Thomas Beecham

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Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, CH (29 April 1879– 8 March 1961) was a British conductor. He founded several British orchestras including the Beecham Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.^[1] From the early twentieth century until his death Beecham was a dominant influence on the musical life of Britain.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 Observations and Anecdotes 4 Repertoire 5 Recordings 6 "Lollipops" 7 Quotations 8 Honours 9 Death and afterwards 10 Works 10.1 Published books 10.2 Selected discography 11 Footnotes 12 Major Orchestras Conducted By Beecham 13 External links

[edit] Biography

Beecham was born in St. Helens, Lancashire, England and brought up in the Blacklow Brow area of Huyton, now in Merseyside. His father, Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Baronet (1848–1916), was a wealthy patent pill manufacturer and civic leader, who had been awarded a baronetcy for continuing the work of his father Thomas Beecham (1820–1907), the inventor of Beecham's Pills. He was educated at Rossall School and then at Wadham College, Oxford, whose music room now takes his name.

Beecham first came forward as a conductor in 1899, when he directed the Hallé Orchestra at a concert in St Helens. From 1906 he began to appear regularly as a conductor, working initially with the New Symphony Orchestra (which, despite many statements to the contrary, was not founded by him), and then from 1908 with his own Beecham Symphony Orchestra.

In his early years he was active at Covent Garden, conducting important performances of Wagner, Richard Strauss (notably Salome) and Russian ballet; his lifelong devotion to Mozart also dates from this period. During the First World War he strove, often without a fee, to keep music alive in London and Manchester (where he formed grandiose plans for an opera house), but soon afterwards his career was interrupted by financial complications following his father's death, and he did not return to music until 1923.^[2]

In 1932 he formed his second orchestra, the London Philharmonic; with this he achieved many triumphs in both concert and opera. There were numerous, memorable recordings with this orchestra, including an outstanding 1939 recording of Brahms' second symphony, released by Columbia Records.^[3]

Beecham took the London Philharmonic on a controversial tour of Germany in 1936. When some complained that he was being used by Nazi propagandists, Beecham simply said he was proud of the orchestra and wanted to show it off. He did comply with a Nazi request that he not play any music by Felix Mendelssohn, who was considered Jewish by the Nazis despite the composer's conversion to Christianity. One concert was recorded on the new Magnetophon. Beecham and the orchestra also played at a concert in Berlin attended by Adolf Hitler; when he saw the dictator applauding, Beecham remarked, "The old bugger seems to like it!" Unknown to Beecham, his comment was picked up by radio microphones and heard throughout Europe.^[4]

He left Britain in the spring of 1940, later explaining, "I was informed there was an emergency, so I emerged." Beecham went to Australia and then to North America. He became music director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera, and numerous other orchestras. Columbia Records made a number of recordings with Beecham conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1942.^[5]

In 1944, Beecham returned to Britain and created yet another orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic. He came back to the United States in 1949, making recordings with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra (drawn from leading New York musicians), and in 1952, when he made several recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Beecham remained dynamically active almost to the end of his life.^[6]

[edit] Personal life

Beecham was married three times. His 1903 marriage to Utica Celestia Welles of New York ended in divorce in 1943. He had two sons by this marriage.

Soon after his divorce he married the English pianist Betty Humby, who died in 1958.

In 1959 (two years before his death), he married his former secretary, Shirley Hudson, whom he met when she went to work for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's administration in 1950.

[edit] Observations and Anecdotes

His relations with fellow British conductors were seldom cordial. Sir Henry Wood regarded him as an upstart and was envious of his success; the scrupulous Sir Adrian Boult was not in sympathy with him as a man or a musician; Sir Malcolm Sargent worked with him in founding the London Philharmonic, but was the subject of many witty but unkind digs from the older man - for example, he described Herbert von Karajan as "a kind of musical Malcolm Sargent". Sir John Barbirolli regarded Beecham as unreliable. On the other hand, Beecham's relations with foreign conductors were often excellent. He did not get on with Arturo Toscanini, but he liked and encouraged Wilhelm Furtwängler and later Rudolf Kempe, and was admired by Fritz Reiner.

Many of Beecham's rehearsals were taped by EMI engineers and some of these have been released on both LPs and compact discs. The BBC prepared several albums featuring excerpts from Beecham's rehearsals, recordings, and concerts, as well as interviews with Beecham and musicians who had known him. In one memorable rehearsal excerpt of Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio, Beecham was about to begin a run-through of Osmin's aria with bass Gottlob Frick. Then, he discovered that the piccolo player was missing, so he complained "Where's the piccolo player? Who's going to play the damn piccolo?" Soon the missing musician showed up and Beecham insisted he come up to him and play his solo, in front of the entire Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as punishment!

In another story, while making his famous 1956 recording of Puccini's La Boheme, starring Jussi Bjorling, Victoria de los Angeles, and Robert Merrill, Beecham reportedly made Bjorling and Merrill do a second take of a duet they had together, even though the first take had been approved. When Beecham was asked why, he answered, "Because I simply love to hear those boys sing it!" ^[7]

During another rehearsal, Beecham recalled that a gentleman had come up to him and said he had attended a rehearsal years earlier of Salome. The man said, "At one point you asked, 'Where's the prophet/profit?' I've always wondered if you were referring to someone in the cast or the condition of the company." Beecham immediately replied, "Both!"

Beecham sometimes got carried away by the music he was conducting, especially in concerts. During the 1954 concert performance of Sibelius' second symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall, Beecham repeatedly shouted during some of the more dramatic moments in this work. EMI later released the recording, which may be more exciting because one can hear Sir Thomas, as well as the fine playing by the orchestra.

At an April 1958 rehearsal in Paris for the recording of several Haydn symphonies, everything came to a standstill when a thunderstorm hit the city and could be heard in the concert hall. Beecham started talking to the orchestra and recalled he had conducted a performance, years earlier, of the incidental music to The Tempest by Sibelius, during which there was an incredible storm. "They recorded it," Beecham said. Then the recording producer announced, over the intercom, "We pay extra money for thunderstorms."^[8]

[edit] Repertoire

The earliest composer whose music Beecham regularly performed was Handel. Even by the standards of his day Beecham took an unscholarly approach to Handel's scores, cutting, reordering and re-orchestrating. In defence of this it may be noted that, first, much of the music revamped by Beecham was not otherwise heard at all in those days and, secondly, except by the out-and-out purist, his arrangements are widely regarded as "delicious" even now.

With Haydn, too, Beecham was far from an authenticist, not that he extensively re-orchestrated (apart from eliminating the harpsichord) but his legato style with 'hairpin' swells was far from today's more sober approach.

For Beecham, Mozart was the high point of music, and the conductor treated the composer's scores with more deference than he gave most others (nevertheless, he touched up the orchestration of even the Jupiter symphony here and there).

Beecham's attitude to Beethoven was ambivalent. He conducted all the symphonies during his career; he made studio recordings of Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8, and a live recording of the Missa Solemnis. On the other hand, he lost no opportunity to make rude remarks about Beethoven's music.

Of 19th century composers, Berlioz is probably the one who was closest to Beecham's heart, and in an age when the composer's works were far from over-exposed Beecham presented most of them and recorded many. It is arguable that the only conductor to do more to bring Berlioz before the musical public is another Englishman, Sir Colin Davis.

Beecham was a first-rate Wagner conductor, despite a certain disdain for the composer's excessive length and repetitiousness ("We've been rehearsing for two hours – and we're still playing the same bloody tune!" (Charles Reid, "Thomas Beecham", 1961). He was also a master of Richard Strauss’s music, acknowledged by the composer.

In Italian opera he showed curiously little passion for Verdi, but in the middle of the 20th century was one of the few serious rivals to Toscanini and Victor de Sabata as an interpreter of Puccini. His recording of La Boheme, with Jussi Bjorling and Victoria de Los Angeles is justly famous to this day.^[9]

The only other major 20th century composer to engage his sympathies was Sibelius, who recognised him as a fine conductor of his music (though it is perhaps necessary to bear in mind that Sibelius tended to be lavish with praise of anybody who conducted his music). There was a memorable meeting between Beecham and Sibelius in Finland in 1955, when the composer was celebrating his 90th birthday; the two musicians listened to recordings of Sibelius' music, played at full volume, and both clearly relished the sounds, while the Royal Philharmonic musicians fled the room.^[10]

In the music of his native land Beecham was generally antipathetic to, or at best lukewarm about, the most eminent and acclaimed composers, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Walton and Britten. His championship of Delius virtually single-handedly rescued the composer from obscurity, and all subsequent performances of Delius' works even in the 21st century are automatically compared to Beecham’s benchmark recordings, and are usually judged wanting. Minor British composers, like many minor European ones (see discography, below) appealed to him, and received performances of their works that possibly made them seem better than they were.

[edit] Recordings

Beecham began making recordings on 27 July 1910, when the acoustical process forced orchestras to use only principal instruments, placed as close to the recording horn as possible. His first recordings, for His Master's Voice (HMV) were devoted to excerpts from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus. In 1915, Beecham began recording for the Columbia Graphophone Company.

Beecham was undoubtedly happy, along with other conductors, when electrical recording (introduced in 1925-26) made it possible to record a full orchestra with much greater frequency range. Of course, Beecham still had to work with recording engineers who insisted that longer scores be broken into four-minute segments to fit on 12-inch 78-rpm discs. Columbia Records produced many of his recordings, using EMI crews in London. From 1926 to 1932, Beecham made nearly 150 78-rpm sides, including an English version of Gounod's Faust and the first of three recordings of Handel's Messiah.

Beecham began recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1933, recording more than 300 78-rpm sides for Columbia, including music by Mozart, Rossini, Berlioz, Wagner, Handel, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, and Delius.

Although Beecham signed a contract with RCA Victor on 5 December 1941, it was three years before he recorded with that company. Instead, Beecham made his first American recordings for Columbia, between 13 and 15 June 1942. There was a recording ban imposed by the American Federation of Musicians in the United States after those recordings were made, which continued until 1944. Although Columbia was among the first companies to settle with the musicians union, Beecham recorded primarily for RCA until he became unhappy with their refusal to adopt the new long-playing recordings introduced by Columbia in 1948. (RCA waited two years before releasing 33-1/3-rpm discs.) So, Beecham returned to Columbia and recorded again in New York City in December 1949. There were also recordings for Columbia with the Philadelphia Orchestra in February 1952.^[11]

Fortunately, Beecham lived long enough to make recordings in stereo, beginning in 1955, although he professed ignorance about the process. (Actually, Beecham participated in experimental stereophonic recordings in Britain in the early 1930s, including a remarkable performance of Mozart's Symphony No. 41 in C.) Most of his later recordings were made by EMI and released on HMV in the United Kingdom and on Angel or Capitol in the U.S.^[12]

He made a significant impact on British musical life in London, conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a series of major concerts and making some important recordings towards the end of his life. Among them are his Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (considered by many the best recording of the work ever made). His 1958 recordings included some of the "London" symphonies of Haydn and a spectacular performance of Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben.

Among his last recordings was a much-discussed RCA Victor recording of Eugene Goosens's arrangement for a full modern orchestra of Handel's Messiah. His very last recordings were made in December 1959, some of which were released after his death.^[13]

[edit] "Lollipops"

Beecham was a great champion of various composers, including Delius, Bizet, Berlioz, Dame Ethel Smyth and Sibelius. He also often succeeded in presenting slight pieces, such as encores, in their best light, and this gave rise to the terminology "Beecham's lollipops". On the other hand, Beecham tended to dismiss some of the works usually considered masterpieces of classical music. For example, he once said that he would happily give up all of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos for Massenet's Manon. [1]

[edit] Quotations

Beecham was known as a great raconteur and wit. There are many anecdotes involving him, and he is often quoted:

• It is said that in one rehearsal he was unsatisfied with the performance of a female cello soloist, and so said to her "Madam, you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to thousands, and all you can do is scratch it!".
• He helped Walter Legge underwrite the creation of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and conducted its premiere concert on 25 October 1945. Later, Legge raised the matter of Beecham's fee, to which he replied: "The privilege of directing this magnificent consort of artists is such that my pleasure would be diminished if I accepted a fee. I would, however, gladly accept a decent cigar"
• "Here are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn’t give a damn what goes on in between."
• When asked why only male composers appeared in his repertoire, he said "There are no women composers, never have been, and possibly never will be" (however he later revised this view, and became a champion of Ethel Smyth's music)
• He described the sound of the harpsichord variously as
  • "like two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof"
  • "playing a birdcage with a toasting fork"
• Of Johann Sebastian Bach – "Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint"
• Of Beethoven – "Beethoven’s last quartets were written by a deaf man and should only be listened to by a deaf man"
• On Beethoven's Seventh Symphony: "What can you do with it? It's like a lot of yaks jumping about."
• "Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory". [Beecham admitted to Neville Cardus that he had made this up on the spur of the moment to satisfy an importunate journalist; he acknowledged that it was an oversimplification. (Neville Cardus: 'Sir Thomas Beecham, A Memoir', 1961)]
• “Try everything once except folk dancing and incest”. [This is also attributed to Sir Arnold Bax, George S Kaufman, Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill.]
• “Brass bands are all very well in their place – outdoors and several miles away”.
• “I have just been all round the world and have formed a very poor opinion of it”.
• After conducting an orchestra through a piece of music - "Bass Trombone, you are out of tune." [a voice comes from the orchestra saying] "Sir, the bass trombonist hasn't arrived yet." [To which Beecham replied] "Oh... well when he arrives, tell him he's out of tune."
• "The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes." Quoted by the New York Herald Tribune, March 9, 1961, the day after Beecham died.
• On a grave stone is written: "Here lies a fantastic organist and an excellent musician." [Beecham then comments...] "What, both in the same grave?"

[edit] Honours

Beecham was knighted in 1916 and succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father later that year.

In 1938 the President of France bestowed upon him the decoration of the Legion of Honour (Légion d'honneur).

He was made a Companion of Honour in 1957.

[edit] Death and afterwards

Beecham died in London at the age of 81, of a second cerebral thrombosis. He was buried in the churchyard of the Church of Saint Peter in Limpsfield, Surrey. Coincidentally, his grave is situated approximately 10 metres away from that of the composer Frederick Delius, whose work he championed.

He is remembered through the orchestras he founded and the many archive recordings that are still available.

The Sir Thomas Beecham Society preserves his legacy through its website and release of historical recordings.

[edit] Works

[edit] Published books

• A Mingled Chime, (an autobiography)
• John Fletcher (1956), Oxford, Clarendon Press. (The Romanes Lecture for 1956).

[edit] Selected discography

• Balakirev
  • Symphony No 1 – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO)
• Beethoven
  • Piano Concerto No 4 – Artur Rubinstein/London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO)
  • Ruins of Athens – Beecham Choral Society/ RPO
  • Symphony No 2 – RPO
  • Symphony No 7 – RPO
  • Symphony No 8 – RPO
  • Violin Concerto – Szigeti/ LPO
• Berlioz
  • Damnation of Faust: Danse des Sylphes/ Menuet des follets – RPO
  • Harold in Italy – Riddle/RPO
  • King Lear Overture – RPO
  • Le Corsaire Overture – RPO
  • Les Francs Juges Overture – RPO
  • Les Troyens Overture – RPO
  • Roman Carnival Overture – RPO
  • Symphonie Fantastique – RPO
  • Trojan March – RPO (one of his last recordings, made in stereo in December 1959)
  • Waverley Overture – RPO
• Bizet
  • Carmen – Victoria de Los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda/French National Radio Orchestra
  • Carnaval à Rome – RPO
  • La Jolie Fille de Perth suite – RPO
  • L'Arlésienne Suites 1 & 2 – RPO
  • Patrie Overture – RPO
  • Symphony in C – French National Radio Orchestra
• Boccherini
  • Overture in D – RPO
• Borodin
  • Polovtsian Dances – Beecham Choral Society/RPO
• Brahms
  • Academic Festival Overture – RPO
  • Symphony No 2 – RPO
  • Tragic Overture – LPO
• Chabrier
  • España – RPO
  • Gwendoline Overture – French National Radio Orchestra
  • Joyeuse Marche – RPO
• Cherubini
  • Les deux journées - RPO
• Debussy
  • Cortège & Air de danse – RPO
  • Prélude à l'après midi – RPO
• Delibes
  • Le Roi s'amuse – RPO
• Delius
  • Appalachia – BBC Chorus/LPO
  • Brigg Fair – RPO
  • Dance Rhapsody No 2 – RPO
  • Fennimore & Gerda Intermezzo – RPO
  • Florida Suite: Daybreak & Dance – RPO
  • Irmelin Prelude – RPO
  • On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring – RPO
  • Sleighride – RPO
  • Song Before Sunrise – RPO
  • Summer Evening – RPO
  • Summer Night on the River – RPO
• Dvořák
  • Legend in G minor – RPO
  • Slavonic Rhapsody No 3 – LPO
  • Symphony No 8 – RPO
• Fauré
  • Dolly Suite – French National Radio Orchestra
  • Pavane – French National Radio Orchestra
• Franck
  • Symphony – French National Radio Orchestra
• Goldmark
  • Rustic Wedding Symphony – RPO
• Gounod
  • Faust Ballet music – RPO
  • Le sommeil de Juliette – RPO
• Grétry
  • Zémire et Azore ballet music – RPO
• Grieg
  • Peer Gynt music – RPO
  • Symphonic dance in A – RPO
• Handel
  • Amaryllis – RPO
  • Love in Bath – RPO
  • Messiah (complete) – Jon Vickers et al/ RPO
  • Solomon (complete) – John Cameron/ RPO
  • The Faithful Shepherd – RPO
  • The Gods Go A'Begging – RPO
  • The Great Elopement – LPO
• Haydn
  • Symphonies 93 – 104 – RPO
  • The Seasons – Morison, Young, Langdon /RPO
• Lalo
  • Symphony – RPO
• Massenet
  • Last sleep of the Virgin – RPO
  • Waltz from Cendrillon – RPO
• Mendelssohn
  • Fair Melusine Overture – RPO
  • Symphony No 4, Italian – RPO
• Mozart
  • Clarinet Concerto – Jack Brymer/RPO
  • Die Zauberflöte Overture – RPO
  • Flute & Harp Concerto – Le Roy, Laskine/RPO
  • German Dance K605 – RPO
  • Haffner March K249 – RPO
  • Le Nozze di Figaro Overture – LPO
  • Minuet from Divertimento in D K131 – RPO
  • Requiem – Morison et al/RPO
  • Symphony No 31 – Suisse Romande Orchestra
  • Symphony No 34 – Suisse Romande Orchestra
  • Symphony No 35 – LPO
  • Symphony No 36 – LPO
  • Symphony No 38 – LPO
  • Symphony No 39 – Suisse Romande Orchestra
  • Symphony No 40 – LPO
  • Symphony No 41 – RPO
  • Thamos: Entr'acte – RPO
• Mussorgsky
  • Khovantschina Dance of the Persian Slaves – RPO
• Offenbach
  • Les Contes des Hoffman suite – RPO
• Puccini
  • La Bohème – Jussi Bjorling, Victoria de Los Angeles/ RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
• Rimsky-Korsakov
  • Scheherazade – RPO
• Rossini
  • La Cambiale di matrimonio Overture – RPO
  • La Gazza Ladra Overture – RPO
  • Semiramide Overture – RPO
• Saint-Saëns
  • Rouet d'Omphale – RPO
  • Samson & Dalila Dance of the Priestesses/ Bacchanale – RPO
• Schubert
  • Symphony No 1 – RPO
  • Symphony No 2 – RPO
  • Symphony No 3 – RPO
  • Symphony No 5 – RPO
  • Symphony No 6 – RPO
  • Symphony No 8 – RPO
• Sibelius
  • Symphony No 2 – BBC Symphony Orchestra
  • Symphony No 4 – LPO
  • Symphony No 6 – RPO
  • Symphony No 7 – RPO
  • Tapiola – LPO
  • Valse Triste – RPO
  • Karelia Suite - RPO
• Smetana
  • Bartered Bride Overture – RPO
  • Bartered Bride Polka – RPO
• Strauss
  • Don Quixote – Wallenstein/New York Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Ein Heldenleben – RPO
• Suppé
  • Morning Noon and Night – RPO
  • Poet & Peasant Overture – RPO
• Tchaikovsky
  • Eugene Onegin , waltz – RPO
  • Francesca da Rimini – LPO
• Vidal
  • Zino Zina Gavotte – RPO
• Wagner
  • Die Meistersinger Prelude – RPO
  • Die Meistersinger Suite – RPO
  • Flying Dutchman Overture – RPO
  • Götterdämmerung Funeral March – RPO
  • Götterdämmerung Rhine Journey – RPO
  • Lohengrin Prelude – RPO
  • Parsifal Karfreitagszauber – RPO
• Weber
  • Der Freischütz Overture – LPO
  • Oberon Overture – LPO

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Seraphim Records liner notes
2. ^ Harold Schonberg, The Great Conductors(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967)
3. ^ Columbia Records 78-rpm album
4. ^ Sir Thomas Beecham Society website
5. ^ Sony Classics liner notes
6. ^ EMI & Columbia liner notes
7. ^ Jim Svejda's Record Shelf Guide to the Classical Repertoire
8. ^ BBC & EMI recordings
9. ^ RCA Victor
10. ^ BBC recorded tribute to Beecham
11. ^ Sony Classics liner notes
12. ^ EMI recordings
13. ^ EMI

[edit] Major Orchestras Conducted By Beecham

Preceded by Arthur Nikisch	Principal Conductor, London Symphony Orchestra 1915–1917	Succeeded by Albert Coates
Preceded by Michael Balling	Principal Conductor, Hallé Orchestra 1915–1920	Succeeded by Hamilton Harty
Preceded by none	Principal Conductor, London Philharmonic Orchestra 1932–1939	Succeeded by Eduard van Beinum
Preceded by Nikolai Sokoloff	Music Director, Seattle Symphony 1941–1944	Succeeded by Carl Bricken
Preceded by none	Principal Conductor, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 1949–1961	Succeeded by Rudolf Kempe

[edit] External links

• Photo of Thomas Beecham's grave
• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks