Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Newberry-Oscott Partbooks

(US-Cn Case VM. 1578 M91 and GB-SC). See Sources, MS, §IX, 9.

New Caledonia.

See Melanesia, §VI.

Newcastle, Duke of.

See Cavendish, william.

Newcastle upon Tyne.

English city in Tyne and Wear. The formation in 1961 of the Northern Sinfonia, the first permanent chamber orchestra in Britain, and the related creation of an independent regional arts association, Northern Arts, has given professional music in the city even greater significance than it had in the time of Charles Avison in the 18th century and W.G. Whittaker in the early 20th century. The vigorous cultivation of amateur and popular music has centred on the literature and lore of the Northumbrian small pipes, Tyneside folksong, competitive festivals and highly accomplished male-voice choirs and brass bands. The latest performance of a mystery play took place in Newcastle in 1599 and the Town Waits Band survived until 1793.

St Nicholas’s (14th century), the cathedral since 1882, has often been used for concerts; its most famous organist was Avison (appointed 1736). St Thomas’s, built by Dobson in 1825, is used for organ recitals and broadcasts. Opera is given in the Theatre Royal in Grey Street (1837), now owned by the corporation. It is visited by leading opera companies, including Glyndebourne, and the productions of locally based organizations such as Northern Opera are staged there. The refurbished Tyne Theatre (1867) retains its original stage machinery. Various 18th-century rooms were at one time used for music, including the Old Assembly Rooms, which were built in 1774 and still exist. Avison launched his fortnightly winter subscription concerts in 1735; these flourished until his death in 1770 and introduced much unfamiliar music to Newcastle, including Scarlatti sonatas and works by Rameau and Avison's friend and colleague Geminiani. William Herschel also led a weekly concert ‘in a garden after the style of Vauxhall’ in the 1760s. The City Hall (1929) provides the largest capacity (over 2000) for musical events but smaller concerts are given in the King’s Hall (1904) and in the university theatre (1970), both seating about 500.

The Newcastle SO (professional and amateur, often conducted by visiting celebrities) and the Newcastle PO (staff and students of the Newcastle Conservatory) flourished before 1939. Attempts to establish a resident professional orchestra were unsuccessful until 1958, when the enterprise of Michael Hall (then a music student), with strong local support, led to the formation of the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra; it began in 1961 with 19 players and soon expanded. Its principals perform regularly as concerto soloists, chamber works are included in their programmes and ensembles drawn from the orchestra give recitals of chamber music. New works have been commissioned and soloists of international standing play with the orchestra. Concerts are given in the north as well as in other parts of Britain (including London) and overseas. The Northern Sinfonia Chorus was founded in 1973. Among the Northern Sinfonia's artistic directors have been Tamás Vásáry (1979–82), Richard Hickox (1982–90) and Heinrich Schiff (1990– ).

In 1880 well-known local families and business men founded the Chamber Music Society to promote recitals; it is perhaps the oldest such society in Britain.

The Newcastle and Gateshead Choral Union (founded in 1888, and under its present title since 1896) was first conducted by the organ virtuoso James Preston. Later, many fine musicians including Hans Richter, Parry and Vaughan Williams conducted it, and Henry Coward was chorus master. W.G. Whittaker, also one of its prominent conductors, made a remarkable musical impact on his native city before moving to Glasgow in 1927. He founded the Newcastle upon Tyne Bach Choir Society, linked it with Armstrong College (now the university) and created a reputation in England and abroad for pioneering revivals of earlier English music. His friendship with composers like Holst and Bax and his scholarly advocacy of Bach gave his programmes distinction.

Festivals in the late 18th century (mostly Handelian) were conducted by the organist Matthias Hawdon, with singers from Lancashire and Durham Cathedral. In 1909 Busoni and Bantock conducted festival performances of their own works in the Old Town Hall and the Palace Theatre. An annual Newcastle Festival was established in the 1960s.

Although Newcastle University was part of Durham University until 1962 there was always a separate department of music in Newcastle. Successive directors from C.S. Terry to Chalmers Burns vigorously encouraged the study and performance of important works. A chair of music was established in 1971; the first professor was Denis Matthews. In recent years the university music department has been greatly enlarged, and now supports a large orchestra and choir, a comprehensive lunchtime concert series, early music groups and an electronic music studio. The Conservatoire of Music in Jesmond was active from 1897 to 1938; its most successful principal was Edgar Bainton (1912–33), who had a staff of prominent local and visiting teachers and performers, including Arthur Milner and Carl Fuchs. In 1964 a school of music was founded which rapidly expanded as part of the College of Further Education.

A number of scores of works by William Shield (who was born near the city but worked elsewhere), and works by Avison and other local composers, are in an important collection of music begun in 1913 by the Literary and Philosophical Society. These are housed in the city public library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

R.J. Charleton: A History of Newcastle upon Tyne (London, 1885)

S. Middlebrook: Newcastle upon Tyne: its Growth and Achievement (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1950, 2/1968)

P. Lovell: ‘The Musicians’, Bicentenary Lectures of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne (1993), 124–45

PERCY LOVELL