Brass Band Music Contests and Entertainment in Manchester’s Public Parks in World War One: Reinventing Repertoire, Patriotism and Tradition?

Actes du colloque international « Les institutions musicales à Paris et à Manchester pendant la Première Guerre mondiale »

1913 was a watershed year for the brass band movement. They were finally moving away from the repertoire of the classical canon that had dominated the movement from the beginning. Percy Fletcher’s Labour and Love was performed at the Crystal Palace Contest.[1] Labour and Love was significant as it was composed music of some substance that was available to all bands.[2] It was the first test piece that was composed for the standardised brass band line-up and that the sources can account for fully. As Paul Hindmarsh has stated, ‘it was not part of a local ‘bespoke’ repertoire [...]. It stands like a solitary beacon in the writing for brass bands in the early twentieth century [...].’[3] Yet, in spite of this, during the war years, brass bands relied upon their own invented musical traditions from the Victorian era as an anchor to ensure they survived the conflict. It was how these older musical traditions reinforced a national patriotism that emerged during the conflict that is the subject of this paper.

Manchester was the gathering point for brass bands in the industrial regions surrounding the city. The main performance areas in the city for bands were the Belle Vue Gardens, for the annual British Open Contests – the only national contests to continue in the war years – and the public parks, for regular concerts throughout the spring and summer.

Figure 1: Late eighteenth-century map of Southern Pennine Packhorse Trails: based on Yates’s Map of the County Palatine of Lancaster (1786) and Jeffery’s Map of the County of Yorkshire (1775).
Source: http://www.spptt.org.uk/about-us/ancient-highways-in-the-south-pennines/ accessed, 1 May, 2011.  (Permission granted)
 

The Southern Pennines: A Dense Social Network of Bands

From the 1840s the growth of brass bands in the region was rapid, and, indeed, in spite of being a national movement, the Southern Pennines are considered the home of the brass band movement. On 23 May 1903 The British Bandsman and Contest Field’s commentator, ‘Shoddythorpe’, reflected on the growth of the brass band movement in the North. ‛Shoddythorpe’ estimated that there were approximately 250 bands in the West Riding of Yorkshire alone. The brass band historian Arthur Taylor illustrated the density of brass bands on the Southern Pennine’s Lancashire side by saying that ‘the whole area of Saddleworth could almost be designated a national park for brass bands, with Dobcross as the centerpiece’.[4] Typically, in the early years of the twentieth century, the settlements surrounding Manchester had populations of between ten and fifteen thousand people, and many places were well-known for their amateur musical groups.

The Membership and Training of Pennine Brass Bands

Bands were composed almost entirely of working-class members. A convergence of manufacturing techniques, retail growth and finance meant working people had access to instruments that were affordable and durable. By the 1870s contests had standardised the instrumentation used and, by May, 1889, the Brass Band News was in no doubt that bands were northern working-class phenomenon writing:

Around this region (Manchester) our amateur bands are composed of horny-handed working men exclusively […], I mean factory-men, forge-men, colliers and so on. We never expect to have a man as a member who “gets his living with his coat on”, and this class are, as a rule (there are honourable exceptions), such “superior persons” that would rather have their room than their company.

In the 1889 edition of Amateur Band Teacher’s Guide and Bandsman’s Adviser, Wright and Round advocated the training methods in use among northern bands: theirs was ‘a synthesis of the systems on which the celebrated prize bands of Lancashire and Yorkshire [were] taught’.[5] From the late 1860s onwards, the most successful ‘crack’ bands – Black Dyke Mills, Besses O’ Th’ Barn, Meltham Mills and so on – were from the manufacturing districts of the North. This period saw a national consistency of instrumental technique that was heavily influenced by the imitation of the playing styles of the championship bands, which were often conducted by the northern triumvirate of band trainers, John Gladney (1839–1911), Alexander Owen (1851–1920) and Edwin Swift (1843–1904). From 1875–1895, there were few major contests when one, two, or all three of them did not conduct one of the winning bands.[6] The working-class culture that emerged from brass bands became associated with the industrial North. By 1914, The British Bandsman reflected that, ‘it could not be denied that the cradle of the brass band was on the slopes of the Pennine Chain.’[7] Whilst the brass band was a national musical experience that was also popular in the rest of the country, most notably the industrial areas of Cornwall, Scotland, and Wales,[8] it was most readily associated with, and indeed has become a cliché of, northern working-class culture.
Early band repertoire consisted of songs, glees and national airs, J. L. Scott highlighting that this had been the standard repertoire for mixed brass and woodwind ensembles since the 1800s.[9] This pattern of repertoire continued to the 1840s. From the mid-1840s Boosey began publishing their Repertory for Cornet and Piano, mainly consisting of operatic arias.[10] There were other publications to consider, but, by at least 1859, brass band periodicals were mainly devoted to publishing arrangements of Italian opera.[11]
It should not be underestimated how much operatic arrangements standardised brass band musicianship. It was these arrangements that were spread by the periodicals that began to regulate the public repertoire of the bands, together with what was expected from the players in terms of technique and sound production. For example, Charles Godfrey arranged every contest piece for twenty years. Godfrey was a bandmaster with the Royal Horse Guards Regiment. His arrangements had a routine formula: tutti orchestral or choral sections from the opera, interspersed with melodic solo or ensemble sections arranged for the principal soloists, the whole ensemble section or solo dotted with operatic cadenzas. Little attention was paid to elements of structure or proportion, and as the style was familiar, some pieces, such as Rossini’s Moses in Egypt (1897, Belle Vue Contest) and Mehul’s Joseph and His Brothers (1914, Bell Vue Contest) were decidedly obscure.[12]
In September, 1914, ‘Pluto’ – the Manchester and District correspondent for the Brass Band News – was in a reflective mood about the future of the region’s bands during the coming ‘international crisis’. In spite of already losing many bandsmen to ‘the colours’; what was important was that the brass bands of the district should keep going. Significantly, throughout the war years, the chatter in the band periodicals was the same as it had always been. How to prepare the test piece, how to behave in public, the benefit of music to the working man and so on were all common topics. On one hand the Brass Band News and, other periodicals, supported the war effort, on the other, these periodicals acted as an agency that anchored tradition around an annual musical event. The Belle Vue Contests, in other words, became a celebration of working-class music-making in a time of turmoil. Moreover, the contests and park contests became a signifier of ‘life as normal’ during the war. Pluto wrote:

Owing to the international crisis, my notes will have to be curtailed somewhat. Engagements in some cases had to be postponed, and contests also […]. Several of my band acquaintances have been called to the colours, both reservists and territorials. Some of our bands have been hard hit by mobilisation, but those of us staying at home will have to see to it that the ball is kept rolling. We can help in various ways, and, in fact, we must […].[13]

Parklife

Summer was when brass bands gained most public exposure. From May to the end of September local bands played in the public parks. They played an eclectic mix of summer events: agricultural shows, school and police sports days, and many charity events. Park concerts were the most regulated. The Public Park Movement started in the 1830s, developing from a desire to improve the health of the Victorian towns and cities’ populations. Parks became symbols of civic pride, providing locals with fresh air and attractive surroundings. Parks were places to encourage rational recreation, and attractions included music, sports facilities, and horticultural displays. Often the park was linked with a museum or art gallery as an expression of civic pride and identity.[14] As such, Carole O’ Reilly argued that the purchase and development of Manchester’s Heaton Park – from 1902-1912 – by Manchester City Council, ‘marked the transition from the Victorian idea of parks as improving spaces for ‘rational recreation’ to the Edwardian idea that parks offered spaces for many diverse activities centred around active citizenship and social responsibility.[15]
As such they were important places for the bands to play. The programmes usually had the same order. They started with a march then followed with an overture. There was then a number of waltz tunes. These were followed by lengthier arrangements of selections of the Master’s works, usually arranged for brass band by Edwin Swift, John Gladney or Alexander Owen, again Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner and Weber were popular. After these there would be a cornet or euphonium solo. Cornet polkas and Theme and Variations arrangements for euphonium were common. The park promenade concert, which was popular in Manchester’s parks in the years preceding the conflict, reinforced stability, class identity and respectability.

British Values Versus Reckless Modernism

Just one year after the brass band movement had broken free from the standard repertoire of operatic selections and arrangements of the ‘great’ composers brass band music in parks developed to embrace the patriotism that joined with the ‘rush to the colours’ from 1914-1915. Arguably, the bands reinforced and expanded the long nineteenth century’s repertoire to express feelings of national pride and traditionalism in a defence against German ‘Kultur’. As Gerard J. DeGroot argued, ‘because the British lived in sheltered valleys (or rather empires), they still naively believed that everlasting values like honour, duty, and patriotism mattered in a struggle between industrial nations.’[16] The war became a crusade and the British were inspired crusaders. This war was fought not to inspire change but to protect the values at the heart of Britain’s greatness. Germany, it was argued, promoted reckless – and mad – modernism – which upset the peaceful world order.[17] Contrary to this, Britain felt a comfortable fondness towards all things traditional. Significantly this conservatism filtered down to the working class. In terms of brass band music this working-class traditionalism was expressed through the park concert. It was axiomatic that the public park was a piece of civic furniture that represented certainties found in Edwardian culture.
In 1914 band concerts were popular entertainments which were advertised in the local press. It was typical to see band concerts advertised together with the offer of cheap railway tickets. On the 25 July, for example, Shaw Brass band were playing at Heaton Park and the train company offered a service every fourteen minutes and the tickets cost 5 ½ d.[18] In July, 1914, close to the outbreak of hostilities, concerts were held in the Prussia Street Recreation Ground (Irwell Old Prize Band); Lower Crumpsall Recreation Ground (C.W.S Tobacco Factory Band); Cheetham Park (5th Battalion Manchester Regiment Band); Prestwich Clough (Prestwich Brass Band); Hulme Hall Recreation Grounds (Miles Platting, Adamson Military Band); Chapel Street Recreation Grounds, Levenshulme (Levenshulme Brass Band) and Beech Road (Manchester Military Band).[19] This repertoire highlighted the musical tastes that had dominated the Victorian era. Many of the operatic and classical selections played would have been arranged by influential brass band arrangers and adjudicators such as John Gladney, Alexander Owen and Edwin Swift.
Prestwich Brass Band, for example played:

March – Sympathie – R. Smith
Selection – Nabucco – Verdi
Waltz – Will o the Wisp – Clements
Overture – Tancredi – Rossini
Two-Step – Luxemberg Glide [sic] – Pether
Selection – Reviews of London – Williams
Finale – Westward Ho – Firth[20].

Park Programmes Reinforcing Patriotic Feeling by Looking to the Past

In November 1914 the repertoire had changed and patriotic tunes were becoming prominent in the programmes. There often remained an operatic or classical selection, but these were being usurped by arranged selections of patriotic tunes. These selections and marches looked to the past. In spite of worries about the strength and capability of the British Navy at the outbreak of hostilities recurring themes revolved around the greatness of the British Navy in ‘days of yore.’ In particular, references were made to the Elizabethan Navy, and later great battles and heroes, such as Nelson. Other themes included the notion of Britannia and Empire. Another theme drew out the ‘old soldier’. It was a theme that reflected on perhaps a mythical – or at least desirable – notion of comradeship and duty found amongst the common soldiers. What emerged, then, from 1914-1915, was a propaganda campaign where music supported nationalism and patriotism. Through musical performance, and other media, as David Welch has written, ‘all the belligerents were […] compelled to recognise that they had to justify the righteousness of the war and, to this end, themes such as patriotism and nationalism played an important role.’[21]
By the 1 November, 1914 one of the largest brass band music publishers, Wright and Round, were advertising collections of ‘Patriotic Marches’. One collection, which was indicative of collections to come, held the following:

1. Newton. Britannia, Pride of the Ocean
2. Barri. The Old Brigade
3. Round. Our Fallen Heroes, including, Rule Britannia and trio, Conquering Hero
4. Newton. God Bless the Prince of Wales
5. Round. The Men of Harlech
6. Linter. The Hero of Trafalgar
7. Glover. The Empress of the Wave on the famous song, The Sea is England’s Glory
8. Linton. The Red, White and Blue
9. Round. The Field of Glory including The British Grenadiers
10.  Rimmer. Patriotic Fantasia including Ye Mariners of England, Last Watch, and, The Death of Nelson.[22]

In spite of concerns over the strength of the armed forces, in spite of losses starting to eat away at the membership of brass bands, the music played reinforced a wistful, patriotic and nationalistic view of the past. This, after all, reflected the view that Britain was defending something that was more valid than modernism.
From 1913, then, with the composition of Percy Fletcher’s Labour and Love, an original composition that the sources can account for fully, the repertoire of the brass band movement was becoming independent and composers such as Elgar and Bliss would soon write for them. Yet, in the most public of arenas, brass band music reinforced older certainties of nation and Empire that were found in the long nineteenth century. Brass bands continued to practice, they continued to use park concerts to fundraise for money for instruments and uniforms, and they continued to take part in contests at the Belle Vue Contests.  
During the conflict bands also raised money for the war effort and joined in the national patriotic tone, yet, they were also an expression of a specific type of working-class leisure that continued through the war. In the end what mattered for bandsmen was that the movement, and their specific style of working-class leisure, with its inherent traditions, continued. The contests and park concerts in Manchester were a visible expression of the continuation of tradition, and the music played represented a golden age of a historical patriotism for Britain.