8 - “Music Was Poured by Perfect Ministrants”: Joseph Joachim at the Monday Popular Concerts, London

Summary

Joachim wrote to Clara Schumann in 1862, “you know how much at home I feel” in England. His most frequent appearances outside Germany occurred there for over sixty years. Contemporary accounts attest to his impact on chamber music in the capital, but nowhere was this more apparent than in his close association with the Monday Popular Concerts (MPC) series. Joachim participated nearly annually from its first season in 1859 through the final concert in 1899. He encouraged other touring artists, who might be put off by the title of the series, to accept its engagements, assuring them that “only the very best chamber music is played there.” This study of Joachim's performances, reception, and associations with the MPC deepens our knowledge of him as a touring virtuoso and of his impact on the growing popularity of chamber music in late Victorian London.

Establishment of the Monday Popular Concerts

The MPC series originated with the construction of St. James's Hall (SJH), London. A consortium of shareholders under the direction of Chappell & Co., a firm of music publishers and concert agents, invested in the building of the hall. Located in Piccadilly, the site opened to the public on 25 March 1858. Its principal concert venue could seat over 2,000 people, making it one of the largest in Britain at that time.

The precursor to the MPC—“Three Popular Concerts”—occurred in early December 1858 with the intention of attracting affluent visitors from the provinces who attended the annual cattle show in London. Its programs consisted of ballads and fantasias, with piano accompaniment in place of an orchestra. Well-known resident musicians were engaged, including the cellist Alfredo Piatti (1822–1901), the pianist Arabella Goddard (1836–1922), and the composer-pianist-conductor Julius Benedict (1804–85). The series became the “Monday Popular Concerts” in January 1859 under the direction of Samuel Arthur Chappell (1834–1904) with programs that remained similar to those given in December.

A significant modification proposed by the music critic J. W. Davison (1813–85) changed the course of history for the series. Davison recommended to Chappell that the concerts be refashioned into “classical” events with serious music and, most important, that the music be restricted to chamber genres.