The Hoffnung Music Festivals were a series of humorous classical music festivals created by cartoonist and amateur tuba player Gerard Hoffnung and held in the Royal Festival Hall in London. The concerts consisted of humorous works specially commissioned from well-known composers of the day.
The 1956 concert was recorded, and is available in the American market on Angel Records 35500. Music from The Hoffnung Music Festival Concert, Royal Festival Hall, London. An Extravagant Evening of Symphonic Caricature devised by Gerald Hoffnung, Producer: Sam Wanamaker, Organizer: John Amis. It was recorded at the concert, 13 November 1956, by EMI and released in the U.S. by Angel Records. The orchestra was the Morley College Orchestra (billed as the Hoffnung Symphony Orchestra)
The concert opens with Ernst Bean, the General Manager of the Festival Hall, announcing that “owing to circumstances over which the London County Council and the management of the hall have no control, tonight’s concert will take place exactly as advertised.”
In addition to the large orchestra, the overture consists of a quartet of 3 vacuum cleaners and an electric floor polisher. The work is dedicated to President Hoover
This version of an already humorous work consists of more surprises, such as one of the Festival Hall organ pipes falling over when the orchestra hits the fortissimo "surprise" chord, the violins playing in the wrong key twice, a new "waltz" variation with a ballerina (Moyra Fraser) dancing through the isles and ending with members of the BBC Music Division playing the theme on stone hot water bottles.
A short overture consisting of fourty-eight quotations from other works. According to the program, "Try to spot as many as you can; the usual prizes will not be offered."
Although not a humorous work, this performance featured several distinguished guests playing in the orchestra, including Malcolm Arnold on the trumpet, Norman Del Mar on the French horn, Yvonne Arnaud on the piano, Dennis Brain on the organ, Hugo D'Alton on the mandolin, and Gerard Hoffnung on the tuba. [1]
The liner notes were written by John Amis, one of the organizers of the event. He wrote that it was called the Crazy Concert by the London newspapers, and that all 3000-odd seats were sold within two hours of the opening of the box office, breaking all records for Royal Festival Hall at that time and selling faster than the previous Liberace concert.
1958 concert
The 1958 production was the Hoffnung Interplanetary Music Festival, Royal Festival Hall, 21 & 22 November. The EMI recording for the American market was Angel 35800, released in both mono and stereo.
As its name suggests, this piece is played in the foyer while the audience is walking to the concert hall. The recording is edited in such a way that it sounds as though one were walking past the musicians into the hall
A Hoffnung Festival Overture by Francis Baines
Conducted by the Composer
Trumpeters of the Royal Military School of Music
Organ - John Weeks
Metamorphosis on a Bed-time Theme by Joseph Horovitz (libretto by Alistair Sampson)
A series of five musical commercials for Bournvita in the style of Bach, Mozart, Verdi, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky.
Concerto for Conductor and Orchestra by Francis Chagrin
Conducted by Gerard Hoffnung (as "The Maestro")
This work mostly relies on its visual humor, which is why it is abridged on the recording. Throughout the concert, Hoffnung demonstrates some unorthodox conducting skills, such as conducting to total silence, sobbing on stage, and engaging in a swordfight with Joseph Cooper (at the piano). The work also includes a "cadenza", which just consists of the conductor waving his arms around carelessly while the orchestra remains silent. According to the program "Why not televise entire symphony concerts but advise those viewers who are not deaf to switch off the sound?"
A mashup of various themes by Tchaikovsky arranged for a Renaissance Ensemble. The cannons that would be presented in the 1812 Overture are replaced with popguns.
"Burlesque" from Music for the Theater by Aaron Copland
Conducted by the Composer
The United Nations by Malcolm Arnold
Conducted by the Composer
In this work, the composer seeks to "re-create the fine spirit of human endeavour which becomes so apparent that the nations meet together." At one point, a huge military band wanders through the stage blasting several patriotic songs
This work involves the strings playing "in every way except in the normal fashion." and the woodwinds and brass playing their mouthpieces without their instrument attached.
Punkt Contrapunkt by "Bruno Heinz Jaja" (alias Humphrey Searle)
Conducted by Norman Del Mar
A short parody on 12-tone serial music and Klangfarbenmelodie. The work is preceded by an overly long analysis by "Dr. Klaus Domgraf-Fassbaender" (Gerard Hoffnung), and "Prof. Von der Vogelweide" (John Amis).
Let's Fake an Opera, or The Tales of Hoffnung by Franz Reizenstein (libretto by William Mann)[1]
The Hoffnung Festival Opera Chorus
Conducted by Norman Del Mar (assisted by Brian Priestman)
Set for instruments by Eric Wetherell
Produced by Colin Graham
The concert closes with "an operatic divertissement, a miracle of controlled stage-craft - five operas for the price of one!" The plot of the opera is that - "the setting is outside the cigarette factory in old Nuremburg. Beckmesser woos Azucena, the sex-kitten of the tobacco girls. Othello rides in with his swan which is chased away by William Tell, Max and other huntsmen. Othello, retiring defeated from the hunt, meets Salome who on the removal of all her veils, proves to be Fidelio and sings herself into a stupor. Brünnhilde, in search of a husband, is disappointed – Fidelio is a woman in disguise – and even the rival serenaders of whom she has hopes turn out to be wooing Mélisande. However she gets her man – Radames – in the end. Fidelio awakens and departs on Brünnhilde’s tricycle, Grane, leaving the frustrated Nightwatchman to steal well deserved winks on the vacated bed … etc., etc."
The 1960 production was the Hoffnung Memorial Concert and was a memorial tribute to Gerard Hoffnung, who had died a year earlier. It was again held in the Royal Festival Hall and performed by the Morley College Orchestra. Works performed included A Hoffnung Fanfare and Carnival of the Animals by Malcolm Arnold.
1961 concert
The 1961 production was the Hoffnung Astronautical Music Festival, and was once again held in the Royal Festival Hall, 28 November. It was also recorded by EMI in mono and stereo and released in the U.S. on Angel Records 35828. The recording was reissued on CD by Hallmark on 20 February 2012.
Programme:
"Rigmarole" - Introductory Music Played in the Foyer by Francis Baines
Modeled after Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3, this work present some bizarre twists, including the offstage trumpeters entering at the wrong times, The Happy Wanderers' Street Band interrupting the music, and the orchestra suddenly plunging into an out of place waltz rhythm. The actual composer was not named in the program, but the work of Malcolm Arnold was unmistakable.
Duet from "The Barber of Darmstadt" by "Bruno Heinz Jaja" (alias Humphrey Searle; translation from the German libretto by William Mann)
Conducted by Humphrey Searle
Herr Knochen - Owen Brannigan
Der Redepartner - John Amis
The Hoffnung Festival Choral Society
Just like Punkt Contrapunkt, this duet is a parody on 12-tone serial music.
The key of this work is "mostly in D Major." The work crescendos to a dramatic countdown (seeing as space craft was all the rage at the time of the concert), mixed with themes such as Flight of the Bumblebee and Yankee Doodle.
Grand Concerto Gastronomique for eater, waiter, food, and large orchestra by Malcolm Arnold
Conducted by the Composer
Eater - Henry Sherek
Waiter - Tutte Lemkow
This work was not present on the audio recording due to its extreme visual humor. The work centers around a diner who has to eat his way through an entire meal for the duration of the piece.
”Excerpt” from "Belshazzar's Feast" by William Walton (conducted by the composer with a fly swatter, which turned out to consist of just a single chord and the chorus shouting "Slain!")
Horrortorio by Joseph Horovitz (libretto by Alistair Sampson)
The Hoffnung Festival Choral Society
Conducted by the Composer
Harpsichord - Lionel Salter
Roles:
Roles, Voice Types, Premiere Cast
Roles
Voice Types
Premiere Cast
Dracula's Daughter
soprano
April Cantelo
Dowager Baroness Frankenstein
contralto
Pamela Bowden
Narrator (Edgar Allan Poe), Frankenstein's Son
tenor
Stephen Manton
Count Dracula
bass
John Frost
This extravagent oratorio, taken from "a scenario by Maurice Richardson" tells the story of the marriage of Dracula's Daughter and Frankenstein's Son. The music parodies the classical oratorio while taking on "new and horrible dimensions".
The opposite of "static" where the players remain on stage throughout the work, this short piece has all the members of the orchestra moving about on stage, "faithfully following their respective conductors." [1]
1969 concert
On 17 February 1969, a Hoffnung concert was staged in the Royal Festival Hall in aid of the Notting Hill Housing Trust. It included some of the works from the 1958 festival, and a new work to celebrate Hoffnung. The conductor for most of the works was Norman Del Mar with the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and several singers from 1958 returned. Spelling and punctuation are as in the 1969 programme notes:[3]
According to the programme, "A two-minute period (at 4.30 am) has been allocated by the Concert Organisers for Community Coughing. If you have a promising cough, please try to save it until then."
1976 concert
On 14 December 1976, a Hoffnung concert was staged in the Royal Albert Hall, entitled "Hear Hear, Hoffnung", featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as several distinguished conductors and performers
Programme:
A Hoffnung Fanfare by Malcolm Arnold
Fanfare Trumpeters of the Life Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards
Conducted by Major A.J. Richards
The work is scored for 36 trumpets.
Ode by Colin Graham
Declaimed by Annette Crosbie
A Grand, Grand Overture
Conducted by the Composer
The vacuum cleaner soloists were none other than the Amadeus Quartet
Riflemen from the 4th Battalion
Metamorphosis on a Bed-time Theme
Conducted by the Composer
Soprano - April Cantelo
Bass-Baritone - Ian Wallace
Sugar Plums
Haydn’s Surprise Symphony
Conducted by Donald Swann
Ocarinas - Patrick Moore and William Mann
Bottle Players - Barabara Kelly, Sylvia Rogers, Humpherey Burton, Eric Thompson, John Calder, Robert Ponsonby, Angus McGill
The United Nations
Bands of the Royal Life Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards
Members of the English Music Theatre Chorus and Ballet
Conducted by Lawerence Leonard
Roles, Cast
Roles
Performers
Beckmesser
Thomas Lawlor
Azucena (Carmen), Mélisande
Ann Howard
Otello, Manrico
Kenneth Woollam
The Nightwatchman
Ian Wallace
Salome/Fidelio
Ava June
Wotan, Escamillo
Harold Blackburn
Brünnhilde
Ann Hood
Nadir
Bernard Dickerson
Don Giovanni
Peter Knapp
Swan Queen
Laura Conner
1988 concert
On 12 & 13 February 1988 two reprise concerts were performed and recorded at the Royal Festival Hall and released by Decca. Many distinguished guests appeared, including Donald Swann, Annetta Hoffnung (playing the role of "orchestral maid"), and Gerard’s daughter Emily. The program, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra and conducted by Michael Massey and Tom Bergman, consisted of highlights from previous Hoffnung Festivals as well as a few new pieces to keep the audience on their toes.
Vacuum Cleaners - Jane Glover, Christopher Laing, Bill Oddie, and Donald Swann
Concerto for Hosepipe & Orchestra
Hosepipe - Richard Watkins
The Ballad of County Down
The Famous Tay Whale
Speaker - Eleanor Bron
Foghorn - Esther Rantzen
Aria from Quasimodo e Giulietta (Act 9, Scene 12) by "Giacomo Scarlatina", new realisation by "Maynard Nelson" (alias Wilfred Josephs)
Tenor - Christoph Ellermeier
Conducted by Mark Fitz-Gerald
The music consists of a mashup of several opera melodies, while the libretto is a mashup of various Italian musical terms
Leonora Overture No. 4
Before the work is played, an audience member (Raimund Herincx) coughs rather loudly. He is checked on by a nurse (Jill Gomez), after which they sing a hilarious operatic duet.
The piece starts with the concerts manager announcing that due to a booking error, two violins have been scheduled for the same concert. In order to "avoid legal proceedings", the managers decides that both of them should play the concerto. At the end, the female violinist bows the last harmonic (while the male violinist fingers it), during which they fall into a kiss.
Overture “The Heaving Bagpipe” by Wilfred Josephs (text by Tom Bergman)
Speaker - Raimund Herincx
So called because parts of the music sound suspiciously similar to Rossini's Overture to the Thieving Magpie.
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