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107-501: The purpose was to give a miscellaneous musical entertainment at a cheap price of admission, similar to that paid at the Popular Concerts . The first series, consisting of fifteen concerts, began on 22 November 1848, and were continued once a week until 28 February 1849. The second and third series were continued until 27 June, twenty-seven having been given altogether. There was a small orchestra under John Willy as leader, and

214-457: A Saturday 'Pop', but were so aware of the 'rhythmic gay sounds, thumping and shimmering away in a most enlivening manner', that they decided to go and hear Moore and Burgess instead. Samuel Arthur Chappell , one of the brothers in the Chappell & Co. firm of Bond Street music publishers, who concentrated on selling brass and woodwind instruments, together with his brother Thomas, devised

321-707: A century thereafter, the Hall was London's principal concert hall, to be succeeded by Queen's Hall in the 1900s and later by Wigmore Hall , the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall . It became famous for its 'Monday Pops' concerts and Ballad Concerts, as the home of the Philharmonic Society and the Christy Minstrels and for the many famous conductors and performers who gave important performances there. The first performance at

428-736: A chamber-work, some songs, and instrumental solos. The Hall became known for the "London Ballad Concerts", which began in the 1860s and moved in January 1894 to Queen's Hall. They "were started... by Messrs Boosey 'for the performance of the CHOICEST ENGLISH VOCAL MUSIC by the MOST EMINENT ARTISTS'." The Philharmonic Society of London, founded 1813, until 1869 gave its concerts in its rooms at Hanover Square, which had seating for only about 800. The Society decided to move permanently to St James's Hall, and

535-533: A children's party in the afternoon, and in the evening 2,000 invited guests attended what Elkin describes as "a sort of private view", with popular selections played by the Band of the Coldstream Guards , and songs, piano and organ solos performed by well-known musicians. After the performances, the seats in the arena were removed, lavish refreshments were served, and the guests danced. On 27 November there

642-403: A choir of 300 voices assembled at short notice by Newman; Mendelssohn 's Hymn of Praise followed, with Albani, Margaret Hoare and Edward Lloyd as soloists. In the second part of the programme there was a performance of Beethoven 's Emperor Concerto , with Frederick Dawson as soloist. From the autumn of 1894, the hall was adopted as the venue for the annual winter season of concerts of

749-553: A complimentary additional concert, held at St James's Hall, was given to its subscribers at the end of the 1868–69 season. Charles Santley , Charles Hallé , Thérèse Tietjens and Christina Nilsson were the soloists. When the move was made, the Society remodelled its charges to obtain a wider audience and compete with the Crystal Palace and other large venues, and introduced annotated programmes. The Society remained at

856-595: A dilemma; they wished to appear on the air without forfeiting the right to appear at Britain's most important musical venue. The hall became temporarily unable to attract many of the finest performers of the day. In the middle of the impasse Newman's health failed, and he died in November 1926 after a brief illness. Wood wrote, "I feared everything would come to a standstill, for I had never so much as engaged an extra player without having discussed it with him first". Newman's assistant, W. W. Thompson, took over as manager of

963-416: A guinea for one Symphony concert and rehearsal, and half-a-guinea for Sunday afternoon or evening concerts without rehearsal". Offered ad hoc engagements at better pay by other managements, many of the players took full advantage of the deputy system. Newman determined to put an end to it. After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with a sea of entirely unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came on

1070-466: A hit in the middle of a concert: [T]here was a crash, and then a cracking sound, and a shower of plaster began to fall from the roof of the Promenade, which was packed. There was a bit of a rush from the centre of the hall for a moment. One or two of the orchestra disappeared from their seats. Even Sir Henry Wood himself glanced rather anxiously up at the roof, though still wielding his baton. ... After

1177-530: A limited number only"), went for seven shillings. The following year Dickens would have to cut a provincial tour short after collapsing showing symptoms of a mild stroke in Preston on 22 April 1869. When he had regained sufficient strength, he arranged, with medical approval, for a series of readings to partially make up to Chappell & Co. what they had lost due to his illness. There were to be twelve final performances, running starting on 11 January 1870 back at

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1284-407: A much-needed music venue in the centre of London. St James's Hall , just south of Oxford Circus , was too small, had serious safety problems, and was so poorly ventilated as to be unpleasant. Bernard Shaw in his capacity as a music critic commented on "the old unvaried round of Steinway Hall , Prince's Hall and St James's Hall ", and warmly welcomed the new building. Ravenscroft commissioned

1391-432: A rare performance of Richard Wagner 's Symphony. The content was planned against a 'permanent background' of Beethoven and Brahms. Helen Henschel refers to 'the famous Wagner cat' which inhabited the Hall. It was said to walk onto the stage during rehearsals whenever any work by Wagner was being played, but never otherwise. Shaw refers to both, noting that Richter's concerts were too expensive, and that Henschel's orchestra

1498-548: A singing teacher as well as a conductor, agreed. The brass and woodwind players of the Queen's Hall Orchestra were unwilling to buy new low-pitched instruments; Cathcart imported a set from Belgium and lent them to the players. After a season, the players recognised that the low pitch would be permanently adopted, and they bought the instruments from him. On 10 August 1895, the first of the Queen's Hall Promenade Concerts took place. It opened with Wagner 's overture to Rienzi , but

1605-511: A wealthy ear, nose and throat specialist, offered to sponsor it on two conditions: that Wood should conduct every concert, and that the pitch of the orchestral instruments should be lowered to the European standard diapason normal . Concert pitch in England was nearly a semitone higher than that used on the continent, and Cathcart regarded it as damaging for singers' voices. Wood, who was

1712-626: A wide range of other activities, including balls, military band concerts under Sousa , lectures, public meetings, Morris dancing , Eurythmics and religious services. On 14 January 1896, the UK's first public film show was presented at the Queen's Hall to members and wives of the Royal Photographic Society by the maker of the Kineopticon and Fellow of the society, Birt Acres , and his colleague, Arthur Melbourne-Cooper . This

1819-517: The Crown during the development of John Nash 's Regent Street . Between then and the building of the hall, the site was first sublet to a coachmaker and stablekeeper, and in 1851 a bazaar occupied the site. In 1887, the leaseholder, Francis Ravenscroft, negotiated a building agreement with the Crown, providing for the clearing of the site and the erection of a new concert hall. The name of the new building

1926-489: The Empire ". The drabness of its interior decor and the lack of leg-room in the seating attracted criticism. In 1913, The Musical Times said, "In the placing of the seats apparently no account whatever is taken even of the average length of lower limbs, and it appeared to be the understanding … that legs were to be left in the cloak room. At twopence apiece this would be expensive, and there might be difficulties afterwards if

2033-608: The Musical World observed: 'classical chamber music of the highest order is brought week after week within the reach of the shilling paying masses as it has now been no less than fifty-two times at St James's Hall.... swelling the total of the Monday Popular Concerts to no less than sixty-three within two years of their foundation.... Such a result is unparalleled in the history of musical entertainments.' George Bernard Shaw gives an interesting narrative of

2140-469: The Philharmonic Society of London , which had formerly been held at St James's Hall. At the first Philharmonic concert at the Queen's Hall, Alexander Mackenzie conducted the first performance in England of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony , which was so well received that it was repeated, by popular acclaim, at the next concert. During the 1894–95 season, Edvard Grieg and Camille Saint-Saëns conducted performances of their works. The Society remained at

2247-508: The Prince's Hall Piccadilly, but transferred to St. James's Hall until 1894, when they moved to Queen's Hall. In December 1893 Harry Plunket Greene and Leonard Borwick began their celebrated partnership in lieder recitals at the hall, which continued well into the new century. In 1895, the 16-year-old pianist Mark Hambourg gave a concert there under Henry J. Wood, in which he played three piano concerti. The First Internationale would use

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2354-482: The 'Pops' between 1888 and 1894. Shaw admired the Joachim Quartet, led either by Joachim himself or often by Mme Wilma Norman-Neruda (Lady Hallé) (and later still by Eugène Ysaÿe ), with ('modest') L. Ries (2nd violin), ('solemn') Herr Strauss (viola) and the ('gentle') cellist Alfredo Piatti . This was certainly the 'star turn' in that period. They frequently played full works, or even groups of works, at

2461-626: The 'Pops': their larger ensemble was often heard in the Beethoven septet . Among soloists heard in 1888-90 (the 31st and 32nd seasons) were Charles Hallé , Alma Haas (Beethoven op. 110), Agnes Zimmerman (Waldstein), Edvard Grieg , Bernhard Stavenhagen ( Schumann Papillons ), Arthur de Greef (Chopin), pianists; Joseph Joachim (Brahms), Mme Norman Neruda, (Bach concerto for 2 violins), violin; Bertha Moore, Charles Santley ( Erlkönig , To Anthea ), Marguerite Hall (Schubert, Brahms, Henschel), singers. The concerts were mixed, often consisting of

2568-477: The 1920s, however, the hall became the battleground between proponents and opponents of broadcasting. William Boosey, the head of Chappells, and effective proprietor of the Queen's Hall, was adamantly against the broadcasting of music by the recently established British Broadcasting Company (BBC). He decreed that no artist who had worked for the BBC would be allowed to perform at the Queen's Hall. This put performers in

2675-578: The BBC and Sir Thomas Beecham had ambitions to bring London's orchestral standards up to those of Berlin. After an early attempt at co-operation between the BBC and Beecham, they went their separate ways; the BBC established the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult , and Beecham, together with Malcolm Sargent , founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra . Both orchestras made their debuts with concerts at

2782-474: The Commissioners of Crown Lands had increased the site's ground rent from £850 to £8,000, setting back the possibility of re-building the hall, or of building a new Henry Wood Concert Hall. In 1954 the government set up a committee, chaired by Lord Robbins with Sir Adrian Boult among its members, to examine the practicability of rebuilding the hall. The committee reported that "on musical grounds and in

2889-512: The English premiere of his Fourth Symphony , Saint-Saëns conducted his Le Rouet d'Omphale and played his G minor concerto , and Max Bruch conducted his own Second Violin Concerto with Ladislas Gorski as soloist. In November 1893, a presentation was made to the Society's Secretary Francesco Berger in appreciation of ten years service. Soon afterwards, Queen's Hall opened its doors, and

2996-574: The Lord Mayor and Sherriffs on 20 April 1907. It opened on 25 April 1908 with a series of promenade concerts performed by the newly formed St. James's Hall Orchestra under the musical directorship of Mr. Lyell Taylor. 51°30′34″N 0°8′12″W  /  51.50944°N 0.13667°W  / 51.50944; -0.13667 Queen%27s Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place , London, opened in 1893. Designed by

3103-516: The Moore and Burgess Minstrels, the Hall's resident minstrel troupe performed in one of the smaller halls located on the ground floor near the restaurant, below the main hall. Gilbert and Sullivan 's 1893 comic opera , Utopia, Limited , contains a joke in which the Court of St. James's is purposely confused with St. James's Hall and its minstrel shows, and a parody of a minstrel number is included in

3210-493: The Philharmonic conductorship, the Society suggested to Richter that he might become its conductor, and the two series of concerts might be amalgamated under the Society's supervision. Richter did not accept the plan. In addition to Richter's series, there was also a nine-year winter series of subscription concerts established and conducted by George Henschel , including a full cycle of Beethoven symphonies in one year, and

3317-478: The Proms, Ateş Orga, wrote: "Concerts often had to be re-timed to coincide with the 'All Clear' between air raids. Falling bombs, shrapnel, anti-aircraft fire and the droning of Zeppelins were ever threatening. But [Wood] kept things on the go and in the end had a very real part to play in boosting morale". The hall was hit by German air raids, but escaped with only minor damage. A member of Wood's choir later recalled

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3424-503: The Proms. Wood determined that the 1940 season would nevertheless go ahead. The Royal Philharmonic Society and a private entrepreneur, Keith Douglas, agreed to back an eight-week season, and the London Symphony Orchestra was engaged. The concerts continued through air raids , and audiences often stayed in the hall until early morning, with musical entertainments continuing after the concerts had finished. The season

3531-406: The Queen's Hall until 1941. To fill the hall during the heat of the late-summer period, when London audiences tended to stay away from theatres and concert halls, Newman planned to run a ten-week season of promenade concerts , with low-priced tickets to attract a wider audience than that of the main season. Costs needed to be kept down, and Newman decided not to engage a star conductor, but invited

3638-420: The Queen's Hall. The BBC orchestra gave its first concert on 22 October 1930, conducted by Boult in a programme of music by Wagner , Brahms , Saint-Saëns and Ravel . The reviews of the new orchestra were enthusiastic. The Times commented on its "virtuosity" and of Boult's "superb" conducting. The Musical Times commented, "The boast of the B.B.C. that it intended to get together a first-class orchestra

3745-444: The Queen's Hall. They discussed whether the Proms should continue as planned, and agreed to go ahead. However, within months anti-German feeling forced Speyer to leave the country and seek refuge in the U.S., and there was a campaign to ban all German music from concerts. Newman put out a statement declaring that German music would be played as planned: "The greatest examples of Music and Art are world possessions and unassailable even by

3852-543: The Society in 1891 to perform the Saint-Saëns' C minor, and the Rubinstein D minor, concerti. Leonard Borwick and Frederic Lamond also performed there for the Society. Cowen gave many concerts of contemporary English composers such as Sullivan, Hubert Parry , Alexander Mackenzie , Charles Villiers Stanford , and of his own works. In 1892 Alexander Mackenzie succeeded Cowen. In the 1893 season, Tchaikovsky gave

3959-474: The Society moved there in the following February. Hans Richter often conducted Richard Wagner concerts at St. James's Hall, beginning in 1877. These 'Orchestral Festival Concerts' (established regularly in 1879 by the violinist Hermann Franke ), which commenced after Easter, were among the chief rivals to the Philharmonic Society programmes. At the time of Arthur Sullivan's resignation of

4066-551: The Society's recovery from a financial crisis. Concerts were moved from Monday to Thursday evenings, to make way for the Monday Night Popular Chamber-Concerts, known as the 'Pops'. The 1881 season included two performances of Berlioz 's Roméo et Juliette ; Scharwenka gave the British premiere of his Piano Concerto No. 2, and Eugen d'Albert and Emma Albani appeared before the Society. Over

4173-551: The Society. Tchaikovsky returned in 1889 to conduct his Piano Concerto No. 1 with Wassily Sapellnikoff making his English debut (who three years later created a furor with the Liszt E flat concerto ); and Agathe Backer-Grøndahl and Eugène Ysaÿe also made their English debuts. In 1890, Dvořák conducted his Fourth Symphony . Paderewski , who gave four recitals at St. James's Hall for his début in 1890, returned there for

4280-487: The Society; and Hans von Bülow made his London debut, playing Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto and Bach 's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue . In 1874, Pablo de Sarasate and Camille Saint-Saëns played there, and in 1875, August Wilhelmj . Other Philharmonic Society highlights of the next few years included performances by George Henschel , Xaver Scharwenka , Émile Sauret , Joseph Joachim and Edward Dannreuther . Changes of management were introduced in 1881 following

4387-603: The Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind , and under the baton of her husband, conductor Otto Goldschmidt , the Mass came to performance in April 1876 at St James's Hall, and a second performance was given a month later. Henry J. Wood performed the E minor organ concerto of Ebenezer Prout at the Hall with an orchestra under Joseph Barnby , in the late 1880s. Although the performance earned him much praise, he referred to

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4494-546: The Symphony Concerts. The Proms had to be run on the tightest of budgets, but for the Symphony Concert series Newman was willing to pay large fees to attract the most famous musicians. Soloists included Joseph Joachim , Fritz Kreisler , Nellie Melba , Pablo de Sarasate , Eugène Ysaÿe and, most expensive of all, Ignacy Jan Paderewski . Conductors included Arthur Nikisch and Hans Richter . Among

4601-411: The architect Thomas Knightley , it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it was the home of the promenade concerts ("The Proms") founded by Robert Newman together with Henry Wood . The hall had drab decor and cramped seating but superb acoustics. It became known as the "musical centre of the [British] Empire ", and several of

4708-406: The architect Thomas Edward Knightley to design the new hall. Using a floor plan previously prepared by C. J. Phipps , Knightley designed a hall with a floor area of 21,000 square feet (2,000 m²) and an audience capacity of 2,500. Contemporary newspapers commented on the unusual elevation of the building, with the grand tier at street level, and the stalls and arena downstairs. The exterior carving

4815-488: The band, at first subdued, broke out in a 'wild strain of brazen minstrelsy' during the final bars of the funeral march in the Eroica Symphony . After the movement was applauded a member of the audience began calling out that a complaint should be lodged, and won general approval, hear, hear , and people standing up to look at him. On one occasion Lady Henschel and her daughter went to hear Joseph Joachim play at

4922-508: The ceiling, and reminiscent of a ship's saloon … now much the most comfortable of our small concert rooms". The hall provided modern facilities, open frontage for carriages and parking room, a press room, public spaces and bars. At the time, and subsequently, the hall was celebrated for its superb acoustics, unmatched by any other large hall in London. Soon after its opening, Shaw praised it as "a happy success acoustically". Knightley followed

5029-622: The chamber of the House of Commons and many other buildings were destroyed, and the British Museum and Westminster Abbey were seriously damaged. A single incendiary bomb hit the Queen's Hall, and the auditorium was completely gutted by fire beyond any hope of replacement. The building was a smouldering ruin in heaps of rubble; the London Philharmonic lost thousands of pounds' worth of instruments. All that remained intact on

5136-487: The cloak room sorting arrangements were not perfect". Chappells promised to rearrange the seats to give more room and did so within the year; the seating capacity of the hall was reduced to 2,400. War intervened before the question of refurbishing the decor could be addressed. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Newman, Wood and Speyer were obliged to consider the immediate future of concert-giving at

5243-406: The composers who performed their own works at the hall in its first 20 years were Debussy , Elgar , Grieg , Ravel , Saint-Saëns , Schoenberg , Richard Strauss and Sullivan . In 1901 Newman became the lessee of the hall as well as its manager, but the following year, after unwise investment in theatrical presentations, he was declared bankrupt. The music publisher Chappell and Co took over

5350-504: The concert no one was allowed to leave the Hall. ... One of the orchestra nobly returned to the platform and struck up a waltz. We were soon dancing over the floor and really enjoying the experience. We were not released till about 1 a.m". After the war, the Queen's Hall operated for a few years much as it had done before 1914, except for what Wood called "a somewhat disagreeable blue-green" new decor. New performers appeared, including Solomon , Lauritz Melchior and Paul Hindemith . During

5457-414: The concert-hall. The heavy tum-tum of the basses throbbed obscurely against the rhythms of Spohr and Berlioz all the evening, like a toothache through a troubled dream; and occasionally, during a pianissimo , or in one of Lady Hallé's eloquent pauses, the cornet would burst into vulgar melody in a remote key, and set us all flinching, squirming, shuddering, and grimacing hideously.' Only a fortnight later,

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5564-806: The concerts of 1885–87, and as guest conductors, Dvořák, Moritz Moszkowski and Saint-Saëns were heard in works written for the Society. Among the soloists were Tivadar Nachéz , Fanny Davies , Lillian Nordica , Ella Russell , Emma Nevada , Józef Hofmann and František Ondříček . Most notably Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3 (Saint-Saëns) written at the behest of the Society, and premiered there on 19 May 1886. F. H. Cowen succeeded Sullivan as conductor from 1888–92. In his first season Edvard Grieg played his Piano Concerto in A minor and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky made his first appearance before an English audience, introducing two works. Johan Svendsen and Charles-Marie Widor also conducted in that season, and Clara Schumann made her farewell performance to

5671-480: The concerts until he died in 1926. The standard of orchestral playing in London was adversely affected by the deputy system, in which orchestral players, if offered a better-paid engagement, could send a substitute to a rehearsal or a concert. The treasurer of the Royal Philharmonic Society described it thus: "A, whom you want, signs to play at your concert. He sends B (whom you don't mind) to

5778-467: The example of earlier buildings noted for fine acoustics; the walls of the auditorium were lined with wood, fixed clear of the walls on thick battens, and coarse canvas was stretched over the wood and then sealed and decorated. He calculated that the unbroken surface and the wooden lining would be "like the body of the violin – resonant". The Observer commented that the building resembled a violin in construction and shape, and also that "the ground plan of

5885-802: The fifteen were given. The third and fourth series showed some slight improvement in the programmes; the orchestra was increased to forty, Karl Anschütz was conductor, and symphonies of Mozart and Haydn were occasionally given in their entirety. In spite of the fine artists engaged, these concerts failed to hit the popular taste. Among the artists who appeared were the vocalists Charlotte Birch , Charlotte Dolby , Elizabeth Poole , M. and A. Williams , Elena D'Angri , Jetty Treffz , Elizabeth Rainforth , Mr and Mrs Sims Reeves , John Braham , Giorgio Ronconi , Johann Baptist Pischek and Karl Formes ; instrumentalists Kate Loder , Sigismond Thalberg , Prosper Sainton , Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst , Eugène Léon Vivier , Antoine Joseph Lavigne , and Distin and sons ; and for

5992-401: 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". The members of the Queen's Hall Orchestra were not highly paid; Wood recalled in his memoirs, "the rank and file of the orchestra received only 45s a week for six Promenade concerts and three rehearsals,

6099-424: The first season were Schubert 's Great C Major , Mendelssohn's Italian and Schumann 's Fourth . The concertos included Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Schumann's Piano Concerto . During the season there were 23 novelties, including the London premieres of pieces by Richard Strauss , Tchaikovsky, Glazunov , Massenet and Rimsky-Korsakov . Newman and Wood soon felt able to devote every Monday night of

6206-543: The following statement: It is scarcely necessary for Messrs. CHAPPELL and Co. to add that any announcement made in connexion with these FAREWELL READINGS will be strictly adhered to and considered final; and that on no consideration whatever will Mr. DICKENS be induced to appoint an extra night in any place in which he shall have been once announced to read for the last time. The stalls were priced at five shillings , balcony seats at three, and general admission at one shilling. A new amenity, sofa stalls ("of which there will be

6313-408: The fountain and had to be rescued by a chivalrous swain. It must have happened thirty-five times every night. Foreigners came from all parts of Europe to see it". At the top of the building, adjoining the conservatory, was the Queen's Small Hall, seating 500, for recitals, chamber-music concerts and other small-scale presentations. In July 1894, Bernard Shaw described it as "cigar-shaped with windows in

6420-600: The hall as their meeting place. The Chappell ballad concerts were being managed by William Boosey in 1902, when the hall was owned by a private company. The controlling share was held by T. P. Chappell, chairman of Chappell's : he turned down a good offer to buy the hall because Boosey felt strongly about its old connection with the Saturday and Monday 'Pops' and the Chappell ballad concerts. But Chappell died in June 1902, and

6527-615: The hall during this period have been reissued on CD. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, the BBC immediately put into effect its contingency plans to move much of its broadcasting away from London to places thought less at risk of bombing. Its musical department, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, moved to Bristol. The BBC withdrew not only the players, but financial support from

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6634-405: The hall to be rebuilt, the government decided against doing so. The main musical functions of the Queen's Hall were taken over by the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms, and the new Royal Festival Hall for the general concert season. The site on which the hall was built was bounded by the present-day Langham Place , Riding House Street and Great Portland Street . In 1820 the land was bought by

6741-456: The hall until 28 February 1894, when it moved to the Queen's Hall. There were major events in 1870–71, when a Beethoven centenary season was held, with all nine symphonies performed. The bust of Beethoven by Johann Nepomuk Schaller was presented to the Society and collected (in Pest, Hungary ) by Sir William Cusins . It was exhibited at the Society's first concert in 1871, and a replica

6848-470: The hall was The Hymn of Praise , sung by the Vocal Association, under Julius Benedict . Sims Reeves sang Beethoven 's 'Adelaide' there (the first of many successes), accompanied by Arabella Goddard , in a concert at the end of May 1858. According to Reeves' biographer, 'The hall itself met with general approval, but the arrangements for chorus and orchestra were severely condemned.' In

6955-556: The hall's resident orchestra, founded in 1893, was eclipsed and it disbanded in 1930. The new orchestras attracted another generation of musicians from Europe and the United States, including Serge Koussevitzky , Willem Mengelberg , Arturo Toscanini , Bruno Walter and Felix Weingartner . In 1941, during the Second World War , the building was destroyed by incendiary bombs in the London Blitz . Despite much lobbying for

7062-421: The hall. Dickens would give his last public reading here at 8:00 pm on the 15 March 1870. He died shortly thereafter on 9 June, having suffered another stroke. The Bach Choir , established in 1875 under a founding committee including Sir George Grove and Sir John Stainer , had as a primary aim the introduction to England of Bach 's Mass in B Minor . With a choir of between 200 and 250 voices, including

7169-617: The idea of the Monday Popular Concerts, which established the fame and popularity of the hall. George Bernard Shaw reported that the concerts at the hall contributed greatly to the spread and enlightenment of musical taste in England. Monday 'Pops' were held in the evening, and Saturday 'Pops' on Saturday afternoons. These were chamber-concerts. Their programmes were almost exclusively 'classical', and consisted of piano and organ recital, singers, violinists, string quartets and other chamber ensemble. They were managed by John Boosey , and later by William Boosey , together with Chappell. In 1861

7276-578: The instrument as 'that terrible box of whistles at St. James's Hall'. This had not seemed to bother Camille Saint-Saëns when he premiered his third Symphony there (in which two sections make extensive use of the organ) in 1886. Saint-Saëns was a fine organist, and was titulaire of Église de la Madeleine in Paris . If he had any objections to the organ of St. James Hall for the premier of his symphony, they do not appear in his writings. The Stock Exchange Orchestral Society, founded 1883, originally played in

7383-477: The interest of the general cultural life of the community" it was desirable to replace the hall, but it was doubtful whether there was a potential demand that would enable it to run without "seriously subtracting from the audiences of subsidised halls already in existence". From 1982, London had a second hall large enough for symphony concerts, in the Barbican Centre . The former site of the Queen's Hall

7490-416: The leading musicians and composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries performed there, including Claude Debussy , Edward Elgar , Maurice Ravel and Richard Strauss . In the 1930s, the hall became the main London base of two new orchestras, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra . These two ensembles raised the standards of orchestral playing in London to new heights, and

7597-423: The lease of the building, retaining Newman as manager. The Queen's Hall orchestra and concerts were rescued by the musical benefactor Sir Edgar Speyer , a banker of German origin. Speyer put up the necessary funds, encouraged Newman and Wood to continue with their project of musical education, and underwrote the Proms and the main Symphony Concert seasons. Newman remained manager of the hall until 1906 and manager of

7704-421: The more expensive concerts presented by the Philharmonic Society and others. Newman aimed to do the same: "I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages. Popular at first, gradually raising the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music". Newman's determination to make the promenade concerts attractive to everyone led him to permit smoking during concerts, which

7811-529: The next two years many choral works were given with the Philharmonic Choir, including works by Franz Liszt , Anton Rubinstein , Weber , Beethoven and Brahms. In 1883, Cusins retired as conductor, and for one season there was a team of honorary conductors. Antonín Dvořák conducted his Sixth Symphony (although it was referred to as "Symphony No. 1") in March 1884. Sir Arthur Sullivan conducted

7918-429: The numbers of the seats tied over the straight backs with bright pink tape, like office files.' The Hall was built jointly by two music publishing firms, Chappell & Co. and Cramer & Co. , in the hope of attracting the growing audiences for fine musical performances that attended the Crystal Palace and the halls being built in the provinces. It stood empty for nearly a year after its opening. For almost half

8025-504: The old resident orchestra, many of whose members had been engaged by the BBC, and in 1930 it disbanded. With orchestral standards now of unprecedented excellence, eminent musicians from Europe and the U.S. were eager to perform at the Queen's Hall. Among the guest conductors at the hall in the 1930s were Serge Koussevitzky , Willem Mengelberg , Arturo Toscanini , Bruno Walter and Felix Weingartner . Composer-conductors included Richard Strauss and Anton Webern . Some recordings made in

8132-447: The orchestra and the concerts, but at this crucial point Chappells withdrew financial support for the Proms. After lengthy negotiations, the BBC took over from Chappells in 1927 as sponsor. The Proms were saved, and the hall continued to play host to celebrity concerts throughout the rest of the 1920s and the '30s, some promoted by the BBC, and others as hitherto by a range of choral societies, impresarios and orchestras. As Chappells owned

8239-439: The orchestra was founded on the bell of a horn". Shortly before the opening, Ravenscroft appointed Robert Newman as manager. Newman had already had three different careers, as a stockjobber , a bass soloist, and a concert agent. The rest of his career was associated with the Queen's Hall, and the names of the hall and the manager became synonymous. The Queen's Hall first opened its doors on 25 November 1893. Newman gave

8346-495: The other 60 feet (18 m) by 55 feet (17 m). The Hall was decorated in the 'Florentine' style, with features imitating the great Moorish Palace of the Alhambra. The Piccadilly facade was given a Gothic design, and the complex of two restaurants and three halls was hidden behind Nash's Quadrant. Sir George Henschel recalled its 'dear old, uncomfortable, long, narrow, green-upholstered benches (pale-green horse-hair) with

8453-407: The other shareholders accepted a new offer without consulting Boosey, who was badly put out. Then Queen's Hall came into the market, and a friend of Boosey's acting in that interest pointed out that Queen's Hall would be worth much more if St James's Hall ceased to operate. Boosey realised that Messrs Chappell could benefit most by becoming lessors of Queen's Hall, and it was immediately arranged with

8560-402: The painting, E. M. Forster remarked on "the attenuated Cupids who encircle the ceiling of the Queen's Hall, inclining each to each with vapid gesture, and clad in sallow pantaloons". In the centre of the arena there was a fountain containing pebbles, goldfish and waterlilies. According to the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham , "Every three or four minutes some fascinating young female fell into

8667-554: The platform to announce: "Gentlemen, in future there will be no deputies; good morning". Forty players resigned en bloc and formed their own orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra . Newman did not attempt to bar the new orchestra from the Queen's Hall, and its first concert was given there on 9 June 1904, conducted by Richter. By the 20th century the Queen's Hall was regarded not only as "London's premier concert-hall" but as "the acknowledged musical centre of

8774-479: The prejudices and passions of the hour". When Speyer left Britain in 1915, Chappell's took on financial responsibility for the Queen's Hall concerts. The resident orchestra was renamed the New Queen's Hall Orchestra. Concerts continued throughout the war years, with fewer major new works than before, although there were nevertheless British premieres of pieces by Bartók , Stravinsky and Debussy. An historian of

8881-422: The programmes consisted of light overtures, operatic selections, vocal and orchestral, ballads, and light instrumental pieces. Occasionally more important works were tried, such as Mendelssohn's Antigone , Rossini's Stabat Mater , or Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 . A fourth series of fifteen concerts was given, extending from 24 October 1849 to 30 January 1850, and a fifth was attempted, but only twelve of

8988-420: The public mind the Queen's Hall quickly became chiefly associated with the promenade concerts. Newman was careful to balance "the Proms", as they became known, with more prestigious and expensive concerts throughout the rest of the year. He would foster the careers of promising artists, and if they were successful at the Proms they would, after two seasons, be given contracts for the main concert series, billed as

9095-560: The recitation of Antigone , John Vandenhoff , Charlotte Vandenhoff and George Bennett . Attribution Popular Concerts St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones , who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace . It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly , and Vine Street and George Court. There

9202-402: The rest of the programme comprised, in the words of a historian of the Proms, David Cox, "for the most part ... blatant trivialities". Newman and Wood gradually tilted the balance from light music to mainstream classical works; within days of the opening concert, Schubert 's Unfinished Symphony and further excerpts from Wagner operas were performed. Among the other symphonies presented during

9309-455: The result that Chappell's controlled Queen's Hall from 1902 down to 1944. The 11-year-old violinist Franz von Vecsey made his English debut at St James's Hall in April or early May 1904. It continued in use until February 1905 when it was demolished. The Piccadilly Hotel was afterwards built on the site. A new St. James's Hall at Great Portland Street , (on a site previously occupied by St Paul's Church ) had its foundation stone laid by

9416-555: The same scene. In residence for the whole active life of the hall, the Minstrels had their permanent home there, but their interests often conflicted with those of the main hall. In January 1890, for instance, George Bernard Shaw wrote: At the Hallé orchestral concert... I was inhumanly tormented by a quadrille band which the proprietors of St James's Hall (who really ought to be examined by two doctors) had stationed within earshot of

9523-415: The same year, one of the first complete performances of J.S. Bach 's St Matthew Passion to be heard in England was given there under William Sterndale Bennett , with Sims Reeves , Helen Lemmens-Sherrington , Charlotte Sainton-Dolby and Willoughby Weiss . The hall became known for its continuous production of blackface minstrelsy from 1862 until 1904. Known as the Christy Minstrels and later

9630-614: The season principally to Wagner and every Friday night to Beethoven, a pattern that endured for decades. Many events at the Queen's Hall were not presented by Newman. The hall was frequently let to organisations such as the Bach Choir and the Philharmonic Society (from 1903 the Royal Philharmonic Society), and later the London Choral Society and Royal Choral Society . The hall was used for

9737-531: The site was a bronze bust of Wood retrieved from the debris. Concerts continued in London at the Royal Albert Hall and other venues. The Proms were relocated to the Albert Hall, which remains their principal venue. In 1951, the Royal Festival Hall was opened and succeeded the Queen's Hall as the main London venue for symphony concerts other than the Proms. It was reported in late 1946 that

9844-511: The title "New Queen's Hall Orchestra", the resident orchestra had to change its name once again and was now known as Sir Henry J. Wood's Symphony Orchestra. In 1927, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , under its conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler , gave two concerts at the Queen's Hall. These, and later concerts by the same orchestra in 1928 and 1929, made obvious the comparatively poor standards of London orchestras. Both

9951-445: The young and little known Henry Wood to conduct the whole season. There had been various seasons of promenade concerts in London since 1838, under conductors from Louis Antoine Jullien to Arthur Sullivan. Sullivan's concerts in the 1870s had been particularly successful because he offered his audiences something more than the usual light music. He introduced major classical works, such as Beethoven symphonies, normally restricted to

10058-550: Was a smoking concert given by the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society, of which Prince Alfred (the second son of Queen Victoria ) was both patron and leader. The performance was attended by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Connaught . Knightley had built a royal box in the grand circle, but Prince Alfred told Newman, "my brother would never sit in that", and Newman had it demolished. The royal party

10165-486: Was a frontage on Regent Street, and another in Piccadilly. Taking the orchestra into account, the main hall had seating for slightly over 2,000 persons. It had a grand hall 140 feet (43 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) broad, the seating was distributed between ground floor, balcony, gallery and platform and it had excellent acoustics. On the ground floor were two smaller halls, one 60 feet (18 m) square;

10272-548: Was an Elgar concert at the hall. Sargent conducted the Enigma Variations and The Dream of Gerontius . The soloists were Muriel Brunskill , Webster Booth and Ronald Stear, with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Choral Society. This concert, the last given at the hall, comprised in the view of The Times "performances of real distinction". That night there was an intensive air raid in which

10379-462: Was an improved version of the early Kinetoscope . Newman continued to be interested in new entertainments. The music hall entertainer Albert Chevalier persuaded him to instigate variety performances in the Queen's Small Hall from 16 January 1899. These shows were well received; The Times commented that Chevalier's "vogue with the cultured classes is as great and as permanent as with his former patrons". Despite all these various activities, in

10486-410: Was by Sidney W. Elmes and Son, and the furnishing was by Lapworth Brothers and Harrison. The lighting was a combination of gas and electricity. The original decor consisted of grey and terracotta walls, Venetian red seating, large red lampshades suspended just above the orchestra's heads, mirrors surrounding the arena, and portraits of the leading composers to the sides of the platform. The paintwork

10593-419: Was curtailed after four weeks, when intense bombing forced the Queen's Hall to close. The last Prom given at the Queen's Hall was on 7 September 1940. On 8 December doors and windows of the hall were blown out by blast. After temporary repairs, concerts were continued; after further damage on 6 April 1941 repairs were again quickly made, and the hall re-opened within days. On the afternoon of 10 May 1941, there

10700-456: Was intended to be either the "Victoria Concert Hall" or the "Queen's Concert Hall". The name finally chosen, the "Queen's Hall", was decided very shortly before the hall opened. The historian Robert Elkin speculates that the alternative "Victoria Concert Hall" was abandoned as liable to confusion with the "Royal Victoria Music Hall", the formal name of the Old Vic . The new hall was to provide

10807-458: Was intended to be the colour of "the belly of a London mouse", and Knightley is said to have kept a string of dead mice in the paint shop in order to ensure the correct tone. The arena had moveable seating on a "brownish carpet that blended with the dull fawnish colour of the walls". The arched ceiling had an elaborate painting of the Paris Opéra , by Carpegat, . Of the accompanying details of

10914-407: Was not an idle one", and spoke of "exhilaration" at the playing. The London Philharmonic made its debut on 7 October 1932, conducted by Beecham. After the first item, Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture , the audience went wild, some of them standing on their seats to clap and shout. During the next eight years, the orchestra appeared nearly a hundred times at the Queen's Hall. There was no role for

11021-469: Was not formally prohibited at the Proms until 1971. Refreshments were available in all parts of the hall throughout the concerts, not only during intervals. Prices were about one fifth of those customarily charged for classical concerts: the promenade (the standing area) was one shilling, the balcony two shillings, and the grand circle (reserved seats) three and five shillings. Newman needed to find financial backing for his first season. Dr George Cathcart,

11128-404: Was placed at the front of the platform at every Philharmonic concert thereafter. The Society's Gold Medal incorporated an image of the bust. Another major event of 1871 was the original presentation of medals to ten distinguished musicians. In 1871, Charles Gounod conducted a concert of his music. In 1873 Brahms 's A German Requiem had its English premiere; Edward Lloyd first sang before

11235-588: Was redeveloped by the freeholder, the Crown Estate . It is now occupied by the Saint Georges Hotel . In 2004, Richard Morrison wrote of the Queen's Hall: Everybody who heard concerts in that hall speaks, or spoke, warmly of its acoustics and atmosphere … by all accounts it was perfect. It should have been rebuilt after the war: there were plans, committees, even the start of a fundraising campaign. But it wasn't, and since then London has not had

11342-481: Was seated in armchairs in the front of the stalls (pictured right). The programme consisted of orchestral works by Sullivan , Gounod , Auber , Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky , and solos from the violinist Tivadar Nachéz and the baritone David Ffrangcon-Davies . The official opening of the hall took place on 2 December. Frederic Hymen Cowen conducted; the National Anthem was sung by Emma Albani and

11449-533: Was too small. In 1868, famed Victorian author Charles Dickens presented a final series of "Farewell Readings," at the hall, which commenced on the evening of October 6, with a program devoted to "Doctor Marigold" (from the Christmas Story ) and "The Trial" from Pickwick . He had settled with his tour managers, Chappell & Co., on 100 readings for the princely sum of £8,000. Attendees would receive printed programs and Chappell's advertisements included

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