Splendid, however, as was the work done, it cannot be said that the concerts ever touched the imagination of the English people as those of Richter did, nor can it be claimed for them that, as regards the people generally, they were in any sense epoch-making. They were too remote from the masses, and the necessary expenditure of time and money made the attendance of the middle-class Londoner a matter of superfluous luxury. Hence the number who were able to benefit by them was limited.
Of these, it will be willingly admitted, English composers were by far the most prominent.
If there were but few of their works that have been able to stand the test of time, the fault was not that of Manns, but simply, they died through lacking the essence of vitality. It
will, nevertheless, ever redound to his honour and to his happy memory, that if only a few of the English works he produced had sufficient vitality to live in these more strenuous days, he, at least, gave the prominent native composers a chance, and to his efforts many of them owe the position to which they have since attained, and English art has been enriched by works that otherwise would probably, have never seen the light.
The first object of Manns, however, when he had at length come into possession of the orchestra he had so sturdily striven for, was to perform and popularise classics that were then unknown, and to bring into existence a body of supporters of sufficient importance to justify the large expenditure involved. He would thus not only satisfy his directors, but carry out a work worthy of the earliest traditions of the Palace.
When he arrived in England the music of Schubert and Schumann was practically unknown. Here was a great opportunity, and with the aid of his friend, Sir George Grove, he took advantage of it, and literally played and preached them into such popularity, that their names soon became as familiar on concert programmes as that of Mendelssohn himself.
From whatever point of view one may look, it is certain that the name of August Manns will go down in the history of English music as one of its foremost champions.
German to the core himself (he only naturalised himself when he had lived here over forty
years), he had a natural broad-mindedness that gradually enabled him to see things somewhat from the point of view of the country that had sheltered him, and he did his best—and it was noble—for its interests as he comprehended them.
The next great pioneer of orchestral music that we shall deal with is the late Sir Charles Hallé.