Hornspieler and the Threebees

[Hornspieler]

Bournemout, Bristol and the BBC

What is the connection? Well, I shall explain over the next few days; but let's start with Bournemouth
and a brief history of the Bournemouth orchestra from the time of its inception in 1893:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bournemouth_Symphony_Orchestra#1934.E2.80.931947:_Austin.2C_Birch_and_wartime_austerity

The beginning of Dan Godfrey’s orchestra was, like Scarborough, Buxton, and other holiday resorts, mainly of the light music variety, but Godfrey gave a professional introduction to the more ‘classical’ music of the times Bournemouth Corporation gave the venture their approval and support and even encouraged the introduction of more ‘serious’ music.
On Godfrey’s retirement, Richard Austin took the helm and more classical works, limited only by the orchestra’s size were introduced to the residents and holiday visitors to Bournemouth..

In 1945, at the end of hostilities, the remnants of the orchestra re-formed, recruited additional players and soldiered on under the leadership of Monty Birch. Then, in 1947, Bournemouth opted to reform its Municipal band into a full symphony orchestra and appointed the Austrian Conductor, Rudolf Schwarz as its Principal conductor. I remember well attending the opening concert of that re-formed orchestra as a 14 year old schoolboy:

Ov. The Wasps
Emperor Piano Concerto (Iso Elison?)
Schubert’s great C major symphony (Schwarz’s favourite)

After two years, Schwarz moved on to the CBSO and Charles Groves came down from the BBC Northern Orchestra to take the reins.

A problem arose, because Eastbourne in particular (and other seaside resorts) started to engage Service Bands, REME, RAF Central, Guards bands, and principally the Royal Artillery Band, who had a regular six week contract to provide military band and orchestral music*.
Bright uniforms, Military band recitals with orchestral sessions also by the RA, RE and RAF. Popular tunes of the day and string music ranging from Ketelby (Ugh) to Elgar and Rossini.

The old codgers (ex Municipal Orchestra players) occupying Bournemouth’s Bandstand in the Lower Pleasure Gardens were no match, either musically or visually for such rival attractions and Bournemouth Council decided that they had to go.
So the Bournemouth Branch of the Musicians Union called them all out on strike and ordered the Municipal orchestra to take strike action in support. Bournemouth promptly gave the orchestra notice and saved themselves a lot of ratepayers’ money.

* 17 performances a week! Try that one on the Musicians Union!

(to be continued in my next post)

[Hornspieler]

Hornspieler and the 3 B’s

Bournemouth and Bristol

The situation for the Bournemouth players was critical. Abandoned by Bournemouth Corporation, the Arts Council were appealed to. They were sympathetic but said that with no contributions from other activities, There was nothing that they could do to help.

A saviour emerged in the rotund form of that great aviation pioneer and inventor of a system for refluelling aircraft in flight, Sir Alan Cobham. His factory was at Tarrant Rushton Aerodrome, just North of Bournemouth and he was a keen supporter of music making in Bournemouth.

He formed a group of like-minded businessmen and created an association named “The Western Orchestral Society” to raise funds.

A “Save the Orchestra" raffle was initiated and members of the orchestra (including Charles Groves) were to be seen selling raffle tickets in the town's tourist areas. The towns and cities where the Bournemouth orchestra were within reach were invited to send representatives to join the Society and to have a guarantee of evening concerts and childrens’ concerts in return for inclusion into the orchestra’s annual schedule.

Local Councils from as far away as Portsmouth to the East and Truro to the West joined in and a governing body, supported now by funds from the Arts Council was set up as “The Western Authorities Association”.

The revitalised orchestra was re-named “The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra” and its stated objective was to provide music throughout the West of England with all suitable venues covered as far North as Bath and Bristol, in Town Halls, Cathedrals and Cinemas (Sunday afternoon concerts) and anywhere with facilities to take a full size symphony orchestra.

The largest contributor was Bristol, who promised £8,000 per season for a series of eight concerts and three childrens’ concerts – all to be held in the Colston Hall.

So Bournemouth, with one of the country’s finest concert halls (the Winter Gardens) was put to shame and had little option but to join in. and put that threepence in the pound back onto the rates (or lose the name “Bournemouth” from the orchestra’s title).

Why was this important? Well, of all the resorts on the South Coast of England, Bournemouth was the only one whose name appeared quite regularly in the Radio Times, with its (then but not now) huge readership.

(to be continued)

[french frank]

Lot of people reading, if not commenting, HS. So keep going - very interesting to me bec. of Bristol connection.

[Hornspieler]

Lot of people reading, if not commenting, HS. So keep going - very interesting to me bec. of Bristol connection.

HS and the 3 B’s (ctd.)

When I joined the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 1958, the orchestra were established but still struggling to keep afloat.

Nobody was paid ‘over the odds’ (the minimum salary scale in the Musicians Union Standard Orchestral Contract for Principal, Sub-Principal and Rank and File players)

I can remember some occasions when we did not receive our subsistence allowances for out of town journeys until the following week, because there were insufficient funds to pay them in advance. On one occasion, the Orchestra Manager had to ‘raid’ the Box Office in Torquay Town Hall in order to pay the fees and travel expenses for two deputy players from London.

Now it is apparent that, despite all appearances, the orchestra is still in dire straights so what are the chances of survival?

Help from Bristol? I’ve already mentioned the impracticability of shifting an orchestra lock, stock and barrel to another location.

The Indian Summer is over – not helped by a disastrous mistake on the part of both Bournemouth and Bristol.

On 2nd January, 1985 a concert was arranged to take place in Bristol’s Colston Hall in celebration of Sir Michael Tippet’s 80th Birthday – he being a native of Bristol.

All the programme was of works by Tippett, which was not the sort of musical fare that the citizens of Bristol and its environs were familiar with. There was anything but the usual capacity audience but even so, it was noticable that the audience was even smaller when we resumed after the interval.

A disastrous event which was reflected in the next Bristol concert which would have been expected to have a capacity audience but was only just over half full.

The result was that Bristol withdrew part of its financial contribution and confined its commitment to providing the Colston Hall rent free for future visits.

In my next post, I'm going to start right back in 1945 to discuss BBC Bristol's involvement in broacast music.

(Time for my afternoon nap.)

HS

[Hornspieler]

My first encounter with the BBC Music Department in Bristol was in 1945 when I was a twelve year old schoolboy in Salisbury.

Out Headmaster, F C Happold, had written a nativity play entitled “The Finding of the King”

It was, in fact a sequence of Carols telling the story of Christmas in music and the entire cast was made up of the school choral society and all the principal characters were either former staff or ex pupils .

Antony Brown, our Music Master and father of Iona, Timothy and Ian, was the conductor and his wife, the lovely Fiona, was the Leader of a small orchestra.

The cast included none other than William Golding, John Carol Case, C T Newton Waters and also my lifelong friend and colleague the late Rodney Senior.

We were told that the Play was to be broadcast to America (I don’t know who thought of that idea) and an army of technicians and a production team arrived from the Music Department of BBC Bristol.

The broadcast was produced by Reginal Redman, who was the Head of Music in Bristol and I still have the souvenir programme of the event to this day.

I’ve introduced this event to highlight the fact that the BBC did have an in-house orchestra in Bristol (I think it was called “The West Country Studio Players”) at this time.

My first encounter with those musicians was in 1950 when, still a student at the RAM, I was engaged for my first professional date. It was in Hereford Cathedral under the baton of the Cathedral Organist, Meredith Davies. I don’t remember what choral work was played but I do remember meeting some of those Bristol players who were, I believe, no longer employed by “Auntie” and were freelancing wherever they could find work.

(One down, another five light orchestras to go!)

My next post will be entitled “Needle Time” and deals with the squabbling between the BBC and the Musicians Union about the amount of records being broadcast by the disk jockeys on the newly launched Radio One.

[french frank]

in celebration of Sir Michael Tippet’s 80th Birthday – he being a native of Bristol

Not sure about that, HS. I don't believe he was ever 'a native'?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Not sure about that, HS. I don't believe he was ever 'a native'?

Born in London, brought up in Suffolk - Tippett lived in Corsham in his fifties when he was active with the Bath Festival - 26 miles from Bristol. There is an archive of some of his papers in Bristol University. Not really a "native" - more a "near resident"?

[french frank]

Born in London, brought up in Suffolk - Tippett lived in Corsham in his fifties when he was active with the Bath Festival - 26 miles from Bristol. There is an archive of some of his papers in Bristol University. Not really a "native" - more a "near resident"?

Yes, more of a 'Bath connection'. I did check the UoB Archive - not uninteresting but I didn't see much of real importance.

Perhaps the Bristolians were shunning what they did not know - rather than what they did know.

[vinteuil]

- Tippett lived in Corsham in his fifties when he was active with the Bath Festival - 26 miles from Bristol.

... yes, he was attached to Bath Academy of Art, then based at Corsham Court. As was my father.

[MrGongGong]

Oh I see
We ARE allowed to talk about SOME people but not others

Carry on in the rocking chairs on the porch folks then

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh I see
We ARE allowed to talk about SOME people but not others

Carry on in the rocking chairs on the porch folks then

You've lost me here, MrGG - have I put my foot in something I ortn'ta?

[MrGongGong]

You've lost me here, MrGG - have I put my foot in something I ortn'ta?

No problem eace dove:

(I made a comment about someone who was a player in one of these orchestras BUT that's obviously NOT allowed....... I once played Croquet with Michael Tippet and his boyfriend, Adam Birtwistle and I thrashed them then went to the pub ..... happy times )

[Ed:You're being disingenuous, Gongers. Your post was deleted because there was a complaint about your habit of disrupting other people's threads with what you consider to be whimsical contributions but which others find irritatiting. Please stop doing it -ff]

[richardfinegold]

HS. Has there ever been a time when Bournemouth was on relatively stable financial ground? Your account makes it seem like they have been on a financial tightrope continuously since the end of the War. Remarkable that they have managed to stay aloft and even thrive (artistically, at least) for most of that period.

[Sir Velo]

HS and the 3 B’s (ctd.)
The Indian Summer is over – not helped by a disastrous mistake on the part of both Bournemouth and Bristol.

On 2nd January, 1985 a concert was arranged to take place in Bristol’s Colston Hall in celebration of Sir Michael Tippet’s 80th Birthday – he being a native of Bristol.

All the programme was of works by Tippett, which was not the sort of musical fare that the citizens of Bristol and its environs were familiar with. There was anything but the usual capacity audience but even so, it was noticable that the audience was even smaller when we resumed after the interval.

A disastrous event which was reflected in the next Bristol concert which would have been expected to have a capacity audience but was only just over half full.

Leaving aside the question of whether living 30 miles from somewhere constitutes being a native of that place, there is something very odd about this recollection.

In 1985, Tippett was at the height of his fame and celebrity; the greatest living English composer of the day, whose works were premiered by among others, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Solti. Other champions included Colin Davis; the Lindsay Quartet; John Ogdon etc. I recall several films made on Tippett at the time, including a memorable BBC documentary, Songs of Experience in which the composer was shown at home at Nockett's Hill with its commanding view of the Vale of Pewsey. Here surrounded by a court of admiring musicians (including a young Craig Ogden) Tippett gave a memorable interview on all aspects of his craft.

If this concert failed to sell out then one maybe has to look at the promoters and the job they did. As this from the 1985 Radio Times reminds us:

The 80th birthday of Britain's foremost composer, Sir Michael Tippett , has been marked with celebrations around the world. BBC cameras spent the week at Malvern with Sir Michael and filmed him at work on the interpretation of his own music and Elgar's Introduction and Allegro. Tippett at 80 reveals a vigorous and delightful absorption in every aspect of music making, and this film is a unique record of his reflections on Elgar as well as his thoughts on interpretation, style and technique in the performance of his own music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Leaving aside the question of whether living 30 miles from somewhere constitutes being a native of that place, there is something very odd about this recollection.

In 1985, Tippett was at the height of his fame and celebrity; the greatest living English composer of the day, whose works were premiered by among others, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Solti. Other champions included Colin Davis; the Lindsay Quartet; John Ogdon etc. I recall several films made on Tippett at the time, including a memorable BBC documentary, Songs of Experience in which the composer was shown at home at Nockett's Hill with its commanding view of the Vale of Pewsey. Here surrounded by a court of admiring musicians (including a young Craig Ogden) Tippett gave a memorable interview on all aspects of his craft.

If this concert failed to sell out then one maybe has to look at the promoters and the job they did.

I wondered about this, too - and had a few rather uncharitable thoughts about Bristolians - but then wondered about the date HS mentions: 2nd Jan. In itself a bit close to "the Festivities", perhaps - and then there was the particularly bad weather that month which may have had an influence ("the coldest January [in parts of the South East] since 1963; "the number of days with snow lying ... as much as three times [the average] in parts of the South and East") - the tickets might have been sold, but people unable to get to the concert - or, once there, concerned that they may not have been able to get back and so left during the interval?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/l/d/Jan1985.pdf