Haydn Plaque

[Steerpike]

London is full of blue plaques to commemorate places where composers stayed or lived - Berlioz, Bruckner, Mozart, Handel, and so on. But nothing for Haydn. There's a plan afoot to remedy this and I thought forumites (istas??) might be interested and some even interested in supporting the plan.

The story is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...aque-in-London

[Tony Halstead]

London is full of blue plaques to commemorate places where composers stayed or lived - Berlioz, Bruckner, Mozart, Handel, and so on. But nothing for Haydn. There's a plan afoot to remedy this and I thought forumites (istas??) might be interested and some even interested in supporting the plan.

The story is here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...aque-in-London

I've just subscribed to / supported it via 'Kickstarter'. They don't take any money from you unless the target is reached.
A very worthy cause IMV.

[Pianorak]

Very interested in this. Hope the project succeeds.

[Nick Armstrong]

I've just subscribed to / supported it via 'Kickstarter'. They don't take any money from you unless the target is reached.
A very worthy cause IMV.

Yes I agree. I'm tempted. I've supported a project in the past via Kickstarter, it worked well.

Nice to hear from you Tony !

[Steerpike]

There's just 8 days to go to secure this plaque for London. If the total pledged doesn't reach the target in the next 8 days then no pledges are collected and the whole thing's off.

At the moment £3,327 has been pledged by 112 people so there's still £1,918 to go before the target of £5,245 is reached.

So, if you haven't pledged do look at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...aque-in-london. And if you have pledged, you can always increase your amount!

Let's put our mate Joe up there with Anton and Felix and Ben and Hector and Wolfie and the rest of them!

[Flosshilde]

Doesn't English Heritage run the Blue Plaques scheme any more? They (or their predecessor organisation) took over when the Greater London Council was abolished, I thought.

[Steerpike]

Flossie,

English Heritage encourage others to do their own plaques, I think because they're expensive and money is short. They offer a lot of guidance and a register of plaques. There's more detail at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...plaques/about/ Previous attempts to have a Haydn plaque have failed:

(Below taken from FAQ at the kickstarter site above)...

Why isn't there a plaque to Haydn already?
"The short answer is that we don't really know for sure but we have some ideas on the subject.

The chief eligibility criterion for English Heritage's scheme is that the building on which the plaque would be mounted is an original, contemporary with the person being commemorated.

No buildings that had a direct association with Haydn are left now. The Hanover Square Rooms site is now occupied by a Japanese bank and the house rented for Haydn by Rebecca Schroeter in Bury St, St James's, has disappeared under a re-development that now houses the Christie’s auction house. St James's Church in Piccadilly, where Haydn witnessed Therese Jansen's marriage to Gaetano Bartolozzi, is still standing, but ecclesiastical buildings may not carry plaques of this sort.

There have apparently been a number of attempts to put up a plaque under an independent scheme (in the same way as we are doing) but it's not clear whether they foundered for reasons of finance, lack of permissions for the chosen site or any other reason."

[Flosshilde]

Thanks for that information, Steerpike. Interesting that EH won't put plaques on anything but the original building; I'm sure I've seen (presumably GLC) plaques saying 'in a house on this site' or words to that effect.

Perhaps the London Assembly should take over? Boris plaques, sponsored by Barclay's (or any other company that uses blue as a corporate colour)

[Pianorak]

Let's put our mate Joe up there with Anton and Felix and Ben and Hector and Wolfie and the rest of them!

Wish I had six friends to put in a half-nelson and frogmarch to kickstarter. I bet there's a good reason why the deadline cannot be extended, so won't even ask.

[Steerpike]

Pianorak,

Well you not asking doesn't stop me from answering! (Or answering as well as I can because it's not my appeal, I'm just a Haydn fan).

As far as I understand it, kickstarter advise that appeals are kept short because shorter appeals are much more likely to be successful. In fact they've stopped allowing 90 day appeals and the longest they now permit is 60 days - and they reckon 30 days or shorter is far more likely to be successful. I can't find anything about about extending appeals but I've never heard of it.

Keep practising the half-nelsons!

[Pianorak]

and they reckon 30 days or shorter is far more likely to be successful.

Thanks for your response, Steerpike. Fail to see the logic, but what do I know.

[Steerpike]

Hurrah!

The goal of £5,245 for a Haydn plaque was reached this afternoon. All done by the hard work and organisation of the mezzo Clare McCaldin with the Haydn Society of GB together with 157 project backers on kickstarter.

The campaign remains open until Monday so if you want one of the sets of rewards you can still back the campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...aque-in-london.

Dr Haydn has his due at last!

[Cornet IV]

Hurrah!

The goal of £5,245 for a Haydn plaque was reached this afternoon. All done by the hard work and organisation of the mezzo Clare McCaldin with the Haydn Society of GB together with 157 project backers on kickstarter.

Dr Haydn has his due at last!

I'm generally steaming somewhat astern of the fleet so have only just discovered this thread.

Singularly disappointed as the fund raisers have closed the books - I should very much like to have contributed to Papa whose London commemoration is substantially more deserved than that of many others to be found in the capital. At least he has been spared Parliament Square!

[Steerpike]

A reminder that the Haydn plaque is due to be unveiled by Sir Neville Marriner on Tuesday 24th March at noon: http://haydnsocietyofgb.co.uk/haydn-plaque/

It's a public event and everyone is welcome so do come to outside 18 Great Pulteney Street in Soho if you can be in London then. I imagine the Metropolitan Police can just about control their nerves contemplating this crowd!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"Crowd", Steerpike? Surely it's a Haydn Mass?