Wagner who was, at the time in poverty, ekeing out an existence, by means of drudgery that is painful to think of.
Among the many friendships that Sir Charles made there was one, in particular, that he greatly prized, and which was destined to last a life-time—that of Stephen Heller, perhaps the most popular writer for the piano known to lady amateur pianists, at least of the past generation.
Soon after arriving in England, Sir Charles Hallé settled in Manchester, where the large German colony resident there at once rallied to him. He, immediately, commenced a series of chamber concerts, on the same lines as those he had established so successfully in Paris; the subscriptions were eagerly taken up by his compatriots, and it was not long before they were firmly established on a financial basis; and this, together with the teaching connection that he speedily gained, proved sufficient to relieve him of any financial anxiety.
These things, however satisfactory, by no means satisfied either his ambitions or his energies, which were prodigious.
He gave pianoforte recitals in London, Manchester and Bath—in which city he once thought of taking a house—which soon became regular institutions.
It was not long before he organised a permanent orchestra in Manchester, to be followed, so soon as it was on a firm basis, by a permanent choir.
Thus were started the "Manchester concerts,"
later to become known, and widely celebrated, as the "Hallé concerts."
It would be difficult to over-estimate the services that Sir Charles Hallé rendered to England, through this medium alone. As year followed year, so did one masterpiece after another find its way to Manchester, to meet the reception that only these northern enthusiasts know how to accord. To them, whether it were the work of a modern master, or a hitherto unknown work of Handel, the result was ever the same, granted that it touched their highly emotional sensibilities.
The firm establishment of this great and justly celebrated institution, was the act of his life that was fraught with the most lasting consequences, and the one that will, in all probability, live longest in public memory.