2 - Conducting the Philharmonic Societies of Liverpool and London (1867–1880s): Julius Benedict and William Cusins

Summary

There are some conductors who are cold and apathetic; some are mischievous and passionate; and I have known those who reduce all the tempos (allegros as well as adagios) to a sort of uniform moderato, insipid and characterless, without accent, whose monotony seems to be the flaccid pulsation of their own indifference … Now, what is the function of a conductor? A mandate or charge. If the composer is still living, the conductor is a proxy appointed to respect his intentions; if the composer is dead, the conductor is a proxy to tradition. In any case, he is required by conscience to inform himself and not to impose himself. True dignity neglects nothing that can place the conductor in complete and intimate communion with the composer's thought.

Charles Gounod, ‘Composers as Conductors’ (1873)

As a rule … the best conductors are those who combine calmness with steadiness of beat, and who are sufficiently sure of their own knowledge to consider outward demonstration unnecessary; this can only then be the case when they are convinced of the excellency and trustworthiness of the band under their command. In fact, as I take the explanation of the word ‘classical’ to be the calm control of irresistible force, it is the duty of a conductor by his own example to stamp the performance with the attribute of the classical; thereby he will attain the object that should be foremost in his mind, viz., to edify and elevate the emotions and intellectual appreciation of his audience to the glorification of that divine gift of genius, so rarely and sparingly bestowed by the Great Creator of all, on the few champions of progress and civilisation.

Henry E. Rensburg, The Orchestra (1876)

In 1867 Julius Benedict (1804–85) and William Cusins (1833–93) took up conducting posts that were to become key components within their portfolio careers and musical reputations. Their new attachments were to the Philharmonic Societies of Liverpool and London respectively. Benedict, now in his early sixties, formally accepted the post of conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society on 29 April 1867, resigning due to failing eyesight in January 1880. The thirty-three-year-old Cusins was appointed as William Sterndale Bennett's successor, presiding over his first concert as conductor of the Philharmonic Society of London on 11 March 1867.