RMA Research Students' Conference 2006

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Thursday 5 January , 4.30pm

This lecture/recital will explore the conduct and ambiance of one of Europe's leading chamber music societies in the nineteenth century: the London Musical Union, founded and run by concert manager John Ella from 1845 to 1880, with a roster of the most celebrated artists of the day. Its seriousness of purpose, its sanctified yet intensely social atmosphere, and its emphasis on silent, informed listening in the round were among its several distinguishing features, which placed it at the vanguard of European developments in concert promotion, audience education, and the sacralization of high art music.

Many of the leading chamber music performers of the day who appeared at the Musical Union were associated with the German School in general and the Leipzig tradition, fostered by Mendelssohn, in particular. Mendelssohn's close friend Ferdinand David was the first string player extensively to publish bowed and fingered editions of classical chamber music, while a number of pianists closely associated with Mendelssohn's Leipzig, left similarly valuable evidence of keyboard practices. For tonight's performance David's editions of Mendelssohn and Beethoven will be used. Documentary sources alone, however, are inadequate for understanding the finer points of historical performing practice, and early recordings provide an invaluable key to interpreting this otherwise ambiguous
evidence; among the most important are those of the violinist Joseph Joachim (b. 1831), Mendelssohn's and David's protg during the 1840s, and the pianist Carl Reinecke (b. 1824), for many years director of the Leipzig Conservatorium, both of whom performed at the Musical Union. With the aid of these recordings we are better able to understand the ways in which vibrato, portamento, keyboard arpeggiation and dislocation were used, and to appreciate how performers departed from the literal meaning of the musical notation.

The session will attempt to open up some of these issues through a reconstruction of performing and listening practices at Musical Union concerts.