The Musical Life of the Crystal Palace

by Michael Musgrave

Overview

Though it was never designed to accommodate musical performance, the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, opened in 1854, quickly established itself as the most important single location for public music-making in the United Kingdom. For almost fifty years the orchestral concerts and choral festivals provided weekly performances which set new standards and introduced new repertory unparalleled anywhere in its time. Since its spectacular destruction by fire in 1936, the once familiar patterns of music-making have been long forgotten. This is the first book to reconstruct the musical history of the Crystal Palace. In so doing, Michael Musgrave also offers a unique survey of British musical life stretching from the Victorian period to the eve of the Second World War. Fully illustrated and with valuable catalogues of performers and repertoire, the book will be of interest to students and scholars of nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, British social history, and architecture, as well as to the general music enthusiast.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521616072
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/15/2005
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Part I. The Beginnings: 1. The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park; 2. The Crystal Palace at Sydenham; Part II. The Choral Life: 3. The Handel festivals 1857–1926; 4. Other large scale choral performances; Part III. August Manns and the Saturday Concerts, 1855–1900: 5. The concerts, orchestra and conductor; 6. Programmes, performers, repertory, programme notes; 7. The Crystal Palace and its audience; Part IV. Other Orchestral, Vocal and Instrumental Concerts: 8. After Manns: the Crystal Palace amateur orchestra and choir; 9. Popular concerts; 10. Solo instrumental music; Part V. The Broader Educational Dimension: 11. Exhibitions; the School of Art, Science and Literature, the Theatre; 12. The great popular festivals; Appendices; Appendix 1. The Handel festivals selection day programmes and repertory, 1857–1923; Appendix 2. Personnel of the Saturday orchestra; Appendix 3a. Works by non-British composers given first British performances in the Saturday concerts of the Crystal Palace ; Appendix 3b. Works by British composers given first performances in the Saturday concerts of the Crystal Palace; Appendix 4. Staged works with music performed in the theatre; Appendix 5. The Brass Band championships; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'… highly recommended as [a] good read and [an] invaluable work of research.' BBC Music Magazine

'A whole pageant of Victorian choral and orchestral history comes alive here'. Arthur Jacobs, Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine

'This is a hugely welcome volume which plugs a large hole left by previous histories of the Palace.' Classical Music

From the Publisher