David Byers, Irish composer,
musicologist, broadcaster
A developing web site (more slowly than
originally anticipated!) … last up-dated 18.07.2002
Contents
1. David Byers
(a) Address and email contact
(b) General biography / musical & compositional background
(c) Former BBC work
2. Select List of Compositions
Orchestral; Chamber Music; Solo & Keyboard; Vocal & Choral; Incidental Music
3. Select Programme Notes
Distractions of the Mind (solo piano piece) Five Stoned Cherries (solo piano piece)
Three Epigrams of Janus (solo piano pieces) Crooked Lymbecks (orchestral piece)
4. Belfast Musical Festival (the first one - 1813) including Bunting's performance of Messiah by Handel.
5. Edward Bunting (1773 - 1843) a potted biography of the folk-song collector
6. Norman Hay (1889-1942) a biographical note and work-list to follow in due course…
Contact David Byers at:
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Bloomfield Belfast BT5 5DU Northern Ireland Tel/Fax: 028 9065 9706 Email: David.Byers@btinternet.com |
Studied at Queen's University,
Served on Music and Opera
Sub-Committee of Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) for many years
(approx. 1979 - 1992).
Awarded an
Northern editor of Soundpost
and Music Ireland, two joint Arts Councils-supported music magazines
(1981 - 1989), contributing many articles and reviews.
ACNI-nominated member of
the board of Annaghmakerrig, the Tyrone Guthrie
Centre, a residential centre for artists (1987 - 1994).
BBC-nominated board member
of the Ulster Orchestra from 1981-2002, also serving on its General Purposes
& Finance sub-committee until 2000. Re-invited as Board member in his own right 2002; resigned June 2002
to take up the post of Chief Executive.
He is an alumnus of the Salzburg Seminar
(1979 and 1997).
Currently serving as a Governor of the
Founding committee member
of Sonorities, serving since 1981, chairing, planning, booking and
coordinating the 1995 Sonorities Festival.
Board member of Opera Northern Ireland for
three years; served on the European Music Year Committee for NI (1985) and the
Belfast Harp Festival Committee (1992).
Served on the juries of many international
festivals (representing BBC Radio 3 at the International Rostrum of Composers
in Paris, 1981, 82 and 83; the Hungarian Radio & TV International
Conductors' Competition in 1986; the Warsaw Autumn Festival in 1987 and 88),
including Cork International Choral Festival, Dublin International Piano
Competition, Dublin International Organ Festival, the John McCormack Competition
(1996, 1998 [Chairman of the jury], and 2000), the UTV School Choir of the Year
1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002, and the Gaillard
International Piano Competition 1998, 2000 and 2002.
Contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of
Opera (1981), BBC Radio 3's
Fairest Isle book, record sleeve notes for various companies, and
articles for a range of magazines (including The Listener and The New
Hungarian Quarterly), newspapers and specialist publications (including
poems for an Ulster Orchestra publication in the 1970s).
Many editions of 17th, 18th,
and 19th century music, including piano concertos by Sterndale Bennett, symphonies by William Crotch, music by
Samuel Wesley and organ music by Pepusch published by
Universal Edition in Austria.
Founder conductor of the New Belmont Consort
(1972 - 1985), with many public concerts and radio and TV broadcasts, including
BBC Radio
Conducted many editions of Songs
of Praise for BBC1 Television between 1981 and 1995.
As a composer, David Byers's works cover many
genres, including incidental music for Radio 3 plays by Büchner,
T.S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney and Tom Paulin, many organ
works (mostly written for performance by Norman Finlay)
and commissions for the Ulster Orchestra (including its USA tour in 1992),
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Ulster Youth Orchestra (1996), Lontano, Concorde and the Arditti
and Britten Quartets. The Organ Works of David Byers is the title of an M.A. thesis
written by Dónal Doherty (Maynooth
1991). An entry on David Byers is included in the latest edition of the New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Also keen on genealogy, gardening, DIY and photography, when time permits!
After his studies at the Royal Conservatoire
of Liège, David Byers returned to live in Northern
Ireland, initially as a freelance composer, part-time music teacher (one
morning a week at Regent House Grammar School, some private pupils and teaching
organ, theory and aural at the City of Belfast School of Music) and organist
and choirmaster of Belmont Presbyterian Church, Belfast. These were also the
years of the thriving New Belmont Consort and its many concerts.
After some part-time work in BBC Northern
Ireland’s Music Library, David Byers was appointed to the post of Music
Producer in 1977, becoming Senior Music Producer in 1981 and Chief Producer,
Music & Arts in 1997.
His extensive BBC career
centred on music programmes for BBC Northern Ireland and the networks, in
particular for BBC Radio 3, although that did not exclude other areas of
interest. The range was considerable, including speech programmes for Radio 4
in the 1980s based on Irish myths, fairy stories, and short stories; a prize
for Radio Ulster for a folk music production from Czech Radio (with David
Hammond); Ulster Band for BBC Radio Ulster and big band programmes and a major
James Galway series for Radio 2.
In 1998 he was executive producer for An
Irish Requiem on BBC2 network television - a programme following the
David Byers has also presented a wide variety
of programmes for BBC Radio 3 and for Radio
In radio classical music he championed the
development of frequent BBC Invitation Concerts given by the Ulster Orchestra
(usually in the Ulster Hall,
During David Byers’s tenure in charge
of the music department, the region's contributions to network programmes
included many Ulster Orchestra recordings and concerts, In Tune, Musical
Encounters, Hear and Now, Composer of the Week, Digital
Masters, programmes of traditional music, Wexford Festival Opera
relays, chamber music recordings and relays, 18th century Dublin,
etc.
Under his guidance, between 1981 and 2001,
BBC Northern Ireland developed a distinctive artistic direction for the Ulster
Orchestra's broadcast output, helping to change the awareness of the musical
establishment to the music of the past 200 years - much of which had lain
dormant: hence the major Radio 3 explorations of a wealth of British 19th
century music (Sterndale Bennett, Samuel and Charles
Wesley, Cipriani Potter, William Crotch, Stanford,
etc.). Commissions for Irish composers (including Gerald Barry, Kevin
O’Connell, Michael Alcorn, Ian Wilson, Philip Hammond, Stephen Gardiner
and Elaine Agnew) and others (Adrian Thomas, Lyell Cresswell and Pawel Szymanski)
were an important feature; as was the exploration of
David Byers also produced a number of
programmes out of
David Byers took early retirement from the
BBC in March 2002 to concentrate on his composing and writing. In June he
produced a week of programmes recorded in
At the end of June 2002 David Byers was
appointed Chief Executive of the Ulster Orchestra.
Visit the Ulster Orchestra’s website at http://www.ulster-orchestra.org.uk
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Select List of Compositions
(This section to become more selective, but enlarged to give instrumentations etc.)
Orchestral
Tephra (1982)
Caliban's Masque (1982) Wind band
A Planxty for the Dancer (1983)
Moon is our breathing (orchestral version - see also chamber music)
Out of the Night (1991)
Toccata: La morte d'Orfeo (1996)
Madrigale: Ecce Orfeo (1996)
Crooked Lymbecks (2001)
Chamber Music
Epitaphs (1969)
Music for Crazy Jane (1971) fl.ob.cl.bsn
Thingummy-Jig (1971/73) wind quintet
The Nature of Gothic (1973)
Pholypony (1975) wind quintet
Triptych (1977) viola/piano
William Cowper: His Delight (1978)
Segue (1980)
Moonshadows (1981)
At the still point of the turning world (1981) string quartet
St. Columba and the Crane tuba & tape
The Wren's Blether (1984) radiophonic piece
The Deer's Horn (1988) oboe & viola
Moon is our breathing (?) octet
Sweeney Erect; Sweeney amongst the nightingales (1988?) (Sop/ ch. ensemble)
The journey of the Magi (1991) string quartet
Solo & Keyboard
Partita: Jesu, meine Freude (1968) organ
Icon (1972) organ
Canto (1972) flute
Cherries in the Round (1975) organ
Five stoned cherries (1975) piano
The harp that once … (1976) organ
Pibroch: Dunfermling Rune (1978) organ
Epiphanies (1979) violin
Dragons (1979) organ
Decadophony (1980) organ
In Nomine (1980) organ
Verses (1982) organ
Magnificat (1983) organ
Tuba mirum (1984) organ
Distractions
of the Mind (1998) piano
Three Epigrams of Janus
(2000) piano
The Rising of the Moon (2002) piano
Vocal & Choral
Many carols (1968 - )
Five Poems of Marie Overton (1970) Sop/piano
The Wind among the Reeds (1969) SSA
Songs for Granny (1969) Any voice/piano
As in their time (1969) SATB
The Tasking (1969) SSA/harp
Canzonets (1972) SATB
Night Song (1972) SATB
Cerises d'amour (1972) SSA or SSS
Preces & Responses (1975) SATB
Rhymes (1980) SATB
Colours (1985) Mezzo/piano
Mortality's Eclipse (1988) Mezzo/piano
Out of the hat (1997) SATB
Incidental Music
Büchner's Woyzeck (1986) (BBC Radio 3)
Sweeney Agonistes (T.S.Eliot) (1988?) (BBC Radio 3)
Sweeney Astray (Seamus Heaney) (1989) (BBC Radio 3)
Seize the Fire (Tom Paulin) (1990?) (BBC Radio 3)
Medea (Brendan Kennelly) (1991) (BBC Radio 3)
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for solo piano
Distractions of the Mind was written
early in 1998 for the First International Piano Competition of Rencontres Musicales de Gaillard
(June 1998) and it is dedicated to Adilia Alieva. (See also http://windoms.sitek.net/~concours)
The music is based on a little keyboard work
by Thomas Tomkins (1572 - 1656), A Sad Pavan for these Distracted Times, which he wrote when
he was 77. Tomkins was the last in a great line of virginalists, and he was writing in what was, by then, an
old-fashioned contrapuntal style.
I first got to know the Sad Pavan in the early 1970s and used it to frame a
More often than not, it is minds which are
described as being distracted rather than times. But the two go hand in hand. Tomkins' distracted times were occasioned by two Civil
Wars, the execution of Charles I (just a fortnight before he wrote his Sad Pavan) and the establishment of Cromwell's republican
Commonwealth (just a few months later the puritan Cromwell was in Ireland
putting Catholic inhabitants of Drogheda and Wexford to the sword - a new order
overturning the old, just as Tomkins' musical values
and beliefs in a contrapuntal style were being overturned in the world at large
by a fashionable new style with an emphasis on a treble part and a bass line.
The parallels with the political debates and
bloody murders in the
Distractions of the Mind is a comparatively short work, like A Sad Pavan, and it uses harmonies from Tomkins'
piece - passing chords that exist for a moment - along with some of Tomkins' little melodic motives that leap off the page and
stick in the mind. Between the opening ornamented
lament and the final bare harmonised melody, the music explores memory and
obsession, revisiting some of Tomkins' tonal
relationships in this very different context and eventually leading to a gentle
pavane interspersed with some direct quotations from Tomkins' piece.
Who's to say what the distractions are? I
won't! Historic, topical, trivial, political, European, Irish, universal,
personal … at the end of the day the music has to stand or fall on its
own merits.
No matter, Tomkins
would be well pleased that his music stands the tests of time and
fashion and distracted minds.
David Byers (Belfast, March 1998)
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for
solo piano
David Byers studied in
That was the start of something … many
of David Byers's pieces from these years were built out of musical ideas,
shapes, and harmonies developed from this melody.
This piano work, Five Stoned Cherries
is just such a one.
The piece is dedicated to his composition
professor at the Royal Academy of Music, James Iliff,
who lives in a cottage deep in the Welsh valleys.
The work's subtitle is "a penillion on Cerises d'amour"
- a penillion being a sort of improvised Welsh song
to a harp accompaniment. The piano piece sandwiches two
sections, in an apparently improvised manner, between three gently meandering
harmonic studies, beginning low down and eventually ending high up on the
keyboard.
There's a quotation from an Elizabethan poem
as a preface -
Lady, those cherries plenty Which grow on your lips dainty Ere long will fade and
languish. Then now, while yet they last them O let me pull and taste them.
And, at the end, a quotation from a box of
Belgian chocolates -
The stones in our cherries have been
mechanically removed. Therefore it is impossible to guarantee that all our
cherries are stoneless. Be careful. Thank you.
Five Stoned Cherries has been recorded by Philip Martin.
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Three Epigrams of Janus
for solo piano
Many of my works have been sparked into life
by the written word. In 1986 in Budapest I came across a volume of The
Epigrams of Janus Pannonius,
a 15th century Hungarian writing in Latin, then the language of
clerics and scholars. (Latin was the official language in
The first is perhaps the most literal musical
paraphrase - a mathematical recipe in which a point becomes a line, a surface
and finally a solid cube.
The second and third chart
slightly more abstract musical journeys which parallel Janus's
poems. The second is a plea to
Mars, the God of War, for peace: the poem is like an ancient prayer, invoking
the god in all his manifestations; the music incorporates some plainsong in its
mix of ideas. The third epigram reminded me of poems by the often insane 18th
century English poet, William Cowper. A bird is struck dead by an arrow, but
continues to fly - raising paradoxical questions about the nature of life and
death, but leaving the answers to others!
The pieces are dedicated to Adilia Alieva.
David Byers November 1999
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to top
Crooked Lymbecks
Lett not your soule (at first with graces fill’d,
/ And since, and thorough crooked lymbecks, still’d / In many schools and courts, which quicken
it,) / It self unto the Irish negligence submit.
A lymbeck
was an old-fashioned (actually 13th century!) word for an alembic,
one of the glass vessels or retorts used in the distillation process.
On my piano for many years I
had kept a copy of a 1599 John Donne poem which I felt would be good to use in
some musical context or other. When I finally came to do so, I discovered that
I had seriously misunderstood it. I had
been misled by a superficial reaction to its title Henrico Wottoni in Hibernia belligeranti
(To Henry Wotton making war in Ireland ) and the
poem’s references to conquering, love for Ireland, shott,
boggs, yong death, crooked lymbecks, and Irish negligence. When I sat down and read the poem properly
(with a dictionary search for “lymbecks”!),
it turned out, ironically, to be an intriguing conceit, looking for a simple
honest letter from his friend Henry Wotton; all, in
hindsight, clear enough from the closing lines -
I aske not labored letters which should weare
/ Long papers out: nor letters which should feare /
Dishonest carriage: or a seers art: / Nor such as from
the brayne come, but the hart.
Crooked Lymbecks grew out of different aspects of that
misunderstanding. I thought of it as
looking at a giant still, complete with its crooked lymbecks
– the music may be considered as a series of cross-sections taken at a
number of points and from different perspectives of that distillation
process. The piece is about ten minutes
in length, and the music is mainly fast-moving – an attempt to mix the straightforward
musical language of my annual Christmas carol, complete with its (usually)
changing dance metres, with my more usual compositional processes. The musical
materials are based on a blend of 12th century organum
and discant; the result could be described as a
theme and five variations with a coda.
The Dorian modality of the opening and closing sections is relieved or
disturbed elsewhere by other tonal conflicts.
Crooked Lymbecks was commissioned by Sonorities for the 2001 Festival
and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of Northern
Ireland.
It was first performed at the
closing concert of Sonorities 2001 on
Friday 11 May in the Whitla Hall of Queen’s
University by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, conductor Gerhard Markson. The concert
was broadcast live on RTÉ’s Lyric FM and on BBC
Radio
David Byers (April 2001)
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Handel's Messiah and
the 1813
1. The Belfast Festival performance of Messiah
a Sequence of numbers performed
b Details of soloists, conductor and orchestra
2. Programme of the 1813 Belfast Musical Festival
3. Contemporary reviews from the Belfast News-Letter
4. Bibliography
Messiah by Handel at the first-ever
Belfast Musical Festival in 1813
The running order for
Handel's Messiah
as performed on 22 October 1813 at Dr. Drummond's Meeting-House, Rosemary Street, during the Belfast Music Festival organised by Edward Bunting.
(The first most complete Messiah performance in Belfast)
Sequence
& Details of
Overture
1
recit. Comfort ye (tenor) 2
Every
valley (tenor) 3
And
the glory (chorus) 4
recit. Thus saith the Lord (bass) 5
But
who may abide (bass) (sing alto version) 6
recit. Behold a virgin shall
conceive (counter tenor) 8
O
thou that tellest (chorus with counter tenor) 9
recit. For behold, darkness
(bass) 10
The
people that walked (bass) 11
For
unto us a child (chorus) 12
recit. There were shepherds
(boy treble) 14, 15, 16
Glory
to God (chorus) 17
Rejoice
greatly (soprano 1) 18
He
shall feed his flock (soprano 1 and tenor) 19
(soprano
1 sings alto line to letter C, then tenor sings
soprano line)
Farewell
ye limpid streams (soprano 2) Interpolated air from Jephtha
He
was despised (counter tenor) 23
All
we like sheep (chorus) 26
Interval
recit. All they that see him
(tenor) 27
He
trusted in God (chorus) 28
recit. Thy rebuke hath broken
(tenor) 29
Behold
and see (tenor) 30
recit. He was cut off (soprano 1) sing tenor version 31
But thou didst not leave (soprano 1) sing tenor version 32
Lift
up your heads (chorus) 33
Why
do the nations (bass) 40
Worthy
is the lamb (chorus) 53
I
know that my redeemer (soprano 2)* 45
*but
Since
by man came death (chorus) 46
recit. Behold, I tell you a
mystery (bass) 47
The
trumpet shall sound (bass) 48
If
God be for us (tenor)
sing
soprano version
52
Hallelujah!
(chorus) 44
Finis
BACK to top RETURN
to start of section on Festival of 1813
Original soloists:
Mrs. Cooke (cf. Soprano 2 in my list)
(wife of Tom Cooke, leader of orchestra, - they married in
Miss Spray (cf. Soprano 1)
(daughter of tenor soloist)
Master Robinson (treble)
(most likely to have been Francis Robinson (1799-1872), who would become an important Dublin singer and organist … less likely, it might have been his brother, William Robinson (1803-1881), also to become a leading Dublin musician)
Mr. Spray (tenor)
(John Spray was an English tenor who settled in Dublin c.1797, and was vicar-choral of Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedrals. Well known as a leading concert soloist)
Mr. Jager (counter tenor)
(Robert Jager was an English singer, formerly a lay-clerk at Canterbury, who sang as a counter tenor and a bass, performing in Dublin from around 1810. He was a vicar-choral of Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedrals. "…the incongruous effect of his delivery of the opening of 'O thou that tellest' where he dropped from a falsetto 'A' to 'D' in the lower octave came as something of a shock to his listeners")
Mr. Weyman (bass)
(David Weyman (1771-1822), Dublin born bass who was well-known as a concert singer and was also a vicar-choral at both Dublin cathedrals)
The "Conductor" was Mr. Edward Bunting, the "Leader of the Band" was Mr. T. Cooke and "The Chorusses under the direction of Mr. Blewitt".
At that time the conductor was the keyboard player who would have guided the soloists; the leader was the principal violinist who led and directed the orchestra; presumably Mr. Blewitt, in turn, directed the choir. It was a set-up which frequently engendered differences of opinion!
Edward Bunting (Armagh 1773 - Dublin 1843), renowned for transcribing the airs at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792, subsequently published three important volumes of his arrangements of the airs he had collected (the first of these published in 1796, the second in 1809, and the third in 1840) and for many years he was the leading musician and teacher in Belfast. In 1806 he became organist at the Second Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street - "a large, jolly-looking man; that he should fail to be so is hardly possible, for Belfast concerts are never mere music meetings - they are always followed by a supper and store of wine and punch".
In 1813
Bunting organised the
Bunting
"resigned from Rosemary Street in 1816/17 for [the newly-built] St.
George's - Chapel of Ease, where he gave his services gratuitously till 1
January 1818. He was then paid a salary of 40 guineas per annum, out of which
he paid his deputy (C. Dalton) and had to instruct the choir. He left St.
George's on 1 January 1821, when Mr. Dalton was appointed his successor @ £20
per annum to be assisted by Mr. Guerrini as Teacher
of the choir @ £20 per annum.
T.S.Cooke
Thomas Simpson Cooke (Dublin 1782 - London 1838) was a composer, conductor, instrumentalist and singer, one of the most colourful musicians of the period. Son of a well-known Dublin oboe player, he was a talented violinist who rapidly became the leader of Dublin's Crow Street Theatre orchestra and then its musical director. In 1813 he moved to London (returning that October to sing in Dublin and to be the leader and soloist at the Belfast Music Festival) where he was a leading tenor soloist in the Drury Lane Theatre for twenty years. He led the Drury Lane orchestra for many years, was its musical director, managed Vauxhall Gardens, composed music for over 50 stage productions and wrote a major treatise on singing.
Jonathan Blewitt (London 1782 - London 1853) moved to Ireland in 1811 as private organist to Lord Cahir. He was organist of St. Andrew's Church, Dublin and succeeded Tom Cooke as composer and director of music at the Theatre Royal in Dublin. He was grand organist to the Masonic body of Ireland and conducted many concerts throughout Ireland. He returned to London (to the Drury Lane Theatre) in 1825.
The orchestra list given in the Messiah programme suggests a minimum band of 9 violins, 2 violas, 3 cellos, 3 basses, 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets,1 trombone, 1 bass horn (a comparatively rare kind of serpent which enjoyed some popularity in Britain in the first couple of decades of the century … it would normally have been found in wind bands, but it was also occasionally used in the large festival orchestras e.g. York 1825 &1827), 1 double drum (meaning timpani).
Many of the listed players were from Dublin - regulars in the Crow Street and Hawkins Street Theatres - and included Anthony Bunting, Edward's cellist brother from Dublin. Perhaps a few of the players were local … the violinist May was possibly J. T. May who was listed as musical director of the Arthur Street Theatre in 1826 and known as a violinist and organist. The principal trumpet player was Henry Willman, described by Michael Kelly as "the finest trumpet player I ever heard in any country … his execution on the instrument almost baffled belief." Without searching too far, ten, possibly eleven, of the seventeen string players can be identified as Dublin professionals; likewise five of the wind players, including Tom Cooke's father, the oboist Bartlett Cooke.
Question: Is the list complete? Or only a list of known names as the programme went to press? For example, might there in reality have been two flutes? More strings? Three trombones? (See News-Letter review below re trombones.) Would the church have accommodated any more?
Members of the Christ Church Cathedral choir were the basis of the chorus, but it's difficult to assess what contribution there was from local singers. The source for much of this detailed information is a typescript copy from 1900 of the original 1813 programme. This list does not mention Christ Church - although the Belfast News-Letter does (see below, Page 6) - but the listing of chorus names ends with "&c. &c." Is this as it appeared in the original programme? Before "&c. &c." there are fifteen men's names, one woman's and four boys'. Given the detail of the 1900 typescript, it seems likely that this is a faithful transcript of the 1813 programme.
Given the constitution of the orchestra, with its listed "clarionets", it seems that the performance used Mozart's arrangement. This re-orchestration was made at the request of Baron van Swieten in 1789; it was published in 1803 and performed at Covent Garden in 1805, though "purists" continued to protest at the "additions" for many years. By 1812 George Smart was beginning to omit some of the additional accompaniments as being not "suitable to the accustomed English ear."
The following details appeared in the Belfast News-Letter during the week before Belfast's first festival.
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to start of section on Festival of 1813
MUSICAL FESTIVAL
FOR THE BENEFIT OF
THE INCORPORATED CHARITABLE SOCIETY
UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF
MARQUIS OF DONEGALL, / MARCHIONESS OF DONEGALL, / MARQUIS OF DOWNSHIRE, / MARCHIONESS OF DOWNSHIRE, / COUNTESS OF CLANWILLIAM, / EARL OF MASSEREENE, / COUNTESS OF MASSEREENE, / EARL OF LONDONDERRY, / COUNTESS OF LONDONDERRY, / LORD VISCOUNT DUFFERIN, / LADY DUFFERIN, / LADY ELIZABETH PRATT, / LADY HARRIET FOSTER, / COLONEL FOSTER, / SIR EDWARD MAY, Bart. / LADY MAY, / SIR H. HERVEY BRUCE, Bart. / LADY BRUCE, / HON. R. WARD, / COLONEL FORDE, / GEORGE BRISTOW Esq. High Sheriff Co. Antrim, / THOMAS VERNER Esq. Sovereign of Belfast, / MRS. VERNER, / ALEXANDER STEWART Esq. Ards, / NICHOLAS PRICE Esq. Saintfield, / ROBERT BATESON Esq. Belvoir, / REV. DR. HUTCHESON Donaghadee, / REV. EDWARD MAY, / MRS. MAY, / COLONEL HEYLAND, / MRS. HEYLAND, / HUGH KENNEDY Esq. Cultra, / WILLIAM SHARMAN Esq. Warringstown, [sic] / JOHN REILLY Esq. Scarva, / RICHARD DOBBS Esq. Castle Dobbs, / JAMES WATSON Esq. Brook Hill, / GEORGE DOUGLAS Esq. Mount Ida, / FRANCIS TURNLY Esq. Richmond Lodge
AT THE THEATRE,
ON TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1813,
WILL BE PERFORMED,
A GRAND MISCELLANEOUS
CONCERT,
OF VOCAL & INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
AT DR. DRUMMOND'S MEETING HOUSE,
On WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCT. 20,
A GRAND SELECTION OF
SACRED MUSIC,
From HANDEL, PURCELL, MARCELLO, &c.
AT SAME PLACE,
On THURSDAY MORNING, OCT. 21,
HAYDN'S CELEBRATED ORATORIO OF
THE CREATION;
WITH A GRAND MISCELLANEOUS ACT,
SELECTED FOR THE OCCASION.
At the THEATRE, on THURSDAY EVENING,
A MISCELLANEOUS
CONCERT,
FROM THE WORKS OF
HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN
AT DR. DRUMMOND'S MEETING-HOUSE,
ON FRIDAY MORNING, OCT. 22.
THE ORATORIO OF
THE MESSIAH,
PRINCIPAL VOCAL PERFORMERS,
Mrs COOKE, Miss SPRAY,
Master ROBINSON, Master MULLEN,
Mr SPRAY, Mr. JAGER, and
Mr. WEYMAN.
Leader of the Band ……………………….. Mr. T. COOKE.
Second Violin ……………………………… Mr. BARRETT.
Tenor [ = viola ] ………………….……….. Mr. BOWDEN.
Violincello [sic] …………………………………… Mr. BIRD.
Double Bass ………………………….. Mr. SIDEBOTHAM.
Flute .…… Mr. WERDNER. [actually Johann Carl Weidner]
Oboe ……………………..…………………… Mr. B. COOKE.
Clarionet …………………..……………………. Mr. MAHON.
Bassoon …………………………………………….. Mr. BOND.
Horn …………………………………………. Mr. MULLIGAN.
Trumpet …………………….…………….…… Mr. WILMAN.
Trombone ……………………………………… Mr. MEIGLER.
Double Drums …………………………..……… Mr. GLOVER.
CONDUCTOR …………….Mr. EDWARD BUNTING,
Who will preside at the Organ & Piano Forte.
The DEAN and CHAPTER of CHRIST'S CHRUCH [sic],
DUBLIN, having been pleased to grant permission for the
principal parts of the Choir to assist on this occasion, the
CHORUSSES will be numerous and complete. The en-
tire Band will consist of above 50 performers.
BALL AND SUPPER.
There will be a splendid BALL & SUPPER at the EX-
CHANGE ROOMS, on FRIDAY Evening, 22d Oct.
Particulars in a future advertisement.
REGULATIONS.
Evening Concerts at the Theatre The UPPER and
LOWER BOXES, with an inclosed [sic] part of the PIT, are
prepared for the accommodation of the Patrons, Patronesses,
and other Subscribers, for the entire entertainments of the Week.
(Of the Lower Boxes, Nos 4, 5, 6, and 8, are kept for the Patrons and Patronesses.)
Plans of the Boxes, and Subscribers' part of the Pit, will
be ready for inspection on MONDAY the 18th inst. At
TWELVE o'Clock, at which hour places may be taken
at the House of Mr. JOHN GALT SMITH, Secretary
to the Committee, No. 26, High-street, to be entered in the
exact order of application.
SINGLE TICKETS
For each of the EVENING CONCERTS, to the remaining parts of the House,
will be ready for delivery as above, on Thursday next.
LETTICES, and Uninclosed part of the PIT, 10s. 10d.
GALLERY, ………………….……………..6s. 8d.
Single Tickets for each of the SACRED PER-
FORMANCES, in the Morning, at Dr.
Drummond's Meeting-House, …………… 12s. 6d.
N. B. All Tickets to be Transferable.
Evening Concerts at the Theatre. Doors to be opened at
(Carriages to enter by Donegall-square and form a single
line along Arthur-street, taking up in the same manner -----
Horses heads towards Corn-Market.)
Morning Sacred Performances, at Dr. Drummond's Meeting -House.
---- Doors to be opened at
(Carriages to enter by the Exchange, forming a single line along Rosemary-street,
taking up
in the same manner - horses heads towards Hercules-street [now
To avoid confusion, no Money will be taken at the Doors for any of the performances,
nor Servants allowed to keep places.
Subscribers for the entire week's performance will be pleased to shew their Tickets to the Stewards
---- holders of Single Tickets to deliver theirs.
After this Notice, it is expected that Subscribers will send for their Tickets without further delay.
The Theatre lighted with Wax.
The concert programme for Messiah lists five additional patrons:
Lord Jocelyn / Lady Jocelyn / Lady Isabella Blachford /
Colonel Blachford / Edward Jones Agnew, Esq. Killoughter
Additionally, Colonel Forde is listed as Lieutenant-Colonel Forde.
The programme gives the following as Stewards:
The High Sheriff of
the Co. of Antrim, / The Sovereign of
Lieutenant-Colonel Coulson, / Rev. Mr. Jebb, / Richard Dobbs, Esq. /
Richard Staples, Esq. / Jackson Stockdale, Esq. / Henry Purdon, Esq.
The programme lists the following Instrumental Performers:
Leader of the Band - Mr. T. Cooke.
Violins - Messrs. Mahon, [John] Barrett,
May, R. Barton, Coleman,
Sanders [probably Saunders],
Garbatt, and Nelson.
Tenors [=Violas] - Messrs. Bowden and Giesler.
Violincellos [sic] - Messrs. Bird, A. Bunting, and Robinson.
Double Basses - Messrs. Sidebotham, Cubitt and [Wm. J.]Gray.
Flute - Mr. Weidner.
Clarionets - Messrs. Thompson and Wagstaff.
Oboes - Messrs. B. Cooke and McClean.
Bassoons - Messrs. Bond and Reed.
Horns - Messrs. Mulligan and Reilly.
Trumpets - Messrs. Wilman and Maddison.
Trombone - Mr. Miller.
Bass Horn - Mr. Costellow.
Double Drum - Mr. Stokesbury.
The Chorusses by
Messrs. Connor, Broad, Duff, Gray, Barr, Hughes, Hart, sen., Hart, jun., Bennett, Stevenson, Fry, Hatton, Mrs. Gray. - Masters Mussen, Murray, Betty, Willis, -- Mr. McCune, sen., Mr. McCune jun., Mr. Webb, &c. &c.
A further two advertisements were placed in the Belfast News-Letter on Tuesday 19 October for Bunting's benefit concert and they give further details of ticket arrangements for the Ball and Supper:
MR. BUNTING'S CONCERT
AT THE THEATRE,
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20.
ACT I
OVERTURE ……………………………………….……………………………. Cooke.
GLEE - "Hark the Lark at Heaven's gate Sings" ………………………………….Cooke.
SONG - Mr. Jager - "The Maid of the Mountain" …………….………………… Bishop.
GLEE and CHORUS -"Hark the hollow woods" ………………………………….Shield.
SONG - Master Robinson - "Thou hast run away from me, Mary." -[no composer given]
SONG - Mrs. Cooke - "Sweet Robin" …………………………………………….Cooke.
CONCERTO TRUMPET - Mr. Wilman ……………………………………….…Cooke.
SONG - Mr. Spray - "When for our Laws and
FINALE - "Viva Enrico" ………………….………………………………………Pacitto.
ACT II
CONCERTO VIOLIN - Mr. T. Cooke……………………….…..……………...Kreutzer.
GLEE - "Oh! Nanny, wilt thou gang with me," …………….…..harmonised by Harrison.
SONG - Mrs. Cooke ………………………………………………………………Puzitta.
MILITARY CONCERTO PIANO-FORTE - Mr. Bunting …………………..……Latour.
GLEE - "See our Bark" - Violin Obligato [sic]…….………………….…Sir J. Stevenson.
POLLACCA - Mr. Cooke, from "The Cabinet" …………………………….……Braham.
DUETT - Messrs. Spray and Weyman, "Tell me where is Fancy bred" … Sir J. Stevenson.
FINALE - Rule Britannia.
TICKETS to be had of Mr. J. G. SMITH, and Mr.
ARCHER, Stationer, High-street; and PLACES to be
taken at
the THEATRE, from Eleven till
TICKETS
FOR THE BALL AND SUPPER,
ON FRIDAY EVENING,
AT THE EXCHANGE ROOMS,
For the BENEFIT of the POOR-HOUSE,
Will be issued at Mr. SMITH'S 26, High-street.
LADIES' ………………………10s.
GENTLEMEN'S………………..…12s. 6d.
As the number to be entertained must necessarily be limit-
ed, such Ladies and Gentlemen as wish to attend, will be
so good as to return their names on or before TUESDAY
next. ------------ Mr. JELLET to provide the Supper.
Belfast, October 15, 1813.
Such music festivals as Belfast's were very popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. (The annual meeting of the cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford first took place in 1715 and by the 19th century had become known as the Three Choirs Festival.) Most of these festivals took place in the large centres of population, such as Birmingham and Manchester, areas of great industrial expansion. These festivals would often be linked with middle-class concern about social conditions; in Grove 6, Percy Young lists festivals in " Leeds (1767), Birmingham (1768), Norwich (1770), Chester (1772), Newcastle (1778), Liverpool (1784), Manchester (1785), Sheffield (1786), and York (1791) with the primary aim of raising funds to establish