Editing London Symphony Orchestra (section)

===Background===
[[File:LSO-founders.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Clockwise from top left: [[Adolf Borsdorf]], Thomas Busby, John Solomon and Henri van der Meerschen, founding fathers of the LSO]]
At the turn of the twentieth century there were no permanent [[Salary|salaried]] orchestras in London. The main orchestras were those of [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]], the [[Royal Philharmonic Society|Philharmonic Society]] and the [[Queen's Hall]]; their proprietors engaged players individually for each concert or for a season. As there were competing demands for the services of the finest players it was an accepted practice that, even though under contract to play for a concert, a player was at liberty to accept a better-paid engagement if it were offered. He would then engage another player to deputise for him at the original concert and the rehearsals for it. The treasurer of the Philharmonic Society described the system thus: "A, whom you want, signs to play at your concert. He sends B (whom you don't mind) to the first rehearsal. B, without your knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play at the concert, C sends D, whom you would have paid five [[shilling]]s to stay away."<ref>Levien, John Mewburn, ''quoted'' in Reid, p. 50</ref> There was much competition for good orchestral players, with well-paid engagements offered by more than fifty [[music hall]]s, by pit bands in [[West End theatre|West End]] [[Edwardian musical comedy|musical comedies]], and by grand hotels and restaurants which maintained orchestras.<ref>Morrison, p. 12</ref>

In 1904, the manager of the Queen's Hall, [[Robert Newman (impresario)|Robert Newman]] and the conductor of his [[the Proms|promenade concerts]], [[Henry Wood]], agreed that they could no longer tolerate the deputy system. After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with dozens of unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came to the platform and announced: "Gentlemen, in future there will be ''no'' deputies! Good morning!"<ref>Wood, p. 212</ref> This caused a furore. Orchestral musicians were not highly paid, and removing their chances of better-paid engagements permitted by the deputy system was a serious financial blow to many of them.<ref name=mt>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/906448 "The London Symphony Orchestra"], ''[[The Musical Times]]'', Vol. 52, No. 825 (November 1911), pp. 705–707 {{subscription required}}</ref> While travelling by train to play under Wood at a music festival in the north of England in May 1904, soon after Newman's announcement, some of his leading players discussed the situation and agreed to try to form their own orchestra. The principal movers were three horn players ([[Adolf Borsdorf]], Thomas Busby, and Henri van der Meerschen) and a trumpeter, John Solomon.<ref name=mt/>