“Carriages at 10 p.m.” advises the front of the programme for the Fourth Petersfield Musical Festival, which took place over three days in April one hundred years ago. The Festival had begun modestly just three years earlier, the brainchild of Edith and Rosalind Craig Sellar - the Misses Craig Sellar, as they were known. Inspired by a visit to the Kendall Festival in the Lake District, they were determined to stage a similar event in the south of England, and by 1904 it was well established, attracting twelve adult choirs and five children’s choirs.

Also in attendance were such luminaries as Arthur Somervell, a distinguished composer and inspector of music to the Board of Education, and Donald Tovey, a virtuoso pianist, teacher and author, whilst Vaughan Williams had been present in 1903.

The first day was taken up with Children’s Competitions and Concert, from 1.30 until 5.15. We would call that a marathon today, but the following days were even longer: cut-throat competitions all morning and afternoon and a concert each evening. Here the choirs would join together in their set pieces, songs like Festa’s celebrated Down in a flow’ry vale or Liza Lehmann’s If thou wilt be the falling dew, and also perform other works with soloists, under the direction of Somervell or Tovey. In 1904 they sang Bach’s Sleepers Wake, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and the Entry of the Guests from Wagner’s Tannhauser.

Most of the soloists are long forgotten: Mrs A.A. Montgomery (soprano) and Mr Royston Cambridge (violin) were regulars in the early days, and both Miss Gertrude Sichel and Mr Leonard Borwick have vanished into the mist of time. But one name stands out, Mr Walter Hyde. Hyde was born in 1875 and studied at the Royal Academy with Gustave Garcia. In 1908 he sang Siegmund in the first English Ring, conducted by the great Hans Richter at Covent Garden, where he sang regularly until 1924. One of the leading tenors of his time, he featured prominently in Beecham’s British National Opera Company, and created the role of Sali in Delius’s A Village Romeo and Juliet.

Fifty years on, and little had changed, except that the Festival had moved from the old Drill Hall behind Dragon Street to the purpose-built Town Hall. Mabel Causton, who had conducted the Petersfield Choir in 1904, was still there, now in charge of the Sheet Choir. Eleven schools took part in the Children’s Concert, the eleven mixed choirs were still divided into two classes and an extra day was added for the thirteen Women’s Choirs. The competitive spirit still reigned, so there were no full length choral works such as we enjoy today. Part of every concert had to be devoted to pieces like Oyez! Has any found a lad? by Thomas Tomkins, or There were three jolly Welshmen, by Geoffrey Sampson. The Division Two Choirs sang Bach’s Ascension Oratorio and Vaughan Williams’s Hundredth Psalm, whilst Sir George Dyson conducted the Division Three Choirs in his own In honour of the City. By a strange coincidence, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia featured once again.

On the Ladies’ Night a great favourite made her last appearance at the Festival. For twenty-five years Isobel Baillie had been one of England’s most sought-after sopranos, her silvery voice adding an angelic purity to everything she sang. She first appeared in the Festival of 1932 and there must be many still alive, and possibly some still singing, who have vivid memories of her. On this occasion took part in Cedric Thorpe-Davie’s Cantata By the River. Other soloists during the week were Wilfred Brown and Julian Smith, both of whom graced the Festival for many years, and the distinguished pianist Maria Donska. The Orchestra was led by Kenneth Skeaping, who first played in the Festival Orchestra in 1922 under Sir Adrian Boult.

The soloist at the Children’s Concert was a young guitarist called Julian Bream, then aged twenty, and already an established soloist. He went on to be one of the world’s leading virtuosi, and returned to give a memorable solo recital at the Festival of 1998, forty-five years after his first appearance here.

Things change slowly in Petersfield, but today’s Festival is very different from those I have described. Competitions died out during the 1970s, so more full-length works could be performed. Monteverdi’s Vespers or Elgar’s The Kingdom would never have been dreamt of fifty years ago, let alone Tippett’s A Child of Our Time. We may not be able to afford established soloists like Elsie Morrison, Jennifer Vyvyan or Nancy Evans nowadays, but many distinguished young singers have appeared in Petersfield at the outset of their careers: Lesley Garrett, Mark Padmore, John-Mark Ainsley and Gerald Finley, all now international stars, and more recently, the shining young soprano, Carolyn Sampson.

Tom Muckley, February 2004

This article was originally published by the Petersfield Post

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