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 forty-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 sword fight 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 extravagant 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 and 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 decide 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.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, since 1979. The orchestra is resident at Lighthouse in Poole, with other major concert series given at Portsmouth Guildhall, the Great Hall of Exeter University and Bristol Beacon. Shorter series are also given in Bournemouth and Basingstoke.
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music for brass band and wind band. His style is tonal and rejoices in lively rhythms, brilliant orchestration, and an unabashed tunefulness. He wrote extensively for the theatre, with five ballets specially commissioned by the Royal Ballet, as well as two operas and a musical. He also produced scores for more than a hundred films, among these The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won an Oscar.
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated included the Ballets Russes, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Royal Choral Society, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Sargent was held in high esteem by choirs and instrumental soloists, but because of his high standards and a statement that he made in a 1936 interview disputing musicians' rights to tenure, his relationship with orchestral players was often uneasy. Despite this, he was co-founder of the London Philharmonic, was the first conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic as a full-time ensemble, and played an important part in saving the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from disbandment in the 1960s.
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he announced his resignation from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025.
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors.
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Edmonton, Alberta. As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city it presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country. Currently in its 72nd season, the orchestra is composed of 56 core professional musicians who perform 42 weeks per season and who play an active role in the musical life of Edmonton and elsewhere as performers, teachers and recording artists. The ESO also performs as the orchestra for Edmonton Opera and Alberta Ballet productions, and its recordings are regularly heard across Canada on CBC Radio 2.
Gerard Hoffnung was an artist and musician, best known for his humorous works.
Joseph Horovitz was an Austrian-born British composer and conductor best known for his 1970 pop cantata Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo, which achieved widespread popularity in schools. Horovitz also composed music for television, including the theme music for the Thames Television series Rumpole of the Bailey, and was a prolific composer of ballet, orchestral, brass band, wind band and chamber music. He considered his fifth string quartet (1969) to be his best work.
Franz Theodor Reizenstein was a German-born British composer and concert pianist. He left Germany for sanctuary in Britain in 1934 and went on to have his teaching and performing career there. As a composer, he successfully blended the equally strong but very different influences of his primary teachers, Hindemith and Vaughan Williams.
Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years.
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Sz. 95, BB 101 of Béla Bartók is a musical composition for piano and orchestra. The work, which was composed between 1930 and 1931, is notorious for being one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire. Playing time is 26–29 minutes.
The Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra (LSSO) is a youth orchestra based in Leicester, England. The players, aged between 15 and 18, are all drawn from secondary schools in the county of Leicestershire and the City of Leicester.
Samuel Jones is an American composer and conductor.
Martin Yates is a British conductor. After attending Kimbolton School, he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducting), Richard Arnell (composition), Ian Lake, Jakob Kaletsky and Alan Rowlands (piano), and Douglas Moore and John Burden.
Summer's Last Will and Testament is a choral masque or cantata by Constant Lambert, written between 1932 and 1935, and premiered in 1936. It is scored for chorus and orchestra, with a baritone solo also featured in the last of its seven movements. It is based on the play of the same name by Thomas Nashe, written around 1592. Lambert considered the work his magnum opus, and it is his largest work in any genre. However, it attracted little attention at its 1936 premiere and had only one or two other performances in Lambert's lifetime.
Herbert Menges OBE was an English conductor and composer, who wrote incidental music to all of Shakespeare's plays.
This is a summary of 1956 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
Kenneth Alwyn Wetherell was a British conductor, composer, and writer. Described by BBC Radio 3 as "one of the great British musical directors", Alwyn was known for his many recordings, including with the London Symphony Orchestra on Decca's first stereophonic recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. He was also known for his long association with BBC Radio 2's orchestral live music programme Friday Night is Music Night, appearing for thirty years as a conductor and presenter, and for his contribution to British musical theatre as a prolific musical director in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and married the actress Mary Law in 1960. His website and the first volume of his memoirs A Baton in the Ballet and Other Places were both published in 2015. The second volume Is Anyone Watching? was published in 2017.
John Simon is a South African-born British classical music composer.
Kathleen Riddick was a British musician, one of the first women in Britain to establish herself in the male-dominated profession of conducting. To do so at a time when it was "considered impossible" for a woman to become a conductor Riddick was initially obliged to found her own ensembles to lead. They included the Surrey Philharmonic Orchestra in 1932, the London Women's String Orchestra in 1938, and The London Opera Group Orchestra which was led by Miriam Morley. But she also appeared as guest conductor of BBC orchestras and the London Symphony Orchestra.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
