Editing Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (section)

===Beecham's orchestra===
Beecham appointed [[Victor Olof]] as his orchestral manager, and they started recruiting. At the top of their list were leading musicians with whom Beecham had worked before the war. Four had been founder members of the LPO fifteen years previously: [[Reginald Kell]] (clarinet), [[Gerald Jackson]] (flute), James Bradshaw (timpani) and Jack Silvester (double-bass). From the current LPO they engaged the oboist Peter Newbury. Beecham persuaded the veteran bassoonist [[Archie Camden]], who had been pursuing a solo career, to return to orchestral work.<ref>Archie Camden. ''Blow by Blow: the memories of a musical rogue and vagabond'', Thames Publishing, London, 1982</ref> The cellos were led by Raymond Clark, enlisted from the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]]. The principal horn player was [[Dennis Brain]], who already held the same post in Legge's Philharmonia, but managed to play for both orchestras.<ref name=j99/> Jenkins speculates that as Beecham knew all Britain's orchestral [[Concertmaster|leaders]] at first hand he decided not to try to lure any of them away. His choice was John Pennington, who had been first violin of the [[London String Quartet]] from 1927 to 1934, and had then had a career in the US as concertmaster, successively, of the [[San Francisco Symphony]], [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]] and [[Paramount Pictures]] orchestras.<ref name=j99>Jenkins (2005), pp. 99–100</ref><ref>Lucas, p. 317</ref>

[[File:Sir-Thomas-Beecham-US-1948.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Beecham rehearsing in 1948]]
On 11 September 1946, the Royal Philharmonic assembled for its first rehearsal.<ref name=j99/> Four days later it gave its first concert, at the Davis Theatre, [[Croydon]].<ref>"Sir Thomas Beecham's New Orchestra", ''The Times'', 12 September 1946, p. 6</ref> Beecham telegraphed a colleague, "Press virtually unanimous in praise of orchestra. First Croydon concert huge success".<ref>Cardus et al, p 4</ref> Beecham and the orchestra played a series of out-of-town engagements before venturing a first London concert on 26 October. ''[[The Times]]'' then spoke of "a hall filled with golden tone which enveloped the listener".<ref>"Delius Festival", ''The Times'', 28 October 1946, p. 6</ref> Before its London debut the orchestra made its first recording and, within two years, had made more than 100.<ref name=potts8/>

Within a few months, Pennington was forced to resign when the British [[Musicians' Union (UK)|Musicians' Union]] discovered that he was not one of its members.<ref>Lucas, p. 319</ref>{{#tag:ref|At the time, union membership was compulsory for players in British orchestras.<ref>Orchestral Politics", ''The Times'', 26 August 1949, p. 8</ref>|group= n}} He was succeeded by his deputy Oscar Lampe, "a man who eschewed most social graces but played the violin divinely", according to Jenkins.<ref>Jenkins (2005), p. 100</ref> In the early days, the orchestra comprised 72 players, all on yearly contract to Beecham, giving him first call on their services, subject to reasonable notice, but not otherwise restricting their freedom to play for other ensembles.<ref name=potts8>Potts, p. 8</ref> A review of the London orchestral scene of the late 1940s said of the RPO and its main rival: "The Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic share a very serious disability: that neither is a permanently constituted orchestra. Both assemble and disperse more or less at random&nbsp;... there is no style which is distinctively RPO or Philharmonia."<ref>Hill, p. 214</ref>

Brain continued to play first horn for both orchestras; otherwise, from the early 1950s, there was generally more stability of orchestral personnel. {{anchor|RPO-royal-family}}In particular, the RPO became celebrated for its regular team of woodwind principals, in which Jackson was joined by [[Jack Brymer]] (clarinet), [[Gwydion Brooke]] (bassoon) and [[Terence MacDonagh]] (oboe).<ref>Jenkins (2000), p. 5</ref> ''[[The Independent]]'' described them as "arguably the finest ever wind section ... [they] became known as 'The Royal Family'."<ref>Melville-Mason, Graham. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gwydion-brooke-6148964.html "Gwydion Brooke – Bassoonist in Sir Thomas Beecham's 'Royal Family'"], ''The Independent'', 5 April 2005</ref>{{#tag:ref|Jackson left the orchestra in 1958 and was succeeded by [[Geoffrey Gilbert]], whom ''The Times'' called "the most influential British flautist of the twentieth century". The quartet of woodwind soloists continued to be generally known as "the Royal Family"<ref>"Geoffrey Gilbert", ''The Times'', 22 May 1989, p. 20</ref>|group= n}}

The RPO toured the United States in 1950, the first British orchestra to visit America since the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] (LSO) in 1912. This was a long-cherished plan of Beecham's, who had been unable to take the LPO to the US in the 1930s. He arranged 52 concerts in 45 cities in 64 days. The tour was described by Brain's biographers Gamble and Lynch as a huge success.<ref name=gamble/> It began on 13 October in [[Hartford, Connecticut]] and finished on 15 December in [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania]]. The concerto soloists were the pianist [[Betty Humby Beecham]] (the conductor's second wife) and orchestral principals: [[David McCallum, Sr.|David McCallum]] (violin), [[Anthony Pini]] (cello) and the four members of the "Royal Family".<ref name=gamble>Gamble and Lynch, p. 60</ref> In ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Olin Downes]] wrote of "magnificent music-making by Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic".<ref>Downes, Olin. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10B12F9395914728FDDAD0994DA415B8089F1D3 "Beecham Superb in Concert Here; Conducts Royal Philharmonic in Stirring Concert"], ''The New York Times'', 14 December 1950, p. 50 {{subscription required}}</ref> The following year, assessing all the London orchestras, [[Frank Howes]], music critic of ''The Times'', concluded that the RPO "comes nearest in quality and in consistency of style to the great international orchestras".<ref>Howes, Frank. "London Orchestras", ''The Times'', 8 June 1951, p. 6</ref>

The orchestra's first appearance at the [[the Proms|Proms]] took place in August 1952, conducted by [[Basil Cameron]].<ref>Cardus et al, p. 4</ref> Beecham made his Proms debut two years later, conducting the RPO in a programme of music by [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]], [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] and [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]]; ''The Times'' commented on "an evening of magnificent playing".<ref>"Promenade Concert – Sir Thomas Beecham's Début", ''The Times'', 6 September 1954, p. 9</ref> In 1957, Beecham and the RPO made a European tour, beginning at the [[Salle Pleyel]] in Paris and ending at the [[Musikverein]] in Vienna.<ref>Lucas, pp. 331–332</ref>

Beecham conducted the RPO in his last concert, given at [[Portsmouth Guildhall]] on 7 May 1960. The programme, all characteristic choices, comprised the ''[[Magic Flute]]'' Overture, Haydn's [[Symphony No. 100 (Haydn)|''Military'' Symphony]], Beecham's own [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] arrangement ''Love in Bath'', Schubert's [[Symphony No. 5 (Schubert)|Fifth Symphony]], ''On the River'' by [[Frederick Delius|Delius]], and the ''Bacchanale'' from [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]]'s ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'', with Delius's ''Sleigh Ride'' as an encore.<ref>Lucas, p. 338</ref> Beecham suffered a heart attack the following month, from which he did not recover; he died in March 1961.<ref>Lucas, p. 339</ref>