FESTIVALS, MUSICAL. In various forms musical fes tivals have been held for some centuries. No doubt the earliest examples owed their origin mainly to the difficulties of travel, which led the musicians in a wide area to concentrate their activ ities periodically at some convenient centre. Inevitably, too, such music-makings were connected with the Church, to which most musicians and performing bodies were attached.
Both custom and title seem to have originated in England, where the earliest gathering of the kind appears to have been the Fes tival of the Sons of the Clergy. Founded in 1655, with the object of assisting necessitous clergy and their dependents, this gather ing has been held annually in St. Paul's Cathedral, as one of the most important church-music events in London. The Three Choirs Festival dates from 17 24—perhaps a little earlier. That year, at all events, saw it first coming into prominence, with a perform ance at Gloucester of a cathedral service on an imposing scale with orchestral accompaniment. It owed its inception largely to the Rev. Thomas Bisse, Chancellor of Hereford and brother of the bishop of that diocese. The proceeds were given to a fund for the widows and orphans of the poorer clergy of the Hereford, Gloucester, and Worcester dioceses. The meetings were held in turn at each of the three cathedral towns, the cathedral organist at the chosen place conducting with his two colleagues assisting as pianist and organist. This practice was almost invariable, and is still maintained in a modified form, the conducting now being shared by visiting musicians of distinction. The festivals were discontinued during the World War, but resumed in 1920 with marked success. Other famous English festivals are the Birming ham (17 68 ; discontinued since 1914) ; Norwich (1824 in its pres ent Triennial form, but held at irregular intervals since 17 7 o) ; Leeds (1858, but not regularly established until about 20 years later) ; the Handel Commemoration (1784 in Westminster Abbey and The Pantheon, subsequently at the Abbey alone, until 1 791) ; and the Handel Festival (18S7, and triennially from 1862, at the Crystal Palace, with a break during the War period).
In Germany an early event of the kind was the series of elabo rate performances known as "Abendmusiken," which were started at the Marienkirche of Lubeck by Buxtehude in 1673. These con sisted of choral and orchestral works, interspersed with organ solos. They were held on the five Sundays in Advent, in connec tion with the evening services, and soon became famous, visitors being attracted from remote parts. (Bach, when a young organist at Arnstadt, spent one of his holidays in walking to Lubeck— about 23o English miles—in order to attend). The "Abend musiken" continued without break until well into the 19th cen tury. Present-day German and Austrian Festivals include the Lower-Rhine (founded about 1824, held alternately at Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Aix-la-Chapelle; its origin was a Thuringian Fes tival held at Erfurt in 181 1) ; the Middle-Rhine (Coblenz, May ence, etc.) ; the Tonkiinstler-Societat of Vienna (17 7 2) ; and Salz burg (1917) ; but summer festivals, devoted mainly to Mozart's operas, had been held there for some years previously; the 1922 festival led to the founding of the International Society for Con temporary Music (q.v.), which has now (1928) about 20 branches in various countries. In addition, many festivals have long been held in commemoration of individual composers—e.g., Bach at Eisenach and Leipzig; Beethoven at Bonn; Wagner at Bayreuth.
In America the earliest festivals were at Boston (1857) and Worcester (1858). In 1873 Theodore Thomas started the Cin cinnati Festival (biennial). The Ann Arbor Festival (University of Michigan) has been held since 1893. Specially notable is the Bethlehem Bach Festival, held at Bethlehem, Pa., founded by Frederick Wolle in 1900, and conducted by him. (The sequence was broken in 19o5–I1.) From about 190o dates the Norfolk, Conn., Festival; in 1 91 o that of Peterboro, N. H., came into being; and annually in early summer the North Shore Festival is held at Evanston, Ill. In 1917, Mrs. Coolidge began her munifi cent work on behalf of contemporary chamber music by founding the Berkshire Festival at Pittsfield, Mass., where the programmes are confined to chamber music, many important new works having been commissioned, or awarded prizes. The National Federation of Musical Clubs holds a biennial meeting and festival, and does much to promote smaller enterprises throughout the country.
The scope of the Competition Festival has lately been extended very considerably, and most of the larger type include, not only sections for practically every branch of musical performance, but also classes in folk-dancing, elocution, composition (musical and literary), and dramatic art. An idea of the social and musical importance of the festivals may be gathered from a few statistics in connection with some of the larger meetings held in 1926, the figures being taken from the Federation Year Book for 1927: Bedfordshire, entries, 2,063, number of competitors, 10,486; Glas gow, 1,735-14,532; Blackpool, 1,650-8,000; Birmingham, 1,238 —1I,500. These festivals occupy from 7 to 14 days. That of Glasgow, for example, lasts a fortnight, with three sessions daily, classes sometimes being held simultaneously in three halls.
The importance of the small local festivals, however, must not be overlooked. Often their educational value is even greater than that of mammoth gatherings at which the proceedings are some times too congested to permit of this side being fully developed. The small rural festival usually affords ample opportunity for de tailed adjudications, lectures and demonstrations, besides devel oping musical activities in places which would otherwise be more or less barren.
The movement has recently undergone some modifications, chiefly for good. Thus, money prizes and costly trophies are less in evidence, their places being taken by certificates. With this change of motive (from the tangible reward to the pleasure of making music for its own sake) has come an increasing tend ency to focus the activity of a festival on to an important work for chorus and orchestra. A frequent plan is to choose a choral work, the whole of which is studied by entrants for some months. the festival various numbers are used separately as test pieces in various classes (solo and choral), and the climax of the festival is reached with a performance of the complete work by all the competitors under the conductorship of one of the adjudicators. It is difficult to overestimate the value of this development, which gives some hundreds of musicians in a dis trict a practical and intimate knowledge of masterpieces that otherwise they might never even hear.
It will be gathered that much depends on the standing and equipment of those who undertake the important work of judg ing. Happily the roll contains the names of a large proportion of the most prominent musicians in the country. It is no uncommon thing to find at a large festival as many as a dozen singers, in strumentalists, conductors and teachers, of more than national reputation, engaged in this important work.
Thus well established, both in regard to organization and musi cianship, the Competition Festival has rapidly become one of the most potent factors in the social and artistic life of the country. (See also CHORAL SINGING.) (H. G.)