Michael Costa: England's First Conductor
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baton technique
Bel Canto
Bellini's Il Pirata
Bellini’s Il Pirata
Birmingham Festival
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Chopin
choral society reform
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Costa's Arrival
Costa’s Arrival
Covent Garden
Covent Garden Orchestra
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English Musical Renaissance
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Felix Mendelssohn
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Handel Festival
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harmonic
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Kensal Green Cemetery
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Le Diable
Majesty's Theatre
Majesty’s Theatre
Michael Costa
Mr Costa
musical
Napoleon III
nineteenth-century performance practice
opera
opera house rivalry
orchestral leadership
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professional conductor evolution
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recollections
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle
sacred
Sir Michael Costa
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SN=Music in Nineteenth-Century Britain
society
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Victorian music history
William Knyvett
XVIIIth Century
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Product details
- ISBN 9781472427175
- Format: Hardback
- Weight: 612g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 18 Mar 2016
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Among the major changes that swept through the music industry during the mid-nineteenth century, one that has received little attention is how musical performances were managed and directed. Yet this was arguably the most radical change of all: from a loose control shared between the violin-leader, musical director and maestro al cembalo to a system of tight and unified control under a professional conductor-manager. This process brought with it not only baton conducting in its modern form, but also higher standards of training and discipline, a new orchestral lay-out and a more focused rehearsal regime. The resulting rise in standards of performance was arguably the greatest achievement of English music in the otherwise rather barren mid-Victorian period. The key figure in this process was Michael Costa, who built for himself unprecedented contractual powers and used his awesome personal authority to impose reform on the three main institutions of mid-Victorian music: the opera houses, the Philharmonic and the Sacred Harmonic Society. He was a central figure in the battles between the two rival opera houses, between the Philharmonic and the New Philharmonic, and between the venerable Ancient Concerts and the mass festival events of the Sacred Harmonic Society. Costa’s uniquely powerful position in the operatic, symphonic and choral world and the rapidity with which he was forgotten after his death provide a fascinating insight into the politics and changing aesthetics of the Victorian musical world.
Sir John Goulden retired in 2000 from a distinguished career in the British Diplomatic Service, during which he served as Ambassador to Turkey and Permanent Representative to Nato (1995-2000). On retirement he began to pursue his interest in the revolution in musical performance during the early nineteenth century and the role in this of the conductor and composer Michael Costa. He was awarded a PhD in musicology in 2012.
