BEECHAM CONCERTS

Thomas Beecham, son of the pharmaceutical magnate Joseph Beecham, began his conducting career in 1902 with a South London opera company, and opera was soon to play a major part in his career – following a reconciliation with his wealthy father.

But meanwhile he pursued a rather unconventional orchestral path. In 1905 he put on a single chamber orchestra concert at the Bechstein (now Wigmore) Hall. As well as Haydn and Mozart, the programme included unknown early works he had brought back from Europe.

Music outside the regular concert repertoire, both old and new, was to feature largely in Beecham’s programming. The following year he was approached by the clarinettist Charles Draper, a founder of the New Symphony Orchestra, resulting in a short season of similar concerts in the autumn. Though a fourth concert was abandoned, the NSO was sufficiently impressed to engage Beecham as their main conductor. With the full symphony orchestra, he directed various celebrity concerts at Queen’s Hall and an ambitious NSO series in 1908, where Delius’s music figured largely.

Yet a show-down with the players caused a break with long-lasting consequences for London’s concert life, through the formation of yet another orchestra, soon designated the Beecham Symphony Orchestra. Their first series of 1909 is recorded in the Calendar. Yet now Beecham’s attention turned to opera: the more sporadic later appearances of the orchestra will be added subsequently.

For programmes of the concerts 1905–1909, download the Calendar of London Concerts 1893–1914, press the Search Series tab at the bottom of the page, and select either Beecham Concerts (for series 1905-6 and 1908-9) or Beecham Miscell (for other individual concerts).

Further reading

Thomas Beecham, A Mingled Chime: Leaves from an Autobiography (London, 1944)

John Lucas, Thomas Beecham: An Obsession with Music (Woodbridge, 2008)

Maurice Parker, Sir Thomas Beecham, Bart, C.H. (1879–1961): A Calendar of his Concert and Theatrical Performances (Sir Thomas Beecham Society, 1985); revised by Tony Benson with Supplement 2 (1998)