Royal Choral Society: The Resignation of Sir Frederick Bridge Author(s): Herman Klein Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 62, No. 945 (Nov. 1, 1921), pp. 757-758 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/908950 Accessed: 21-12-2015 15:52 UTC
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This content downloaded from 137.52.76.29 on Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:52:43 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES-NOvEMBER 1 1921 757
them, and it may be asserted without fear E 0 of contradiction that their esprit de corps has ZflusicalEimes never been stronger than it will be when AND SINGING-CLASS CIRCULAR Sir Frederick Bridge lays down his baton for the last time at the Good Friday performance NOVEMBER I 1921 of 'The Messiah' in April next. To quote the wordswritten by the secretaryof the Society in the programmeof the Jubilee Concert: ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY : Theyare proud of their choir-proud of its fame and traditions. . . to themit is a potentcivilising and forcedestined to much and THE RESIGNATION OF elevating bring gladness content. SIR FREDERICK BRIDGE Paying tribute to the conductor, the same writerdeclared him to be By HERMAN KLEIN . a veteranin years,but in kindheartednessand The partingbetween friends,no matterwhen it vigourthe youngest of his generation. This is notthe comes, is always fraughtwith sadness, and long place to singhis praises,nor is it necessary,for his expectationof a melancholymoment does little,as is easilythe best-known name among English musicians a rule,to alleviate its poignancy. Otherwiseone of the day. As organistof WestminsterAbbey for might say that Sir FrederickBridge displayed his forty-fouryears (and nowretired with the honourable customary thoughtfulnessfor the feelings of his titleof Emeritus-Organist), conductor, lecturer, essayist, good friends, the members of the Albert Hall andby no meansleast, as humorist,his fame is assured. choir,when he made known to them at rehearsal recently his intention of vacating, at the end A solid and lastingrecord of his valuable labours of the present season, the post which he will then at the Royal Albert Hall is to be found in the have held for twenty-fiveyears, of conductorof the catalogue of new worksperformed there under his Royal Choral Society. The event mightnot in the direction during the second half of the Jubilee naturalcourse of thingshave been unanticipated; period. These comprise mostly compositions but it was peculiarlyfitting that the announcement of from the pens of native composers then or now it-the officialintimation, as it were-should come living. Among them may be noted Elgar's from the lips of the personage most concerned. ' King Olaf,' 'Dream of Gerontius,''The Apostles,' It was done, too, withthat fine simplicity of phrase 'The Kingdom,' 'The Music-Makers,' and and unaffecteddignity and earnestnessof manner 'The Spirit of England'; Coleridge-Taylor's 'The Blind Girl of Castel that best enable an Englishman to conceal his Hiawatha,' Cuill6,' emotions, but which nevertheless caused the 'The Atonement,'and 'A Tale of Old Japan'; inevitable lump to rise in the throatof many a Parry's 'War and Peace,' 'Invocation to Music,' singerthen facinghim. 'Pied Piper of Hamelin,' and ' The Chivalry of For, truthto tell, theyhave been on remarkablythe Sea'; Saint-Saens' 'The Promised Land'; good termswith each other,these eight hundred Mackenzie's 'The Witch's Daughter'; Cowen's and fiftychoristers and theirgenial conductor,ever 'The Veil' ; Stanford's'Stabat Mater,' ' Songs of since the latter succeeded Sir Joseph Barnby in the Sea,' ' Songs of the Fleet,' and ' At the Abbey I896. Barnby was not exactly an easy man to Gate' ; Ethel Smyth's'Mass '; Hamilton Harty's follow, being popular in the widest sense, facile 'Mystic Trumpeter' ; Vaughan Williams' 'Sea Two princeps in his line, sorifethingof a martinet,like Symphony'; Charles Wood's 'Dirge for Costa, but easier to placate, and thereforeliable to Veterans' ; Balfour Gardiner's 'News from be personallyadored. Yet, delicate and difficultWhydah'; and last, but not least, Sir Frederick's though his task at the outset, the organist of own 'Flag of England,' 'The Ballad of the WestminsterAbbey quicklyshowed thathe had the Clampherdown,' 'The Forging of the Anchor,' rightfibre to conquer with-the warmgood-nature 'A Song of the English,'and 'The Inchcape Rock,' and wittytongue; the sufficiencyof experienceas not to mentionthe earlier(and perhapsbest of them a choral conductor; the mind of a sympatheticand all) 'Callirhoe' and the settingof 'Rock of Ages.' capable musician; above all, the resolute will Here, assuredly,is a list of whichany conductor to do his best in everything. may be proud. However. the whole career of this And so, conquer he did. The old choristers remarkableman has been a synonym for hard who would have gone throughfire and water for work. His interestingand amusingautobiography, 'Sir Joseph' soon found that confidence in the 'A WestminsterPilgrim,' affordseloquent proof new leader would not be misplaced, and fromthat of this. (Truly,he remindsus morethan any other time forwardthey unhesitatinglytransferred their man of Sir Charles Hall6, who, if he neither affectionsand their ready obedience to him who lectured nor wrote essays, was capable of musical in due course became 'Sir Frederick.' Their strain for longer stretchesof time than any of his successors and freshcompanions during the course contemporaries,and did not, moreover,indulge in of fiveand twentyseasons have taken the cue from a long annual holidaywith plenty of salmon-fishing
This content downloaded from 137.52.76.29 on Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:52:43 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 758 THE MUSICAL TIMES-NOVEMBER I 1921 duringthe summermonths.) An appendix to the Concerts which for some time they had been book gives a complete list of the worksperformed carryingon at St. James's Hall. It was agreed by the Royal Choral Society under the author's that Mr. Littleton should be empowered to direction from 1896 to 1918. Referringto this, nominatefrom time to timeworks selected fromthe Sir Frederick also says, '"My relationswith both Novello catalogue to be presentedby the Society, choir and orchestrahave always been veryhappy; and amongst other valuable considerations a now and then I have been betrayedinto a satirical substantialsum was to be grantedby thepublishing word, but seldom into an angry one.' He firm towards the cost of presentingthese works probably regards as his most creditableachieve- at the Society's concerts. It resulted from the ment at the Albert Hall the revival of 'The exercise of this power that in March, 1900, Messiah,' without Mozart's additional accompani- Coleridge-Taylor's'The Song of Hiawatha' was ments. 'I had always looked askance at these produced by the Society on paymentof a hundred embellishments,'he says, and 'to my mind the pounds by the publishers. gain in dispensing with these accompanimentsis This agreement lapsed theoreticallyin 892, immense.' On the whole, the public verdicthas but in practice it was continued for some years endorsed his opinion. afterwards. In the meanwhile, Alfred Henry When the time comes for complete retirementLittleton never ceased to serve-faithfully and Sir Frederick Bridge will, in the fullest degree, assiduously, as was his wont-on the Committee have earnedhis otiurmcum dignitate. Nevertheless,of Managementuntil his death in 1914. After a as all the world knows, he is still marvellouslyshort interval, Mr. AugustusLittleton was invitedto young for the seventy-sevenyears he will have take his brother'splace on the Committee,and also lived by the fifth of next December. Writinv on the sub-committee(appointed annually) whose about him in a prominentdaily paper at the time duties were-and are-to arrangethe programmes, of our presentKing's Coronation,I made allusion engage the soloists, and attend to all details to this characteristicjuvenility, which has not been connected with the Society's concerts. The affectedby what I ventured to describe then as suggestions and recommendationsof this sub- 'one of the liveliest,most excitable temperamentscommittee for each season are naturallysubmitted to be found in a professionof notoriouslyexcitable to the Committee of Management for aplproval beings.' I added, and confirmation, and it need scarcely be said that the services of Mr. Littleton He is bynature eminently practical. He is anartist, Augustus were rendered withthe same zeal butnot a dreamer;a level-headedbusiness man, ever throughout and regard for the mutual interestsat stake as had readyto soarto music'ssublimest heights in searchof markedhis late brother'stenure of office. inspirationfor an anthemor a cantata; as content just of the contract to delveamid scoresand volumesfor The signing between the Society forgotten dusty and Messrs. Novello material for a Gresham lecture. excited the highest expecta- tions regardingthe advantages that would accrue Those words are just as true of him to-day, therefrom,and it will be of interestto quote in and there is no reason why, in spite (or rather this connection some lines which appeared in the because) of the cessation of his workas conductor _zhsical Times of October, 1889, over the then of the Royal Choral Society, they should not be familiar initials 'J. B.' (Joseph Bennett). They equally applicable to him ten years hence. headed an article dealing with the four seasons' splendid work (1885-89) accomplished under Sir (then Dr.) Alexander Mackenzie at ' Novello's Oratorio Concerts, and ran as follows:
A furtherresignation to be recorded is that of Afterworking through four seasons, these Concerts haveceased to exist. after thatis the Mr. AugustusLittleton, chairman of Novello & Co., Vet, all, scarcely to it. We shall know Ltd., fromthe Committeeof Management of the way put themno moreas a so is indubitable Royal Choral Society. His resignationbrings to an separateentity, much ; butthey will still in their and in end a close and, it may surelybe said, a live, spirit the influenceof their mutually as and beneficial association between the Royal Choral director, part parcelof the kindred enterprise at Society and the house of Novello which has the AlbertHall. The bare factsare these: Mr. continuedwithout a break for the last AlfredLittleton, head of the firmof Novello, thirty-two & years. The real commencementof this friendly Ewer Co., has joinedthe Committeeof the Royal association may be traced as far back as 1873, and ChoralSociety; discontinuing the Concertshitherto in I889 it was placed on a firmand substantial givenin St. James'sHall byhis firm, and transferring basis by an agreement which was entered into his interestto the olderbody, which will producea certainnumber of new between the Society and the late Alfred Henry worksthat would otherwise have been out the Littleton,senior partnerin Messrs. Novello & Co., brought by NovelloChoir. Thisis not and Mr. Littleton was invited to join the extinction;it is a marriage,and a marriagemay be Committee of Management. It was in a sense prolific. a veritable union de corps et de biens,and as a Unquestionablyit was prolific-alike in achieve- natural of the consequence schemeMessrs. Novello mentand in healthyinfluence on the advancement abandoned the successful series of Oratorio of the choral art of our epoch.
This content downloaded from 137.52.76.29 on Mon, 21 Dec 2015 15:52:43 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions