The musical tradition at Balliol College, Oxford was established in the period 1870 to 1893 when Benjamin Jowett was Master there, with an organ introduced in the college chapel in 1874.[1] On the arrival of John Farmer as organist in 1885, a series of classical concerts on Sunday evenings began, taking place in the college hall, which became a fixture.[2]Balliol College did not offer music as an undergraduate subject, and the University of Oxford did not establish a Music Department until 1950.[3]Ernest Walker, Balliol's Director of Music 1901–1925, over his time in Oxford "had immense influence on a whole generation of musicians."[4]
Susan L. F. Wollenberg wrote "From their inception in 1885 the Balliol concerts showed special features".[5]Edward Heath wrote in 1986:
The Balliol Concerts not only play a major part in the life of the College, they are also a unique aspect in the musical activities of the whole university [...] It is by this means that so many generations of Oxford men and women have come to know and love the greatest chamber music in the world played by the leading artists of the day.[6]
The 1,950th Balliol concert was given on 7 November 2024 by Raphael Wallfisch and Simon Callaghan (piano). The programme included cello works of Walker, along with works by Schubert, Schumann, and Beethoven.
Sunday evening concerts
The Sunday evening music concerts are organised by the Balliol College Musical Society to bring chamber music to a wider audience. Notable musicians who have performed include:
Golden Age Singers, directed by Margaret Field-Hyde
29 Apr 1956
The Society was established in 1885 by John Farmer, formerly the music master of Harrow School, who was invited by the then Master, Benjamin Jowett, to become Director of Music. These concerts were the first secular Sunday concerts in England. Attendees included not only students but also guests including Robert Browning, Lord Coleridge and T. H. Huxley. The 1,000th concert of the Society was given in 1937 . The series continued without interruption through World War II.[10]
The atmosphere at the concerts was described by Edward Heath:
These concerts had one tradition that no other college maintained. At the end of the concert, when the applause for the final item was dying, the Master sitting in the front row, waved his programme aloft. The whole audience rose, faced the organ at the back of the Hall and sang the Chorale printed on the programme sheet. It gave the concerts a tremendous finale.[11]
L. E. Jones, who entered Balliol as an undergraduate in 1904,[12] wrote in his autobiography of the "moving spirit" in the Balliol concerts:
Thin, bent, etiolated, with a despondent black beard and a falsetto voice, Dr. Walker looked anything but the 'live wire' that he, in fact, was.[13]
Of the period when Walker was Balliol's Director of Music, it has been said "Many of the most important figures in the English musical world played at Balliol at this time".[14] They included:
Walker's successor as Balliol's Director of Music was William Henry Harris. While running the concert series from 1925 to 1933, he was organist for other Oxford colleges.[21]
The college funds an organ scholar. One was the former Prime Minister Edward Heath. Organ scholars noted in other fields include Christopher Longuet-Higgins from 1942,[33] and Ronald Gordon from 1945.[34]
↑A history of 100 years of classical concerts at Balliol College, Oxford with a foreword by the Rt Hon Edward Heath and a preface by Arthur Burns and Robin Wilson (1986). The Balliol Concerts: A Centenary History. Balliol College Musical Society.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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