Editing Henry Wood (section)

===Early 20th century===
[[File:Wood-1908.jpg|thumb|300px|right|alt=bearded man in evening dress seen from his left, conducting an orchestra and making a dramatic gesture, holding the baton high over his head|Wood in 1908 – painting by [[Cyrus Cuneo]]]]

The promenade concerts flourished through the 1890s, but in 1902 Newman, who had been investing unwisely in theatrical presentations, found himself unable to bear the financial responsibility for the Queen's Hall Orchestra and was declared bankrupt. The concerts were rescued by the musical benefactor [[Edgar Speyer|Sir Edgar Speyer]], a banker of German origin. Speyer put up the necessary funds, retained Newman as manager of the concerts, and encouraged him and Wood to continue with their project of improving the public's taste.<ref>Cox, pp. 42–43</ref> At the beginning of 1902, Wood accepted the conductorship of that year's [[Sheffield]] triennial festival. He continued to be associated with that festival until 1936, changing its emphasis from choral to orchestral pieces. A German critic, reviewing the festival for a Berlin publication, wrote, "Two personalities now represent a new epoch in English musical life – [[Edward Elgar]] as composer, and Henry J. Wood as conductor."<ref>Jacobs, p. 79, ''quoting'', Otto Lessman in ''Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung''</ref> 

Later that year, overtaxed by his enormous workload, Wood's health broke down. Even though this was during the Proms season, Cathcart insisted that Wood should have a complete break and change of scene. Leaving the leader of the orchestra, Arthur Payne, to conduct during his absence, Wood and his wife took a cruise to Morocco, missing the Proms concerts from 13 October to 8 November.<ref name=cox44>Cox, p. 44</ref>

In the early years of the Proms there were complaints in some musical journals that Wood was neglecting British music.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 62–63</ref> In 1899, Newman unsuccessfully attempted to secure for Wood the premiere of Elgar's ''[[Enigma Variations]]'',<ref>Jacobs, p. 43</ref> but in the same year Newman passed up the opportunity to introduce the music of [[Frederick Delius|Delius]] to London concertgoers.<ref>Jacobs, pp. 33–34</ref> By the end of the first decade of the new century, however, Wood's reputation in conducting British music was in no doubt; he gave the world, British or London premieres of more than a hundred British works between 1900 and 1910.<ref name=cox44/><ref name="jacobs441"/> Meanwhile, he introduced his audiences to many European composers. In the 1903 season, he programmed symphonies by [[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]] ([[Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)|No. 7]]), [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]] ([[Symphony No. 1 (Sibelius)|No. 1]]), and [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]] ([[Symphony No. 1 (Mahler)|No. 1]]). In the same year, he introduced several of Richard Strauss's tone poems to London, and in 1905 he gave Strauss's ''[[Symphonia Domestica]]''.  This prompted the composer to write, "I cannot leave London without an expression of admiration for the splendid Orchestra which Henry Wood's master hand has created in such a short time."<ref>Jacobs, p. 102</ref>

Creating the orchestra admired by Strauss had not been achieved without a struggle. In 1904, Wood and Newman tackled the deputy system, in which orchestral players, if offered a better-paid engagement, could send a substitute to a rehearsal or a concert. The treasurer of the Royal Philharmonic Society described it 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 shillings to stay away."<ref>Levien, John Mewburn, ''quoted'' in Reid (1961), p. 50</ref> After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with a sea of entirely unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came on the platform to announce: "Gentlemen, in future there will be no deputies; good morning."<ref>Morrison, p. 11</ref> Forty players resigned en bloc and formed their own orchestra: the [[London Symphony Orchestra]]. Wood bore no grudge and attended their first concert, although it was 12 years before he agreed to conduct the orchestra.<ref>Morrison, p. 24</ref>

Wood had great sympathy for rank-and-file orchestral players and strove for improvements in their pay.<ref>Wood, p. 101</ref> He sought to raise their status and was the first British conductor to insist that the orchestra should stand to acknowledge applause along with the conductor.<ref>Jacobs, p. 131</ref> He introduced women into the Queen's Hall Orchestra in 1913.<ref name=cox56>Cox, p. 56</ref> He said, "I do not like ladies playing the trombone or double bass, but they can play the violin, and they do."<ref>"Future of Music: Interview with Sir Henry Wood", ''[[The Observer]]'', 2 June 1918, p. 7</ref> By 1918 Wood had 14 women in his orchestra.<ref>"Sir Henry Wood Will Stay", ''The Musical Herald'', July 1918, p. 207</ref>

Wood conducted his own compositions and arrangements from time to time. He gave his ''Fantasia on Welsh Melodies'' and ''Fantasia on Scottish Melodies'' on successive nights in 1909. He composed the work for which he is most celebrated, ''[[Fantasia on British Sea Songs]]'', for a concert in 1905, celebrating the centenary of the [[Battle of Trafalgar]]. It caught the public fancy immediately, with its mixture of sea-shanties, together with [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s "See the Conquering Hero Comes" and [[Thomas Arne|Arne]]'s "Rule, Britannia!" He played it at the Proms more than 40 times, and it became a fixture at the "[[Last Night of the Proms]]", the lively concert marking the end of each season. It remained so under his successors, though often rearranged, notably by [[Malcolm Sargent|Sir Malcolm Sargent]].<ref>Cox, pp. 31–32; and Orga, pp. 78–80</ref>{{refn|In 2002 and 2003, the Fantasia was performed "with additional Songs arranged by [[John Wilson (conductor)|John Wilson]], Stephen Jackson (chorusmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra) and Percy Grainger";<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performance_find.shtml?work_id=32985&all=1&tab=search&sub_tab=work "Fantasia on British Sea Songs (with additional Songs arranged by John Wilson, Stephen Jackson and Percy Grainger)"], Proms Archive, BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2010.</ref> in 2004 "with additional Songs arranged by Stephen Jackson";<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performance_find.shtml?work_id=32862&all=1&tab=search&sub_tab=work "Fantasia on British Sea Songs (with additional Songs arranged by Stephen Jackson)"], Proms Archive, BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2010</ref> and in 2005, 2006 and 2007 with "extra Songs arranged by Bob Chilcott".<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/archive/search/performance_find.shtml?work_id=32793&all=1&tab=search&sub_tab=work "Fantasia on British Sea Songs (with additional Songs arranged by Bob Chilcott)"], Proms Archive, BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2010.</ref>|group= n}} A highlight of the Fantasia is the [[hornpipe]] ("Jack's the Lad"); Wood said of it:
<blockquote>
They stamp their feet in time to the hornpipe – that is until I whip up the orchestra to a fierce ''[[Tempo#Terms for change in tempo|accelerando]]'' which leaves behind all those whose stamping technique is not of the very finest quality. I like to win by two bars, if possible; but sometimes have to be content with a bar and a half. It is good fun, and I enjoy it as much as they.<ref name=wood192>Wood, p. 192</ref>
</blockquote>

[[File:LSO-Queen's-Hall.jpg|thumb|left|alt=interior of a Victorian concert hall, showing the orchestra and conductor on the platform|The London Symphony Orchestra at the Queen's Hall in 1911]]
Among Wood's other works was his ''Purcell Suite'', incorporating themes from [[Henry Purcell|Purcell]]'s stage works and string sonatas, which Wood performed at an orchestral festival in Zurich in 1921, and orchestral transcriptions of works by a range of composers from [[Isaac Albéniz|Albéniz]] to [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]].<ref>Jacobs, pp. 173 and 434–35</ref>

Wood worked with his wife for many concerts, and was her piano accompanist at her recitals. In 1906, at the [[Norwich]] music festival he presented Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Choral]] Symphony and [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]]'s ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'', with his wife among the singers.<ref>Jacobs, p. 111</ref> 

In December 1909, after a short illness, Olga Wood died.<ref>Jacobs, p. 116</ref> Cathcart took Wood away to take his mind off his loss.{{refn|In his memoirs, Wood does not say where or for how long.|group= n}} On his return, Wood resumed his professional routine, with the exception that, after Olga's death, he rarely performed as piano accompanist for anyone else; his skill in that art was greatly missed by the critics.<ref>Jacobs, p. 117; and Blom, Eric, "A Fauré Memorial Concert", ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', 10 June 1925, p. 12</ref> 

In June 1911, he married his secretary, Muriel Ellen Greatrex (1882–1967), with whom he had two daughters.<ref>Jacobs, p. 129</ref> In the same year he accepted a [[knight bachelor|knighthood]],<ref>Cox, p. 55</ref> and declined the conductorship of the [[New York Philharmonic Orchestra]] in succession to Mahler, as he felt it his duty to devote himself to the British public.<ref>Jacobs, p. 123</ref>

Throughout the early part of the century, Wood was influential in changing the habits of concertgoers. Until then it had been customary for audiences at symphony or choral concerts to applaud after each movement or section. Wood discouraged this, sometime by gesture and sometimes by specific request printed in programmes. For this he was much praised in the musical and national press.<ref>"Handel's Messiah and Applause", ''The Musical Times'', December 1902, p. 826; and Jacobs, p. 132</ref> In addition to his work at the Queen's Hall, Wood conducted at the Sheffield, Norwich, Birmingham, [[Wolverhampton]], and [[Westmorland]] festivals, and at orchestral concerts in [[Cardiff]], Manchester, [[Liverpool]], [[Leicester]] and [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]].<ref name=dnbarchive/> His programming was summarised in ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'', which listed the number of each composer's works played in the 1911 Proms season; the top ten were: Wagner (121); Beethoven (34); Tchaikovsky (30); [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] (28); [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]] (16); [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]] (16); J.S. Bach (14); [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]] (14); Elgar (14); and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]] (13).<ref>"The Autumn Music Festivals", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 8 August 1911, p. 10</ref>
[[File:Arnold Schönberg Richard Gerstl (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|alt=oil painting of head and shoulders of a bald man of early middle age looking at the artist|Schoenberg's music was hissed at the Proms in 1912.]]
The 1912 and 1913 Prom seasons are singled out by Cox as among the finest of this part of Wood's career. Among those conducting their own works or hearing Wood conduct them were Strauss, [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], [[Max Reger|Reger]], [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabin]], and [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]].<ref name=cox56/> [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]]'s ''[[Five Pieces for Orchestra]]'' also received its first performance (the composer not being present);<ref>Jacob, p. 137</ref> during rehearsals, Wood urged his players, "Stick to it, gentlemen! This is nothing to what you'll have to play in 25 years' time". The critic [[Ernest Newman]] wrote after the performance: "It is not often that an English audience hisses the music it does not like, but a good third of the people at Queen's Hall last Tuesday permitted themselves that luxury after the performance of the five orchestral pieces of Schoenberg. Another third of the audience was only not hissing because it was laughing, and the remaining third seemed too puzzled either to laugh or to hiss; so that on the whole it does not look as if Schoenberg has so far made many friends in London."<ref>Newman, Ernest, "The Case of Arnold Schoenberg", ''The Nation'', 7 September 1912, p. 830, ''quoted'' in Lambourn, David, "Henry Wood and Schoenberg", ''The Musical Times'', August 1987, pp. 422–427</ref> However, when Wood invited Schoenberg himself to conduct the work's second British performance, on 17 January 1914, the composer was so delighted with the result, more appreciatively received than had been the premiere, that he congratulated Wood and the orchestra warmly: "I must say it was the first time since Gustav Mahler that I heard such music played again as a musician of culture demands."<ref>Letter dated 23 January 1914, quoted in Lambourn, David, "Henry Wood and Schoenberg", ''The Musical Times'', August 1987, p. 426</ref>