What did the charcoal hawker start ...?

And where did Handel fit in or the ancient instrument: the trumpet? Just three hundred years ago we needed charcoal for our braziers, which were used to cook on and heat our lodgings, while light was supplied by candles – so charcoal hawkers were a necessary part of London life.

Music as an art was beginning to take shape. The word ‘concert’ (of which ‘concerto’ is the Italian form) means a performing together and was long used solely in that sense; in the late

1700s a concert was not an event in musical performance, but a combination of performers. It was at that time often an entertainment to be viewed, discussed, listened to – not necessarily, and not usually, as an artistic expression worthy in its own right.

A keyed trumpet at the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments in Edinburgh.

It seems that the first actual paying concerts were started by John Banister, a London violinist in 1672 who, together with a few other performers, gave a programme daily at 4.00 in the afternoon in a sort of ‘tavern like’ atmosphere.

Thomas Britton, who by day hawked charcoal for a living round the streets of London, had converted his loft into a music-room, where, as a self-taught musician and scholar, who enjoyed the friendship of the most cultured people of his day, including many of the nobility, had installed the necessary musical apparatus, including a tiny organ of five stops, on which Handel was wont to play.

The Proms 2005. Most people sit, while Promenaders stand in front of the orchestra. The Royal Albert Hall Organ is in the background.

This man of humble origins, who carried sacks of charcoal to light braziers in people’s houses, was the originator in 1678 of a series of concerts that were held weekly for thirty six years until his death in1714. These concerts originally were free, until Britton charged ten shillings a year subscription and one penny for a cup of coffee (so coffee was ‘common’ by 1700). Ned Ward, a humorist of the day reported that “anybody that is willing to take a hearty Sweat may have the Pleasure of hearing many notable performers in the charming Science of Musick”.

The diverse aspects of early music spread, allowing different groupings of musicians to gather and play together, exposing not only their talents, but also their instruments to the music loving society of London in various taverns, music premises, theatres, meeting rooms, halls throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Stop knobs of the Baroque organ in Weingarten, Germany

The great courts of Europe employed a kapellmeister, designating a person in charge of music-making (kapelle means “choir”, “orchestra”, or literally “chapel”, and meister “master”). Bach, Handel, Haydn amongst other great composers established their reputations through these positions, while at this time there was a great inter-change of ideas across Europe, which allowed the kapellmeisters or freelancers (as Beethoven and Mozart preferred to remain) to influence music in the great cities at that time, of which London was one.

Haydn, in the 1790s, travelled twice to London to perform and conduct his compositions including the Concerto in E flat-Flat Major for Trumpet and Orchestra, which he had composed for his long standing friend, Anton Weidinger, an Austrian trumpet virtuoso in the classical era. Weidinger experimented with a 5-keyed trumpet, a version of the instrument on which a full chromatic scale became possible, before the introduction of the valve trumpet in the 19th century.

A Promenade concert in the Royal Albert Hall, 2004. The bust of Henry Wood can be seen in front of the organ.

During the 1800s concert performances became more and more popular ranging across the professional musicians’ genre: voice, instrumentation, solos, orchestra, church music etc. Numerous concert halls were built including Queen’s Hall, at which The Promenade Concerts (to be become popularly known as The Proms) were begun in 1895. Popular concerts for the public opened their ears to the possibilities of the orchestral classics, as well as making acquaintance with orchestral novelties via the annotated programmes supplied for the concerts.

The Proms, is an 8 week summer season of daily orchestral, classical music concerts held annually and predominantly in the Royal Albert hall, but now include chamber concerts at Cadogan hall and additional Proms in the Park events across the country. Jiri Belohlavek the Czech conductor, has described The Proms as “the world’s largest and most democratic musical festival”.

Last weekend the final night of The Proms 2009 was held; the BBC interlinking from the Royal Albert Hall to outside venues across Great Britain. Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto was once again played by Alison Balsom, an extremely talented leggy blonde, who has recently won the Classical Brit Award for her trumpet playing, and has made her mark in the fiercely competitive world of classical music; a fantastic achievement bearing in mind the fairly limited repertoire available for this instrument.

Alison Balsom trumpeter

The trumpet, that dates back at least to Tutankhamun’s era (1300BC), when bronze and silver trumpets were found in his grave, and Alison Balsom’s splendid performance over 3,000 years later may not have come about except for men like, Thomas Britton, the charcoal hawker.

Handel, in 1710 had been appointed Kapellmeister to George, Elector of Hanover, and when George became King George I of Britain, travelled to London with his court where he joined the general cognoscenti’s acceptance that Britton, despite from humble origins, opened the musical doors to a much wider social audience, which continues to this day.

Alison Balsom's performance at The Proms 2009 - on You Tube

Hallo again Mr Postman - life has been tricky - my uncle has rather suddenly had to go into the hospice and I am now sleeping at his house, as well as generally looking after things for him .. my mother continues on and I relay messages backwards and forwards between the two hospitals! I think there's a life out there - is there?! So I'm grateful to you for delivering this letter to both my mother and my uncle. My uncle sadly cannot read any more - another challenge we need to help him with. I hope he'll be able to go home with care in place. We live each day as it comes. It's been gloriously sunny today here - a really hot balmy summer's day.

Hilary Melton-Butcher

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