HALLE, SIR CHARLES (originally KARL HALLE) (1819– 1895), English pianist and conductor, German by nationality, was born at Hagen, Westphalia, on April 11, 1819. He studied under Rink at Darmstadt in 1835, and in 1836 went to Paris, where for twelve years he mixed with Cherubini, Chopin, Liszt, Alfred de Musset, George Sand and other celebrities. He had started a set of chamber concerts with Alard and Franchomme, when the revolution of 1848 drove him from Paris, and he settled, with his wife and two children, in London. His pianoforte recitals, given at first from 1850 in his own house, and from 1861 in St. James's Hall, were for many years an important feature of London musical life. At the Musical Union founded by John Ella, and at the Popular Concerts from their beginning, Halle was a frequent performer, and from 1853 he was director of the Gentle men's Concerts in Manchester, where, in 1857, he started the famous Halle Concerts which have remained in existence since that time. In 1888 he married Madame Norman Neruda, the violinist. In the same year he was knighted; and in 1890 and 1891 he toured with his wife in Australia and elsewhere. He died at Manchester on Oct. 25, 1895. Throughout his career Halle was an influence of the first importance in English musical life and a consistent upholder of the highest musical ideals.
Lady Halle, in turn, was one of the finest violinists of her time, being the first woman player to hold her own with the greatest male executants, and for many years she shared the leadership of the famous Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts with Joachim. She was born at Briinn on March 21, 1839, and died in Berlin on April 15, 1911. Queen Alexandra gave her the title of "Violinist to the Queen."