Thomas Beecham

Sir THOMAS BEECHAM was born in 1879 into a wealthy family, whose fortune was derived from proprietary medicines. He was educated at an English boarding school, where he was the only boy to be allowed a piano in his room, and then at Wadham College, Oxford, but he did not complete his studies there. He conducted the Hallé Orchestra in 1899 as a substitute for Hans Richter, on the occasion of his father’s accession to municipal office. He then studied privately with Moritz Moszkowski in Paris and with Charles Wood in London. He made his  opera conducting debut in 1902 with the Imperial Grand Opera Company, and later in 1906 was approached by some orchestral players to be the conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra in London, a relationship which was very successful. He formed the Beecham Symphony Orchestra in 1909 and the following year his father began to underwrite several highly significant seasons of grand opera in London with his son as the chief conductor. During World War I the Beecham fortune helped the Hallé and the London Symphony Orchestras to stay afloat as well as the Royal Philharmonic Society.  After the death of his father in 1916 Beecham’s financial support dried up and the early 1920s were a time of relative inactivity for him. However, the growth of broadcasting and the advent of electrical recording during the mid-1920s acted as a spur and in 1932 with the support of the newly formed EMI he founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra. With a solid annual programme of work, including opera at Covent Garden, and with Beecham at the helm, this orchestra set new standards for orchestral performance in the United Kingdom. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 was followed by the withdrawal of support from the Orchestra’s backers, and it became self-governing. Beecham left England and between 1940 and 1944 was active in North America, conducting principally in New York City and Seattle. After returning to England he set about forming another new orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO), in which once again the promise of income from gramophone recordings played a significant part. The Orchestra gave its first concert in 1946 and very soon achieved a very high standard of performance, confirmed by a triumphant tour of the USA in 1950. Throughout the 1950s Beecham was extremely busy in the concert hall and recording studio with the RPO, while also appearing as a guest conductor in the Americas. Towards the end of the decade he took up residence in France for tax purposes.