Reviews

As I stood outside All Saints’ church at Burnham Thorpe, just before the concert started, a member of the audience commented to my colleague, ‘I bet you’d never heard of this chap Benedict before this festival!’ to which Dr Philip Carli replied gently, ‘Well, actually, I’m giving four talks on him across the week’. But it was not an unreasonable comment. Where would (or could) you find a music festival focusing intensively on a musician born in Germany who contributed so much to British musical culture that he was knighted? Who created ‘Monster Concerts’, lasting many hours, that were so popular that audience were happy to be crammed into any space in the hall? Whose extraordinarily successful opera The Lily of Killarneywas one-third (along with Wallace’s Maritana and Balfe’s The Bohemian Girl) of the trilogy affectionately known as the English Ring?

And yet Julius Benedict, composer, conductor, friend of all the leading musical figures of the day, and one of the busiest and most hard-working musicians in London in the nineteenth century, is now little more than a footnote, known only to a few.

Music in the Burnhams 2026 shone a bright light on this remarkable musician. There has been a music festival in this area of north Norfolk, near Fakenham, for many years, and its new Artistic Director, Adrian Bradbury, had a clear vision for this one. As he put it, ‘Buried under a cracked marble slab in London’s Kensal Green Cemetery, Julius Benedict (1804-1885) is now forgotten to all but a handful of musical cognoscenti …By the end of this summer’s festival, Music in the Burnhamswill have done its figurative best to mend the crack and polish the marble of that gravestone and rekindle public appreciation for the wonderful music of Sir Julius Benedict.’

Did it succeed? Resoundingly. We had music from the composers Benedict knew (and knew well) – Mendelssohn (both Fanny and Felix), Weber, Moscheles, Beethoven, Hummel, Liszt, Schumann (Clara and Robert), Prince Albert, Berlioz, Gounod, and many others, enabling a vivid insight into the musical life of the century. Benedict’s own music showed us what a wonderful melodist he was, never predictable, with mischievous twists of chromaticism, and brilliant orchestration. The festival began on the Sunday with Choral Evensong from St Mary’s, one of the churches in Burnham Market, and it showcased extracts from Benedict’s characterful cantata St Cecilia. It was performed by St Martin’s Voices and will be broadcast on Radio 4 in due course; it was a very strong opening to the week.

The highlight for me, however, was Benedict’s string quartet in C minor, Op 17. This was a work of huge depth and understanding, that I really hope I will have a chance to hear again. I travelled a long way to come to the festival, and this piece alone made it worth while. It was played superbly by the Victoria Quartet (Ben Holland, David Greed, Wenhong Luo and Adrian Bradbury) who never let it become heavy, but kept itlight and airy. In other events, we had music for four hands on sometimes one, sometimes two pianos; a melodrama The Uncle, narrated by Dudley O’Shaughnessy in fine over-the-top style, with Benedict’s accompaniment played by Philip Carli; songs,chamber music, and an orchestral concert to end. The musicians were simply world class – too many to list in full here, although it deserves to be said that Thomas Kelly and Andrew West were both kept very busy, especially as a third pianist was taken ill not long before the festival was due to start. Concert and musician details can be found here: musicintheburnhams.com/festival-week/. Every item was introduced, and in the Monster Concert especially, this provided a most useful, enlightening and often highly amusing narrative, explaining how the concerts had begun, and how they developed.

The morning talks covered Benedict’s life (including the tragicdeath of one of his sons) and music, and provided a huge amount of information, with many musical examples, in a highly accessible way. Dr Carli was infectiously passionate about his subject; if his talks are anything to go by, the biography he is planning will be highly readable.

The whole festival, headed by Marian Abramovich, Chair of Trustees, was excellently organised, with many thoughtful touches, such as the delicious picnic baskets provided for the long first interval in the Monster Concert. It took place in a beautiful setting, and I am already looking forward to next year’s Festival!