Festival History
20th – 22nd May 1912
On 15th May the Hastings Observer included the following; - ‘When the Hastings Madrigal Society competed at Tunbridge Wells, the Great Hall was packed, and this with front seats at 7s. 6d. – one can get a reserved seat for the whole of the competitions and concerts for the Hastings Musical Festival at exactly the same price!’ Referring to this, Mr F. B. Lewis J.P., who chaired the A.G.M. at the Queen’s Hotel, said that a great deal of good work might be done if the various musical societies of the town could be co-ordinated and perhaps the Muscical Festival might be the beginning of a Central Musical Council for Hastings.
21st March – 7th April 1962
For the first time all sessions of the Festival, apart from organ playing, took place in the White Rock Pavilion. The programme showed 819 young people would take part in the ‘Jamboree’ classes for Guides, Cubs, Brownies and Scouts.
Pauline Taylor gained six first places in dancing contests, and was also first with Kay Peddlesden in the class for two pianos.
Four school orchestras competed for the Ruth Maggs Cup. The adjudicator, Mr. Ernest Read, said he considered the class one of the most important in the Festival, because orchestral work for young people was his great interest. The winners were Hastings High School.
Avril Parry, making her first appearance in any competitive festival, won the singing Gold medal, as well as a number of other classes. The men’s Gold went to John Carr. In judging this event the adjudicator told one elderly competitor that he might surprise everybody in an unaccompanied folk song class, but he should not offer himself in a Gold medal event. He could not give him a mark!
In the piano concerto class the adjudicator could not separate two competitors and, therefore, recommended both to the London Philharmonic Orchestra as worthy of appearing with them.
‘A lovely performance’ was the verdict of Mrs. Hilda Tagg, when she awarded the elocution Gold medal to Mrs. Georgina Preston for her interpretation of the test piece, Binyon’s lovely poem ‘Deserted Theatre.’
The main hall was crowded for the main choir finals with the Hastings Group Hospital Choir, conducted by A. J. K. Gillies, bringing the St Cecilia Challenge Shield back to Hastings for the first time since 1926.
1919 Syllabus
Below is the front cover of the 1919 Syllabus. Please click on it to view a bit of Musical Festival History.
Hastings Musical Festival is a charitable organisation whose aim is to provide a superb platform for amateur performance in Music, Speech, Drama and Dance for children, students and adults, combined with a strong educational element gained from the input of professional Adjudicators.
Music festivals have their origins in the North of England in the 1870’s. The first recorded festival was the Workington Festival in Cumbria; still running to this day. It was organised by William Griffiths of Aberavon who, in 1869, had purchased a tinplate works near Workington and brought with him families from South Wales. Griffiths first began a band, then a male voice choir – and then a festival. Meanwhile, in London, John Curwen had taken up the idea of the National Music Meetings at the Crystal Palace to begin the Stratford and East London Festival in 1882 – another festival which still flourishes! More significant yet, however, was the introduction in 1885 of competitions for vocal quartets near Kendal, Cumbria. This was the brainchild of Mary Wakefield, on whose father’s estate the local show took place. It was this Mary, together with another Mary – the Lady Trefusis, Lady in Waiting to the Duchess of York, who first had the idea of a Federation of Festivals.
Hastings only started in the early 1900’s, when Dr. Herman Brearley organised a festival ‘for the encouragement of choral singing’. Dr Brearley was a local music teacher who lived at ‘Rosebank’, Priory Avenue, where he taught – Piano, singing, organ, harmony, theory of music and composition.
Want to know more? Then buy the complete book, ‘Hastings Musical Festival, A History’
Available during the Festival or contact
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