'Cultural Value and Artistic Importance' - Orchestras Potentially in Line for Tax Break

By Chris Billingham 

I’ve got to admit, I don’t usually pay a lot of attention to the Autumn Statement. I know I should, I know it’s important and I also know they even use words like ‘Beer Tax’ but the reality is it doesn’t usually grab my attention. However this week’s announcement caught my eye. I wasn’t alone either; a number of Orchestra or Classical Music related social media accounts and people I know had a lot to say about Wednesday’s speech from The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. 

The bit that caught people’s attention was: 

“The government is committed to supporting the creative industries so they continue to thrive in the UK. This government has introduced tax relief for high-end television programmes, animation, video games and theatre productions and has expanded the successful tax relief scheme for films. Building on this, the government will introduce a new tax relief for children’s television programmes from April 2015. The government will also launch a formal consultation in early 2015 about introducing a new tax relief for orchestras from April 2016, in recognition of their cultural value and artistic importance”. 

The fact that Orchestras and potential tax reliefs were specifically mentioned is a positive sign that the financial situation for Orchestras may be about to improve. When discussing this with a friend not connected in any way to the classical music world, the first question they understandably asked was “is the situation that bad for your industry?” Keith Motson, an executive at the Association of British Orchestras has helped clarify the situation by pointing out that "Orchestras earn well over 50% of their income from other sources so the chancellor’s commitment to tax relief can boost orchestras’ entrepreneurial efforts". He also explained “"British orchestras play more than 3,500 concerts a year to more than 4.5 million people. But they are facing one of the toughest periods in their history with cuts in public and, in particular, local authority funding”.

Researching into the subject, it does seem odd to me that Orchestras were not considered back in March when Osborne confirmed tax breaks of at least 20 per cent for commercial productions and regional touring companies, benefiting opera and dance organisations as well as plays, musicals and theatre groups. As previously explained my knowledge on the subject is not particularly wide but it seems unfair to differentiate between art forms and the financial advantages each one can have. Whilst it is fantastic that this consultation will take place next year, why is it that Orchestras aren’t paired with the “high-end television programmes, animation, video games and theatre productions” and “films” that already have various tax relief schemes. I suppose that is quite a naïve attitude, lines have to be drawn somewhere and the reality is if all forms of art were viewed by the government in the same way there wouldn’t be opportunities for tax breaks for anyone. However from the romantic viewpoint of someone that loves creativity it does seem a shame that imagination and art has to be judged and labelled in this way.  

 

Speaking of creativity and moving us firmly away from financing music and into the more comfortable territory of playing it, Southern Sinfonia have a number of exciting concerts on the horizon. On the 9^th December we join forces with the Windsor and Eton Choral Society for a performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt at baroque pitch on ‘period’ instruments. After this we change locations to the candle-lit Old Royal Naval College, but stay with Handel and play his Messiah with the ORNC Chapel Choir on the 17^th December. To find out more about these concerts and next years events please click here for the What’s On section of our website. 

You can also find out more about Southern Sinfonia by visiting our main website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

By Julia Hudson 

With Christmas around the corner, we’ve been travelling all over the South of England with performances of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus and much more. We’ve been carol singing, shopping and consuming a healthy amount of mulled wine (although this year I highly recommend mulled cider as an alternative…). Caught up in the whirl of present-buying, tree decorating and social gatherings, and with every politician’s Christmas card portraying themselves, rather than remembering why they’re sending them in the first place, music fortunately gives us a moment to sit and reflect on what Christmas is all about, whatever your religious leanings or otherwise.

 

I have been particularly busy this year carol singing at various venues around London and Berkshire, and have been amazed by the welcome and response we have received. When else would you see five men propping up a bar, joining in with “O TIDINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY” at the tops of their voices? The traditional format of Nine Lessons and Carols, seen everywhere from parish churches to cathedrals, to me embodies the spirit of Christmas. To this end, I’ve been conducting a wonderfully enthusiastic and well-meaning church choir in Wiltshire, my family’s home, whose sole annual performance is at the carol service. After a surprisingly encouraging rendition of Rutter’s ‘What Sweeter Music’ last weekend, I discovered that a few key members have been holding additional rehearsals up to four times a week – if that isn’t the Christmas spirit, I don’t know what is.

Attending a particularly lovely Southern Sinfonia performance last week of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, with the Windsor and Eton Choral Society in Eton’s beautiful school hall, I felt this again. Not as conventional or as well-known as Handel’s Messiah or the classic Christmas carols, the audience still felt drawn together and unified by the story; with no need for a programme, “there were shepherds in the fields” immediately signposts you (like a star, perhaps), familiarising yourself with the story while allowing you to explore the new music.

Finally, since this wouldn’t be a blog post without giving you a comprehensive account of my free time, my choir spent a day recently at a school which was running a carol composition competition. We sang through all the entries (much fantastically joyous sightreading…) voted for our winners and performed them in a concert at the end of the day. With an age range of 10-18, the standard was wonderfully high – I certainly wasn’t composing for four-part double choir in Latin, aged 10, though you may have been – and there was a huge variety of styles. A few of the younger children focussed on more obvious aspects of the Christmas tradition “Best of all, are the presents underneath [the tree]”, but what struck me even amongst these young musicians was the overriding sense of thoughtfulness and spirituality which pervaded the majority of the pieces. In styles reminiscent of Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre and Bob Chilcott, the tuneful shapes woven by the students created dreamy and pensive musical pictures.

So, as I depart for a few days of Christmassy cheer, let me leave you with some advice for a thoughtful musical moment in your festive celebrations:

• Try and spare time to watch Carols from King’s. Christmas Eve, 6.15pm. An hour and a bit of stunning Christmas music, which I was lucky enough to attend one year. Perfection.

• Seek out the following carols: Howells ‘A Spotless Rose’, Cornelius ‘The Three Kings’, Tavener ‘God is With Us’, Tchaikovsky ‘Crown of Thorns’. My highly subjective shortlist of gorgeous choral music.

• Purchase those lovely crackers which have a whistle as the gift. Find seven friends and a handy conductor. Good luck!

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From Katzenjammers to Eton – where could classical music take your weekend?

By Julia Hudson

I have just joined a new choir. Based in St Gabriel’s, Pimlico, they are a relatively new chamber choir made up of ex-choral scholars in their twenties, and, pleasingly, appear as fond of riotous nights out as they are of singing. Two weeks ago, after just one rehearsal, we sang a stunning Evensong at the beautiful Southwark Cathedral, followed by an evening of much merriment at Katzenjammers, a German beer hall in London Bridge. While I’m sure my weekend activities are of infinite fascination to you, this also illustrates very succinctly a crucial point about classical music-making. There are, I imagine, very few hobbies where in one week a group of people largely unknown to one another could come together both socially and musically with such resounding success. What is it about making music that has this effect? In my view, it is the discipline required, where every musician is concentrating wholeheartedly on each other and on the conductor, responding to every gesture seen and nuance heard, combined with the satisfaction generated by a really excellent outcome. No choral piece or orchestral work could be executed by one person, however great their talent. Yes, the same can be said for a sports team, but I think music has the edge because their efforts result in a performance for the benefit of others, rather than an introspective battle between two teams.     

Continuing on the theme of my weekend pursuits, last Saturday I travelled with the rest of the Southern Sinfonia team to Eton College, where we were performing with the Windsor and Eton Choral Society. The programme was the stuff of dreams, featuring the Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs, Poulenc Gloria, Ravel Mother Goose Suite, and the unspeakably beautiful Bernstein Chichester Psalms, which latter I haven’t been able to stop listening to since hearing them live at the Last Night (even better, without the Government restrictions suffered by the Proms the wonderful Alex Banwell sang the treble solo). With an orchestra of 60 players and Alexander Hohenthal leading brilliantly, the blend and cohesive nature of the sound, as well as its sheer quality, was remarked on by many of my neighbours in the audience.

So much of the music Southern Sinfonia perform is sacred music; choral society repertoire tends to be made up of the classics, Handel’s ‘Messiah’, Bach St John Passion, and the Verdi Requiem, to name a few. Church, more specifically cathedral, music in the UK is a tradition which is very special; although there are fine choirs internationally, such as the Vienna Boys’ Choir, we are the only country which has the culture of cathedral schools and celebrates trebles (young, male, unbroken voices) to such an extent. As a result, much of our music has been written for this all-male setup (trebles, male altos (countertenors), tenors and basses). In very recent years, cathedrals all over the UK have been introducing girls’ choirs to complement and reduce some of the daily service workload for the boy trebles, as Canterbury Cathedral announced on Wednesday. Like many of our orchestral players, these children are steeped in musicianship from their youngest years. In my view, this involvement in music is invaluable; it gives a sense of being part of a greater whole, pride in what they do and a discipline and conscientiousness which stands them in good stead in later years. This week, The Independent featured research from the University of St Andrews, which highlighted “musicians’ improved reaction times and their increased capacity to “inhibit task irrelevant information” (aka, to stay focused). “[The results] suggest that higher levels of musical training might result in more efficient information processing in general (indicated by faster overall speed across tasks without accuracy tradeoff), and confirms earlier reports indicating a positive link between mental speed and musical ability,” says Dr Jentzsch.”

In a country where the educational system is constantly under scrutiny and criticism, and social behaviour of the young being questioned, surely this should be embraced, rather than sidelined; as Jentszch says, “in times of economic hardship, funds for music education are often amongst the first to be cut.” And, as well as giving you second-to-none skills of concentration and wonderful memories of beautiful buildings, once your voice has broken and you’ve hit your twenties you’ll still have people to socialise with.

Are you doing anything this weekend that relates to classical music? To let us know, comment below or join in the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

On Friday 18th October, Southern Sinfonia is celebrating Brahms and Britten in Newbury’s beautiful St. Nicolas Church with our concert ‘The romance of Brahms meets Britain's Britten’. To find out more and purchase tickets to this wonderful event, click here.

To see more beautiful images of our concert this weekend, visit our brand new instagram page. You can also find out more about Southern Sinfonia on our website.

Getting to know...Richard Strauss

Strauss (left) with his father (right)

11 June 1864 – Richard Georg Strauss was born in Munich, Germany. The son of Franz Strauss, principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich, Richard Strauss would receive a comprehensive musical education from his father and would write his first composition at the age of six.
 

 

Richard Wagner

1874 - Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. The influence of Wagner's music on Strauss would be exceptionally important, but it was not until the age of 16 that Strauss was able to obtain a score of Tristan und Isolde due to his father’s extreme suspicion of Wagner’s work. 

Hans von Bülow

1882 - Strauss entered Munich University, where he studied Philosophy and Art History, but left a year later to go to Berlin, where he secured a post as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow. Much of the style of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn can be observed in Strauss' compositions from this time and his Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11 is a staple of modern horn repertoire.
 

Alexander Ritter

1885 - Strauss' style began to truly develop and change when he met Alexander Ritter, a noted composer and violinist. It was Ritter who persuaded Strauss to abandon the conservative style of his youth, and begin writing tone poems, resulting in the creation of works such as Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and Don Quixote.
 

Pauline de Ahna

10 September 1894 - Richard Strauss married soprano Pauline de Ahna, who would be an enduring source of inspiration for him. Throughout his life, from his earliest songs to the final Four Last Songs, he preferred the soprano voice to all others, and all his operas contain important soprano roles. The Strausses had one son, Franz, in 1897.
 

Richard Strauss

End of 19th Century - Strauss turned his attention to opera. His first two attempts in the genre, Guntram (1894) and Feuersnot (1901), were controversial works: Guntram was the first significant critical failure of Strauss's career, and Feuersnot was considered obscene by some critics.

Illustration of Salome by Aubrey Beardsley

In 1905, Strauss produced Salome, an opera based on the play by Oscar Wilde. The premiere was a major success, with the artists taking more than 38 curtain calls and being described by Mahler as "a live volcano, a subterranean fire".
 

Strauss with his grandchildren

March 1933 - Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power. Strauss never joined the Nazi party. However, in order to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and Jewish grandchildren and in the hope that he would be be able to help promote German art and culture, he was initially drawn into cooperating with the early Nazi regime and accepted the position of president of the Reichsmusikkammer.
 

 

Stefan Zweig

1935 – Strauss’ comic opera, Die schweigsame Frau, which he had composed with his Jewish friend and librettist Stefan Zweig was premiered in Dresden, with Strauss insisting that Zweig's name appear on the theatrical billing. As a result, Goebbels did not attend as planned, the opera was banned after just three performances  and Strauss was sacked from his position in the Reichsmusikkammer.

Dresden after the Allied bombings

1945 - Strauss completed the composition of Metamorphosen, a work for 23 solo strings. Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the string repertoire, Metamorphosen contains Strauss's greatest expression of tragic emotion. Written during the darkest days of WW2, Metamorphosen articulates Strauss's mourning of, among other things, the destruction of German culture — including the bombing of every great opera house in the nation.

Richard Strauss by Max Liebermann

1948 - Strauss wrote his last work, the profound and haunting Four Last Songs for soprano and orchestra.
 

8 September 1949 - Richard Strauss died at the age of 85 on 8 September 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Southern Sinfonia performs Strauss' Four Last Songs with Windsor & Eton Choral Society on Tuesday 11 December at Eton College School Hall. For more information please visit our website.