchestra rapidly advanced in standards and status. The average age of the LSO players dropped to about 30. In 1956

14229-458: The deputy system was a serious financial blow to many of them. While travelling by train to play under Wood at a music festival in the north of England in May 1904, soon after Newman's announcement, some of his leading players discussed the situation and agreed to try to form their own orchestra. The principal movers were three horn players ( Adolf Borsdorf , Thomas Busby, and Henri van der Meerschen) and

14382-713: The driest is 1921, with a total fall of 12.1 inches (308 mm). The average annual precipitation amounts to about 600mm, which is half the annual rainfall of New York City . Despite relatively low annual precipitation, London receives 109.6 rainy days on the 1.0mm threshold annually. London is vulnerable to climate change , and there is concern among hydrological experts that households may run out of water before 2050. Temperature extremes in London range from 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) at Heathrow on 19 July 2022 down to −17.4 °C (0.7 °F) at Northolt on 13 December 1981. Records for atmospheric pressure have been kept at London since 1692. The highest pressure ever reported

14535-538: The film and music public. The LSO had begun its long historic journey as the premier film orchestra." In London Harty did not prove to be a box-office draw, and according to Morrison, he was "brutally and hurtfully" dropped in 1934, as his LSO predecessor Elgar had been in 1912. After this the orchestra did not appoint a chief conductor for nearly 20 years. By 1939 the orchestra's board was planning an ambitious programme for 1940, with guests including Bruno Walter, Leopold Stokowski , Erich Kleiber and George Szell . When

14688-609: The first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan , which was most recently revised in 2011. The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation . They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, libraries, leisure and recreation, social services , local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management , are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010

14841-410: The hitherto remunerative work for regional choral societies dwindled to almost nothing. When peace resumed many of the former players were unavailable. A third of the orchestra's pre-war members were in the armed forces, and rebuilding was urgently needed. The orchestra was willing to allow the ambitious conductor Albert Coates to put himself forward as chief conductor. Coates had three attractions for

14994-554: The inadequate rehearsal facilities endured by London orchestras. Bernstein remained associated with the LSO for the rest of his life, and was its president from 1987 to 1990. Mindful of the enormous success of the Philharmonia Chorus , founded in 1957 by Legge to work with his Philharmonia Orchestra, the LSO decided to establish its own chorus. The LSO Chorus (later called the London Symphony Chorus)

15147-640: The location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The City of London has its own police force – the City of London Police . First worn by Met police officers in 1863, the custodian helmet has been called a "cultural icon" and a "symbol of British law enforcement". Introduced by the Met in 1929, the blue police telephone box (basis for the TARDIS in Doctor Who )

15300-507: The manager of the Queen's Hall, Robert Newman and the conductor of his promenade concerts , Henry Wood , agreed that they could no longer tolerate the deputy system. After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with dozens of unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came to the platform and announced: "Gentlemen, in future there will be no deputies! Good morning!" This caused a furore. Orchestral musicians were not highly paid, and removing their chances of better-paid engagements permitted by

15453-409: The mayor's budget proposals each year. The GLA has responsibility for the majority of London's transport system through its functional arm Transport for London (TfL), it is responsible for overseeing the city's police and fire services, and also for setting a strategic vision for London on a range of issues. The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall , Newham. The mayor since 2016 has been Sadiq Khan ,

15606-534: The milestones on the orchestra's path to recovery were the premieres of Walton 's Belshazzar's Feast (1930) and First Symphony (1934), showing the orchestra "capable of rising to the challenge of the most demanding contemporary scores" (Morrison). The foundation of the Glyndebourne Festival in 1934 was another good thing for the LSO, as its players made up nearly the entirety of the festival orchestra. An important additional source of income for

15759-753: The most museums , art galleries, libraries, and cultural venues in the UK, including the British Museum , National Gallery , Natural History Museum , Tate Modern , British Library , and numerous West End theatres. Important sporting events held in London include the FA Cup Final , the Wimbledon Tennis Championships , and the London Marathon . It became the first city to host three Summer Olympic Games upon hosting

15912-675: The most diverse cities in the world. In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank . The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956 , which ended the " pea soup fogs " for which London had been notorious, and had earned it the nickname the "Big Smoke". Starting mainly in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for worldwide youth culture , exemplified by the Swinging London sub-culture associated with

16065-475: The next year by an equally successful Bernstein festival. During 1988 the orchestra adopted an education policy which included the establishment of " LSO Discovery ", offering "people of all ages, from babies through music students to adults, an opportunity to get involved in music-making". The programme is still in place in 2022, benefiting more than 60,000 people every year. In September 1988, Michael Tilson Thomas succeeded Abbado as chief conductor. In 1989,

16218-467: The old Roman city. By about 680 the city had become a major port again, but there is little evidence of large-scale production. From the 820s repeated Viking assaults brought decline. Three are recorded; those in 851 and 886 succeeded, while the last, in 994, was rebuffed. The Vikings applied Danelaw over much of eastern and northern England, its boundary running roughly from London to Chester as an area of political and geographical control imposed by

16371-512: The orchestra visited South Africa to play at the Johannesburg Festival. The players were impressed by the dynamic director of the festival, Ernest Fleischmann , and engaged him as general secretary of the orchestra when the post fell vacant in 1959. He was the LSO's first professional manager; all his predecessors as secretary/managing director had been orchestral players combining the duties with their orchestral playing. To raise

16524-470: The orchestra was the film industry. In March 1935 the LSO recorded Arthur Bliss 's incidental music for Alexander Korda 's film Things to Come . According to the LSO's website the recording took 14 full orchestral sessions and "started a veritable revolution in film production history. ... For the first time, music for the cinema, previously regarded as a lowly art form, captured the attention of classical music scholars and enthusiasts, music critics and

16677-536: The orchestra's "Peter Stuyvesant" concerts, underwritten by the tobacco company of that name, were given in London, Guildford , Bournemouth , Manchester and Swansea . The company also sponsored LSO commissions of new works by British composers. In 1964, the LSO undertook its first world tour, taking in Israel, Turkey, Iran, India, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and the United States. The following year István Kertész

16830-428: The orchestra's associate composer in 1991, and the following year Richard McNicol became LSO Discovery's first music animateur . Gillison secured increased funding from the Arts Council, the City of London Corporation and commercial sponsors, enabling the orchestra to set up a system of joint principals, attracting top musicians who could play in the LSO without having to give up their solo or chamber careers. In 1993,

16983-548: The orchestra's diamond jubilee year, 1979. In a 1988 study of the LSO in Gramophone magazine James Jolly wrote that Abbado was in many ways the antithesis of Previn in terms of style and repertoire, bringing to the orchestra a particular authority in the Austro-German classics as well as a commitment to the avant-garde. From the orchestra's point of view there were disadvantages to his appointment. His relationship with

17136-451: The orchestra, had lived in Britain for 30 years and was married to an Englishwoman, Borsdorf was regarded by some colleagues as an enemy alien and was forced out of the orchestra. During the war the musical life of Britain was drastically curtailed. The LSO was helped to survive by large donations from Sir Thomas Beecham , who also subsidised the Hallé and the Royal Philharmonic Society. For

17289-589: The orchestra: he was a pupil of Nikisch, he had rich and influential contacts, and he was willing to conduct without fee. He and the orchestra got off to a disastrous start. Their first concert featured the premiere of Elgar's Cello Concerto . Apart from the concerto, which the composer conducted, the rest of the programme was conducted by Coates, who overran his rehearsal time at the expense of Elgar's. Lady Elgar wrote, "that brutal selfish ill-mannered bounder ... that brute Coates went on rehearsing." In The Observer Newman wrote, "There have been rumours about during

17442-424: The organisation independence. At concerts promoted by the LSO the members played without fee, their remuneration coming at the end of each season in a division of the orchestra's profits. This worked well in good years, but any poorly-patronised series left members out of pocket, and reliant on the LSO's engagements to play for provincial choral societies and other managements. The proposal was approved unanimously, and

17595-779: The other self-governing London orchestra, the LPO: the LPO played 248 concerts in the 1949–50 season; the LSO 103; the BBC SO 55; the Philharmonia and RPO 32 each. When the Royal Festival Hall opened in 1951 the LSO and LPO engaged in a mutually bruising campaign for sole residency there. Neither was successful, and the Festival Hall became the main London venue for both orchestras and for the RPO and Philharmonia. Krips left

17748-500: The outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades. The LSO underwent periods of eclipse in the 1930s and 1950s when it was regarded as inferior in quality to new London orchestras, to which it lost players and bookings: the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in

17901-590: The players was distant and he was unable to impose discipline on the orchestra in rehearsals. He insisted on conducting without a score, and many times this led to barely-avoided disaster in concerts. Abbado had considerable international prestige, but this too had its downside for the LSO: he frequently made his major recordings with the Boston or Chicago Symphony Orchestras or the Vienna Philharmonic . One of

18054-441: The poor ticket sales that resulted. The Times commented that the LSO "were tempted by their own need for challenge (and a siren chorus of critics) to begin a series of more modern and adventurous music: six nights a week of Tippett , Berlioz , Webern , Stockhausen designed to draw in a new public. Instead it put an old audience to flight." The LSO's difficulties were compounded by the satirical magazine Private Eye , which ran

18207-484: The position. Clive Gillinson , a cellist, took over at a bad time in the LSO's fortunes, and played a central role in turning them round. He negotiated what Morrison calls "a dazzling series of mega-projects, each built around the personal enthusiasm of a 'star' conductor or soloist", producing sell-out houses. In 1985 the orchestra mounted "Mahler, Vienna and the Twentieth Century", planned by Abbado, followed

18360-486: The post for 11 years – at 2013 the longest tenure of the post to date. By the Previn era the LSO was being described as the finest of the London orchestras. A reviewer of an Elgar recording by one of the other orchestras remarked, "these symphonies really deserve the LSO at its peak." The implication that the LSO was not always at its peak was illustrated when Sir Adrian Boult, who was recording Elgar and Vaughan Williams with

18513-490: The principal city of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height in the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of about 60,000. With the early 5th-century collapse of Roman rule, the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation continued around St Martin-in-the-Fields until about 450. From about 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed slightly west of

18666-492: The profile and prestige of the orchestra, Fleischman strove to attract top soloists and conductors to work with the LSO. After Krips's resignation the orchestra had worked with a few leading conductors, including Klemperer, Stokowski, Jascha Horenstein and Pierre Monteux , but also with many less eminent ones. Fleischmann later said, "It wasn't difficult to change the list of conductors that the orchestra worked with, because one couldn't do much worse, really". A rising conductor of

18819-492: The rebels and made the Queen's Hall available to them. He and Wood attended the LSO's first concert, on 9 June 1904. The programme consisted of the prelude to Die Meistersinger , music by Bach , Mozart , Elgar and Liszt , and finally Beethoven's Fifth Symphony . In a favourable review in The Times , J A Fuller Maitland noted that 49 members of the new orchestra were rebels against Newman's no-deputy rule, 32 had left

18972-943: The resident orchestra at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, adding to a roster of international residences at venues including the Lincoln Center in New York, the Salle Pleyel in Paris and the Daytona Beach International Festival in Florida. In 2010 the LSO visited Poland and Abu Dhabi for the first time and made its first return to India since the 1964 world tour. The orchestra played at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony , conducted by Sir Simon Rattle . In March 2015,

19125-466: The resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital ." After winning the Battle of Hastings , William, Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in newly completed Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066. William built the Tower of London , the first of many such in England rebuilt in stone in the south-eastern corner of

19278-641: The rest of Britain, with Lyons , who opened the first of their chain of teashops in Piccadilly in 1894, leading the way. The tearooms, such as the Criterion in Piccadilly, became a popular meeting place for women from the suffrage movement. The city was the target of many attacks during the suffragette bombing and arson campaign , between 1912 and 1914, which saw historic landmarks such as Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral bombed. London

19431-401: The royal treasury came to rest in the Tower . While the City of Westminster developed into a true governmental capital, its distinct neighbour, the City of London , remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre and flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London . In 1100, its population was some 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000. With

19584-546: The sea. London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom . Many government departments, as well as the prime minister's residence at 10 Downing Street , are based close to the Palace of Westminster , particularly along Whitehall . There are 75 members of Parliament (MPs) from London; As of June 2024 , 59 are from the Labour Party , 9 are Conservatives , 6 are Liberal Democrats and one constituency

19737-455: The series on October 27, 1904, and the others were conducted by Herr Arthur Nikisch, Mr. Fritz Steinbach, Sir Charles Stanford, M. Edouard Colonne, Sir Edward Elgar, and Mr. Georg Henschel. At every one of these concerts brilliant performances were given, and the reputation of the organization as one of the finest of its kind in the world was made. The orchestra made its first British tour in 1905, conducted by Sir Edward Elgar . Elgar's conducting

19890-424: The start of 2018 to mid April 2018. Funding cuts to police in London are likely to have contributed to this, though other factors are involved. However, homicide figures fell in 2022 with 109 recorded for the year, and the murder rate in London is much lower than other major cities around the world. London, also known as Greater London , is one of nine regions of England and the top subdivision covering most of

20043-604: The system thus: "A, whom you want, signs to play at your concert. He sends B (whom you don't mind) to the first rehearsal. B, without your knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play at the concert, C sends D, whom you would have paid five shillings to stay away." There was much competition for good orchestral players, with well-paid engagements offered by more than fifty music halls , by pit bands in West End musical comedies , and by grand hotels and restaurants which maintained orchestras. In 1904,

20196-698: The theatres in the 1640s. The ban on theatre was lifted during the Restoration in 1660, and London's oldest operating theatre, Drury Lane , opened in 1663 in what is now the West End theatre district. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, in the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605. In 1637, the government of Charles I attempted to reform administration in

20349-715: The unique governmental status of the City . In the English Civil War , the majority of Londoners supported the Parliamentary cause. After an initial advance by the Royalists in 1642, culminating in the battles of Brentford and Turnham Green , London was surrounded by a defensive perimeter wall known as the Lines of Communication . The lines were built by up to 20,000 people, and were completed in under two months. The fortifications failed their only test when

20502-482: The viewpoint of a country that had long enjoyed permanent, salaried orchestras such as the Boston Symphony , it gently mocked the LSO's "bold stand for the sacred right of sending substitutes" Shortly after the beginning of the war the board of the orchestra received a petition from rank and file players protesting about Borsdorf's continued membership of the LSO. Although he had done as much as anyone to found

20655-500: The war he rarely played in public. Borsdorf died in 1923. He had done more than anyone else to improve the standard of horn playing in England. He taught many talented pupils, including A. E. Brain Jr. , Aubrey Brain , Frank Probyn and his own three sons, Oskar, Francis and Emil, who all became professional horn players. The younger Borsdorfs changed their surname to Bradley because of anti-German sentiment; Oskar became (as Oscar Bradley)

20808-425: The war intact, the latter, abandoned by Beecham, as a self-governing body. All three were quickly overshadowed by two new orchestras: Walter Legge 's Philharmonia and Beecham's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . To survive, the LSO played in hundreds of concerts of popular classics under undistinguished conductors. By 1948 the orchestra was anxious to resume promoting its own concert series. The players decided to accept

20961-462: The week of inadequate rehearsal. Whatever the explanation, the sad fact remains that never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable an exhibition of itself." Coates remained as chief conductor for two seasons, and after the initial debacle is credited by Morrison with "breathing life and energy into the orchestra". After Coates left, the orchestra reverted to its preferred practice of engaging numerous guest conductors rather than

21114-504: The west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of the national government and parliament . London grew rapidly in the 19th century , becoming the world's largest city at the time . Since the 19th century, the name "London" has referred to the metropolis around the City of London, historically split between the counties of Middlesex , Essex , Surrey , Kent , and Hertfordshire , which since 1965 has largely comprised

21267-656: The world's most recorded orchestra; it has made gramophone recordings since 1912 and has played on more than 200 soundtrack recordings for the cinema, of which the best known include the Star Wars series. At the turn of the twentieth century there were no permanent salaried orchestras in London. The main orchestras were those of Covent Garden , the Philharmonic Society and the Queen's Hall ; their proprietors engaged players individually for each concert or for

21420-639: The world's three most influential global cities . In January 2015, Greater London's population was estimated to be 8.63 million, its highest since 1939. During the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK as a whole decided to leave the European Union , but most London constituencies voted for remaining. However, Britain's exit from the EU in early 2020 only marginally weakened London's position as an international financial centre. The administration of London

21573-405: Was A. E. Brain Sr. , grandfather of Dennis Brain ). He was also in the orchestra when Richard Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel was given its first performance in England in 1896 with the composer conducting. In 1913 he became ill and had to have teeth removed. There was also another problem for him: World War I broke out in 1914 and there was a lot of anti-German feeling in England. After

21726-465: Was bombed by the Germans in the First World War , and during the Second World War , the Blitz and other bombings by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners, destroying large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city. The tomb of the Unknown Warrior , an unidentified member of the British armed forces killed during the First World War, was buried in Westminster Abbey on 11 November 1920. The Cenotaph , located in Whitehall ,

21879-425: Was appointed principal conductor. Negotiations with the Corporation of the City of London with a view to establishing the LSO as the resident orchestra of the planned Barbican Centre began in the same year. In 1966 Leonard Bernstein conducted the LSO for the first time, in Mahler 's Symphony of a Thousand at the Royal Albert Hall . This was another coup for Fleischmann, who had to overcome Bernstein's scorn for

22032-401: Was arduous, but a triumph. The New York Press said, "The great British band played with a vigor, force and temperamental impetuousness that almost lifted the listener out of his seat." The New York Times praised all departments of the orchestra, though, like The Manchester Guardian , it found the strings "brilliant rather than mellow". The paper had a little fun at the LSO's expense: from

22185-414: Was formed in 1966 under John Alldis as chorus master. Its early years were difficult; Kertész did not get on with Alldis, and there were difficulties within the chorus. Most of its members were amateurs, but at first, they were reinforced by a small number of professionals. This led to disputes over the balance between amateurs and professionals. There was a brief crisis, after which the professional element

22338-403: Was good for the box office: cycles of Beethoven symphonies and concertos (the latter featuring Wilhelm Kempff in one season and Claudio Arrau in another) helped restore the orchestra's finances as well as its musical standards. With Krips and others the orchestra recorded extensively for the Decca Record Company during the early 1950s. The orchestra's workload in these years was second only to

22491-480: Was highly praised; as to the orchestra, Ernest Newman wrote in The Manchester Guardian , "Its brass and its wood-wind were seen to be of exceptional quality, but the strings, fine as they are, have not the substance nor the colour of the Hallé strings." The following year the LSO played outside Britain for the first time, giving concerts in Paris, conducted by Edouard Colonne , Sir Charles Stanford and André Messager . Richard Morrison , in his centenary study of

22644-410: Was invited to tour North America in 1912, and despite his long association with the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras, he insisted that the LSO should be contracted for the tour. The orchestra, 100-strong (all men except for the harpist), was booked to sail on the Titanic , but the tour schedule was changed at the last minute, and the players sailed safely on the Baltic . The tour

22797-437: Was once a common sight throughout London and regional cities in the UK. The British Transport Police are responsible for police services on National Rail , London Underground , Docklands Light Railway and Tramlink services. The Ministry of Defence Police is a special police force in London, which does not generally become involved with policing the general public. The UK's domestic counter-intelligence service ( MI5 )

22950-422: Was removed, and the LSO chorus became, and remains, an outstanding amateur chorus. By 1967 many in the LSO felt that Fleischmann was seeking to exert too much influence on the affairs of the orchestra, and he resigned. Kertész, too, was dispensed with when he sought control of all artistic matters; his contract was not renewed when it expired in 1968. His successor as principal conductor was André Previn , who held

23103-442: Was succeeded by John Tusa , whom Morrison calls "steeped in culture." The danger that the concert hall would become a conference centre was averted. In 1995, Sir Colin Davis was appointed chief conductor. He had first conducted the LSO in 1959, and had been widely expected to succeed Monteux as principal conductor in 1964. Among the most conspicuous of Davis's projects with the orchestra was the LSO's most ambitious festival thus far,

23256-406: Was supervised by polymath Robert Hooke . In 1710, Christopher Wren 's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral , was completed, replacing its medieval predecessor that burned in the Great Fire of 1666. The dome of St Paul's dominated the London skyline for centuries, inspiring the artworks and writing of William Blake , with his 1789 poem " Holy Thursday " referring to 'the high dome of Pauls'. During

23409-458: Was unveiled on the same day, and is the focal point for the National Service of Remembrance held annually on Remembrance Sunday , the closest Sunday to 11 November. The 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium , while London was still recovering from the war. From the 1940s, London became home to many immigrants, primarily from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making London one of

#364635