Salomon knew how to do it. The last of the Toronto Summer Music concerts I attended was called “Hanover Square in 1801” – a reference to London’s Hanover Square Rooms, where leading European musicians appeared before fashionable audiences. And like the well-attended events that the impresario Johann Peter Salomon presented at the Hanover Square Rooms, this concert filled Walter Hall on Friday (August 6) evening almost to capacity.
The mix-and-match chamber program included a flute trio by Haydn (No. 1 in C major, Hob. IV: 1); a transcription of Haydn’s symphony No. 102 for seven musicians; and, finally, Beethoven’s Septet in E Flat Major. It was, in short, the kind of concert where “a good time was had by all” – refined, sophisticated and entirely proper. (We can overlook a confused hornist, who momentarily lost track of which movement in the Beethoven Septet was to be played next.)
The mix-and-match chamber program included a flute trio by Haydn (No. 1 in C major, Hob. IV: 1); a transcription of Haydn’s symphony No. 102 for seven musicians; and, finally, Beethoven’s Septet in E Flat Major. It was, in short, the kind of concert where “a good time was had by all” – refined, sophisticated and entirely proper. (We can overlook a confused hornist, who momentarily lost track of which movement in the Beethoven Septet was to be played next.)
Indeed, the program led me to consider the special bond that has formed between TSM and its audiences over the years. Like the festival’s offerings, its audiences are also refined, sophisticated and entirely proper. Musically, these people are discerning and conservative. Demographically, they tend to be financially secure (to say the least), and many are in their retirement years.
Perhaps TSM should be congratulated for successfully cultivating such a close, like-minded relationship with its audiences. Indeed, the festival is a triumph of niche marketing – and Salomon, who mastered the art of attracting a specific audience to a specific kind of music in London more than 200 years ago, would be impressed.
Yet this cultural symbiosis has, I think, led to an inward-looking clubbiness at TSM that may not serve its long-term interests well. And with a regime change now underway – Douglas McNabney is vacating the artistic director’s chair for the incoming Jonathan Crow – next year’s festival might be a good opportunity for organizers to find ways to include more adventurous programming without compromising on quality, and to attract a more diverse audience without alienating its current patrons.
© Colin Eatock 2016
Perhaps TSM should be congratulated for successfully cultivating such a close, like-minded relationship with its audiences. Indeed, the festival is a triumph of niche marketing – and Salomon, who mastered the art of attracting a specific audience to a specific kind of music in London more than 200 years ago, would be impressed.
Yet this cultural symbiosis has, I think, led to an inward-looking clubbiness at TSM that may not serve its long-term interests well. And with a regime change now underway – Douglas McNabney is vacating the artistic director’s chair for the incoming Jonathan Crow – next year’s festival might be a good opportunity for organizers to find ways to include more adventurous programming without compromising on quality, and to attract a more diverse audience without alienating its current patrons.
© Colin Eatock 2016
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