Editing Thomas Beecham (section)

===London Philharmonic===
After his absence, Beecham first reappeared on the rostrum conducting the Hallé in Manchester in March 1923, in a programme including works by [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]], [[Georges Bizet|Bizet]], Delius and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]].<ref>[[Samuel Langford|Langford, Samuel]]. "The Hallé Concerts: Sir Thomas Beecham's Return", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 16 March 1923, p.18</ref>  He returned to London the following month, conducting the combined Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (the renamed New Symphony Orchestra) and London Symphony Orchestra in April 1923. The main work on the programme was Richard Strauss's ''[[Ein Heldenleben]]''.<ref>"Albert Hall Concert: Sir Thomas Beecham's Return", ''The Times'', 9 April 1923, p. 10</ref>  No longer with an orchestra of his own, Beecham established a relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra that lasted for the rest of the 1920s. Towards the end of the decade, he negotiated inconclusively with the BBC over the possibility of establishing a permanent radio orchestra.<ref>Kennedy (1971), p. 138</ref>

In 1931, Beecham was approached by the rising young conductor [[Malcolm Sargent]] with a proposal to set up a permanent, salaried orchestra with a subsidy guaranteed by Sargent's patrons, the Courtauld family.<ref>Aldous, p. 68</ref> Originally Sargent and Beecham envisaged a reshuffled version of the London Symphony Orchestra, but the LSO, a self-governing co-operative, balked at weeding out and replacing underperforming players. In 1932 Beecham lost patience and agreed with Sargent to set up a new orchestra from scratch.<ref>Reid, p. 202</ref> The [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]] (LPO), as it was named, consisted of 106 players including a few young musicians straight from music college, many established players from provincial orchestras, and 17 of the LSO's leading members.<ref>Morrison, p. 79</ref> The principals included [[Paul Beard (violinist)|Paul Beard]], George Stratton, [[Anthony Pini]], [[Gerald Jackson]], [[Léon Goossens]], [[Reginald Kell]], James Bradshaw and [[Marie Goossens]].<ref>Russell, p. 135</ref>

[[File:Opening-concert-Queen's-Hall.jpg|thumb|left|alt=interior of nineteenth century concert hall, with audience in place|250px|The [[Queen's Hall]], the London Philharmonic's first home]]
The orchestra made its debut at the Queen's Hall on 7 October 1932, conducted by Beecham. After the first item, Berlioz's ''[[Overtures by Hector Berlioz#Le carnaval romain|Roman Carnival Overture]]'', the audience went wild, some of them standing on their seats to clap and shout.<ref>Russell, p. 18</ref> During the next eight years, the LPO appeared nearly a hundred times at the Queen's Hall for the Royal Philharmonic Society alone, played for Beecham's opera seasons at Covent Garden, and made more than 300 gramophone records.<ref name=jefferson89>Jefferson, p. 89</ref> [[Berta Geissmar]], his secretary from 1936, wrote, "The relations between the Orchestra and Sir Thomas were always easy and cordial. He always treated a rehearsal as a joint undertaking with the Orchestra.{{space}}… The musicians were entirely unselfconscious with him. Instinctively they accorded him the artistic authority which he did not expressly claim. Thus he obtained the best from them and they gave it without reserve."<ref>Geissmar, p. 267</ref>

By the early 1930s, Beecham had secured substantial control of the Covent Garden opera seasons.<ref>Jefferson, p. 171</ref> Wishing to concentrate on music-making rather than management, he assumed the role of artistic director, and [[Geoffrey Toye]] was recruited as managing director. In 1933, ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'' with [[Frida Leider]] and [[Lauritz Melchior]] was a success, and the season continued with the ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen|Ring]]'' cycle and nine other operas.<ref>Jefferson, p. 170</ref> The 1934 season featured [[Conchita Supervía]] in ''[[La Cenerentola]],'' and [[Lotte Lehmann]] and [[Alexander Kipnis]] in the ''Ring''.<ref>Jefferson, p. 173</ref> [[Clemens Krauss]] conducted the British première of Strauss's ''[[Arabella]]''. During 1933 and 1934, Beecham repelled attempts by [[John Christie (opera manager)|John Christie]] to form a link between Christie's new [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne Festival]] and the Royal Opera House.<ref>Jefferson, p. 172</ref> Beecham and Toye fell out over the latter's insistence on bringing in a popular film star, [[Grace Moore]], to sing Mimi in ''[[La bohème]]''. The production was a box-office success, but an artistic failure.<ref>Jefferson, p. 175</ref> Beecham manoeuvred Toye out of the managing directorship in what their fellow conductor [[Adrian Boult|Sir Adrian Boult]] described as an "absolutely beastly" manner.<ref>Kennedy (1989), p. 174</ref>

From 1935 to 1939, Beecham, now in sole control, presented international seasons with eminent guest singers and conductors.<ref>Jefferson, pp. 178–190</ref> Beecham conducted between a third and half of the performances each season. He intended the 1940 season to include the first complete performances of Berlioz's ''[[Les Troyens]]'', but the outbreak of the Second World War caused the season to be abandoned. Beecham did not conduct again at Covent Garden until 1951, and by then it was no longer under his control.<ref>Jefferson, pp. 178–190 and 197</ref>
[[File:Hitler-Beecham-fake-press-photo.jpg|thumb|Fake photograph in Nazi press supposedly showing Beecham (right) in [[Adolf Hitler]]'s box during the 1936 LPO tour of Germany<ref>Jefferson, p. 194</ref>|alt=blurred and doctored press photograph showing a group in a box in a concert hall]]
Beecham took the London Philharmonic on a controversial tour of Germany in 1936.<ref>Russell, p. 39</ref> There were complaints that he was being used by [[Nazi]] propagandists, and Beecham complied with a Nazi request not to play the ''Scottish'' Symphony of [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], who was a Christian by faith but a Jew by birth.{{refn|According to the biographer John Lucas, Beecham had intended to insist on including the Mendelssohn symphony, but was dissuaded by his assistant, Berta Geissmar, a Jewish refugee from the Nazis.<ref>Lucas, p. 231</ref> Geissmar herself says that she simply passed on a message from the German foreign minister, and the decision was Beecham's.<ref>Geissmar p. 233</ref> Throughout the tour, the orchestra flouted the custom of playing the Nazi anthem before concerts.<ref>Russell, p. 42</ref>|group= n}} In Berlin, Beecham's concert was attended by [[Adolf Hitler]], whose lack of punctuality caused Beecham to remark very audibly, "The old bugger's late."<ref>Lucas, p. 232</ref> After this tour, Beecham refused renewed invitations to give concerts in Germany,<ref>Reid, pp. 217–218</ref> although he honoured contractual commitments to conduct at the [[Berlin State Opera]], in 1937 and 1938, and recorded ''The Magic Flute'' for [[EMI Records|EMI]] in the Beethovensaal in Berlin in the same years.<ref>Jefferson, pp. 214–215</ref>

As his sixtieth birthday approached, Beecham was advised by his doctors to take a year's complete break from music, and he planned to go abroad to rest in a warm climate.<ref name=Lucas239>Lucas, p. 239</ref> The [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|Australian Broadcasting Commission]] had been seeking for several years to get him to conduct in Australia.<ref name=Lucas239/> The outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 obliged him to postpone his plans for several months, striving instead to secure the future of the London Philharmonic, whose financial guarantees had been withdrawn by its backers when war was declared.<ref name=reid218>Reid, p. 218</ref> Before leaving, Beecham raised large sums of money for the orchestra and helped its members to form themselves into a self-governing company.<ref>Lucas, p. 240</ref>